Legal Definitions - stealth

In a legal context, stealth historically referred to the act of theft itself – the wrongful taking of property belonging to another without permission or a claim of right. More broadly, it describes actions characterized by secrecy, furtiveness, or a deliberate attempt to avoid detection, often in the commission of a wrongful or unauthorized act.

• Example 1: Shoplifting
  A shopper places a small, expensive item into their personal bag while browsing a store, then walks out without attempting to pay, hoping to go unnoticed by security cameras or staff. This act is later discovered through inventory discrepancies or video review.

  This illustrates "stealth" as an act of theft—the wrongful taking of goods—performed with surreptitiousness, meaning the shopper deliberately tried to conceal their actions to avoid detection and payment.

• Example 2: Corporate Espionage and Trade Secret Misappropriation
  An employee, planning to leave their current company to join a competitor, secretly accesses their employer's secure database after hours to download proprietary customer lists and product development schematics onto a personal flash drive. They then delete their access logs to cover their tracks.

  Here, "stealth" refers to the furtive and unauthorized taking of valuable intellectual property (trade secrets) with the intent to use it for personal gain or to benefit a competitor. The actions were performed secretly to avoid detection, which is a key characteristic of stealth in this context.

• Example 3: Unauthorized Digital Access
  A hacker gains access to a company's internal network by exploiting a vulnerability, then navigates through various servers and files to gather information without leaving obvious traces or alerting the IT security team. While they might not "steal" physical goods, their presence and actions are unauthorized and covert.

  This example highlights "stealth" as surreptitiousness in the digital realm. The hacker's actions are characterized by secrecy and a deliberate effort to avoid detection while performing an unauthorized and wrongful act of intrusion, even if no data is explicitly "stolen" in the traditional sense.