The part of a missile or torpedo that carries the explosive charge.

The goods carried by a large vehicle.

Item being delivered The cargo of data contained in the packets and transmitted across a network eg Voice data in VoIP

That portion of a frame or cell that carries user traffic. It is effectively what remains in the frame or cell if you take out all headers or trailers.

Payload refers to the damaging function of a virus in the wild. Launching this damaging function may be dependent on a condition, the so-called payload trigger. The definition of payload is disputed, as some researchers also consider the use of system resources and transmission bandwidth as payload.

Some viruses have a payload date, when they actually do something. Payloads are like the clock ticking inside an infected a computer, a trigger date if you will, for when something will happen. For example, the Michelangelo virus may infect a computer and sit dormant until March 6th, when it erases the hard drive of the infected computer.

A payload refers to an action caused by a virus, whether it be as simple as leaving a tag ("have a good day") or causing more serious problems, as with ‘malicious payloads.' These viruses get more media attention than those that merely spread quickly, because they often cause enormous damage to a system. The usual form a malicious payload will take involves overwriting certain essential files and programs. However, whether the virus results in any kind of payload at all, it puts a drain on the systems resources. A payload is not the only way to damage your system, especially with combination malware becoming more prevalent.

This is the malicious activity that the virus performs. Not all viruses have payloads, but there are some that perform destructive actions.

The 48-byte data portion of an ATM cell.

The "information portion" of a Protocol Data Unit, exclusive of framing, header, (and possibly "trailer") information. Frames have payloads of variable length. Cells have fixed length payloads. Click here to view a diagram

The part of an ATM cell that contains the information being sent.

When data is sent over the Internet, each unit transmitted includes both header ...