Hijacking

Hijacking or highjacking is the forcible robbery from, or seizure of, a vehicle in transit.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Historically the term used to refer to robbery of trucks or other land motor vehicles (see carjacking) and aircraft skyjacking. The term arose from someone wanting a lift on a truck calling "Hi, Jack" (the exclamation plus the name), until this was used often as a trick by robbers.

Related Topics:
Carjacking - Truck - Exclamation - Robber

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Contemporarily the term is primarily associated with high-profile aircraft hijacking for political purposes including terrorism, although other cases have included the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 which could also be considered piracy.

Related Topics:
Aircraft hijacking - Terrorism - Achille Lauro - 1985 - Piracy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In IT, the term "hijacking" is also used when spyware or a virus writes itself in a computer program in such a way that whenever that program starts to work, besides its normal duties it does other things too, which the creator of the virus or spyware meant it to.

Related Topics:
IT - Spyware - Virus

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~