ISC2 Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) Practice Question

A logic bomb is malicious code intentionally inserted into software that lies dormant until a specific logical condition is met-such as a certain date, the presence or absence of a file, or a particular user action. When the condition occurs, the payload executes, in this case deleting salary records on December 31.

Backdoors are covert access mechanisms that allow attackers to enter a system at will, but they do not rely on a future trigger condition. Trojan horses masquerade as legitimate programs to lure users into executing them, but their execution is not necessarily tied to a specific date or event. Rootkits are toolsets used to maintain privileged, stealthy access by modifying the operating system, not condition-triggered payloads. Therefore, the described code most closely matches the definition of a logic bomb.