Cyber Security Glossary

A:

1. Authentication: The process of verifying the identity of a user, device, or system.
2. Antivirus: A software that protects a computer from viruses and other malicious software.
3. Attack: An attempt to compromise the security of a computer system or network.
4. Access control: The process of limiting access to a system or resource based on pre-defined security policies.
5. Authorization: The process of granting or denying access to a system or resource based on pre-defined security policies.

B:

1. Backup: A copy of data that can be used to restore the original data in case of data loss or corruption.
2. Biometric: A form of identification based on the measurement of physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, and iris scans.
3. Botnet: A network of infected devices (bots) that are controlled remotely and used to carry out attacks.
4. Brute force: A method of breaking into a system by trying every possible combination of passwords or keys until the correct one is found.
5. Buffer overflow: A security vulnerability that occurs when data exceeds the allocated space and overwrites adjacent memory locations.

C:

1. Cryptography: The practice of converting data into a code to protect it from unauthorized access.
2. Certificate Authority (CA): An organization that issues digital certificates to verify the identity of a website or an individual.
3. Cloud computing: A model of delivering computing services over the internet.
4. Cyber espionage: The use of the internet for stealing sensitive information from governments, corporations, and individuals.
5. Cyberwarfare: The use of the internet for political or military attacks on a nation or organization.

D:

1. Denial of Service (DoS): An attack that makes a system or network unavailable by flooding it with traffic.
2. Data breach: The unauthorized release of sensitive information.
3. Dark web: A hidden network of websites that can only be accessed using special software.
4. Decryption: The process of converting encrypted data back into its original form.
5. Domain Name System (DNS): A system that converts domain names into IP addresses.

E:

1. Encryption: The process of converting data into a coded form to protect it from unauthorized access.
2. Endpoint: A device that connects to a network, such as a laptop, smartphone, or printer.
3. Ethical hacking: The use of hacking techniques to test the security of a system.
4. Email spoofing: The creation of fake emails that appear to come from a different sender.
5. Exploit: A piece of code that takes advantage of a vulnerability in a system.

F:

1. Firewall: A system that controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on pre-defined security rules.
2. File integrity: The accuracy and completeness of data in a file.
3. Phishing: A type of social engineering attack that tricks victims into revealing sensitive information.
4. Fraud: The use of deception to obtain something of value, such as money or personal information.
5. Forward secrecy: A property of secure communication systems where a compromise of the encryption key used in the past does not affect the security of past messages.

G:

1. Grayware: Software that is not classified as malware, but may still cause unwanted behavior or harm.
2. Guest account: A temporary account with limited privileges that is used by someone who does not have a permanent account on a system.
3. Geolocation: The process of determining the physical location of a device based on IP address, Wi-Fi, or GPS.
4. Gigabit Ethernet: A high-speed data transmission standard used for local area networks.
5. Graphical User Interface (GUI): A type of user interface that uses graphics and icons rather than text-based commands.

H:

1. Hashing: The process of transforming data into a fixed-length representation for secure storage or comparison.
2. Honeypot: A decoy system or data used to distract and detect attackers.
3. Hybrid cloud: A cloud computing environment that uses a combination of public and private clouds.
4. Handshake: The initial exchange of information between two systems to establish a secure connection.
5. Hardening: The process of securing a system by reducing its attack surface and increasing its resistance to attacks.

I:

1. Incident response: The process of responding to a security incident, such as a data breach or a cyber attack.
2. Intrusion detection: The process of identifying unauthorized access to a system.
3. Intrusion prevention: The process of stopping unauthorized access to a system.
4. IP address: A unique identifier for a device connected to a network.
5. Identity and Access Management (IAM): The process of managing the identity of users and the access they have to a system.

J:

1. Jellyfish attack: A type of denial of service attack that originates from multiple points of origin.
2. Job control language (JCL): A type of programming language used to control and manage batch processing jobs.
3. Jump host: A host that is used as an intermediary to access other systems in a network.
4. JWT (JSON Web Token): A compact and self-contained way of transmitting information securely between parties.
5. Java applet: A small program written in the Java programming language that runs within a web browser.

K:

1. Key: A piece of data used to encrypt and decrypt data.
2. Key management: The process of generating, storing, and distributing keys.
3. Key derivation function (KDF): A mathematical function that derives a secret key from a password.
4. Key escrow: The storage of encryption keys by a trusted third party.
5. Keylogger: A type of malware that records every keystroke made on an infected device.

L:

1. LAN (Local Area Network): A network that connects devices in a limited geographical area, such as a building or a campus.
2. Log file: A file that records events that occur in a system.
3. Logic bomb: A type of malware that triggers when certain conditions are met.
4. Loopback address: A special IP address used for testing network configurations.
5. Load balancing: The distribution of tasks or requests among multiple systems to improve performance and reliability.

M:

1. Malware: Software that is designed to cause harm to a computer or a network.
2. Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack: A type of attack where an attacker intercepts and manipulates the communication between two systems.
3. MD5: A widely used message digest algorithm for generating a hash value from a message.
4. Multifactor authentication (MFA): An authentication method that requires more than one form of authentication, such as a password and a security token.
5. Macro virus: A type of malware that uses macro commands in a document or spreadsheet to infect a computer.

N:

1. Network: A group of connected devices that can communicate with each other.
2. Network Address Translation (NAT): A technique used to map private IP addresses to public IP addresses.
3. NIDS (Network Intrusion Detection): A system that monitors a network for signs of security incidents.
4. Nmap (Network Mapper): An open-source tool used for network exploration, management, and security auditing.
5. Non-repudiation: A property of secure communication systems that prevents a party from denying a previous communication or transaction.

O:

1. Operating system (OS): The software that manages the resources of a computer and provides services to other applications.
2. Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP): An internet protocol used to check the status of a digital certificate.
3. Open source: Software whose source code is made available to the public, allowing anyone to use, modify, or distribute it.
4. One-time password (OTP): A password that can only be used once and is typically used for two-factor authentication.
5. OAuth (Open Authorization): An open standard for authorization that allows users to grant limited access to their resources without sharing their information.

P:

1. Packet: A unit of data that is transmitted over a network.
2. Packet filtering: A technique used to control incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predefined rules.
3. Password: A secret string of characters used to authenticate a user.
4. Patch: A software update that fixes security vulnerabilities or bugs.
5. Phishing: A type of attack that attempts to trick users into revealing their sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers.

Q:

1. Quarantine: The isolation of a computer or a file that is suspected of being infected with malware.
2. Query: A request for information from a database.
3. Quantum computing: A type of computing that uses quantum mechanics to perform certain types of computation more efficiently than classical computers.
4. Queue: A data structure that stores elements in a linear order, with operations to add elements to the end and remove elements from the beginning.
5. Queue overflow: A type of attack that occurs when a queue or buffer is filled with too many elements, causing the system to crash or produce unexpected results.

R:

1. RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service): A protocol used for remote user authentication and accounting.
2. Ransomware: A type of malware that encrypts a victim’s files and demands payment in exchange for a decryption key.
3. Reconnaissance: The initial stage of a cyber attack that involves gathering information about a target.
4. Remote access: The ability to access a computer or a network from a remote location.
5. Rootkit: A type of malware that hides itself and its activities from the operating system and antivirus software.

S:

1. Sandbox: An isolated environment used to test or execute potentially harmful code.
2. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): A security solution that collects, analyzes, and correlates log data from multiple sources.
3. Social engineering: A type of attack that uses psychological tactics to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential information.
4. Spam: Unwanted or unsolicited electronic messages, such as email or instant messages.
5. SQL injection: A type of attack that injects malicious code into a SQL statement, in order to compromise a database.

T:

1. Two-factor authentication (2FA): An authentication method that requires two forms of authentication, such as a password and a security token.
2. Threat: A potential danger or risk to a system or network.
3. Trojan: A type of malware that disguises itself as a legitimate program but performs malicious actions in the background.
4. Tunneling: The encapsulation of one protocol within another protocol, in order to bypass security mechanisms or to enable access to restricted resources.
5. Type confusion: A type of vulnerability that occurs when a program processes data as the wrong type, leading to unexpected results or security exploits.

U:

1. URL (Uniform Resource Locator): An address that specifies the location of a resource on the internet, such as a website or a file.
2. UDP (User Datagram Protocol): A communication protocol used for transmitting data over a network.
3. Unique Identifier (UID): A value that is used to identify a user, a device, or an object.

V:

1. Virus: A type of malware that replicates itself and infects other programs or files on a computer.
2. Virtual Private Network (VPN): A private network that uses public network infrastructure, such as the internet, to provide secure remote access to a network.
3. Vulnerability: A weakness or gap in a system or network that can be exploited by attackers to cause harm or gain unauthorized access.
4. VPN concentrator: A device used to manage and terminate VPN connections for a large number of remote users.
5. Vulnerability assessment: The process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing the vulnerabilities in a system or network, in order to prioritize remediation efforts.

W:

1. War dialing: The process of automatically dialing a large number of telephone numbers, in order to identify active modems or systems.
2. Web application firewall (WAF): A firewall that is specifically designed to protect web applications from attacks, by inspecting and filtering incoming traffic.
3. Whaling: A type of phishing attack that targets high-level executives or individuals with access to sensitive information.
4. Wi-Fi: A wireless local area network (WLAN) technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed internet and network connections.
5. WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access): A security protocol used to secure Wi-Fi networks.

X:

1. X.509: An ITU-T standard that defines the format of public key certificates.
2. XSS (Cross-Site Scripting): A type of vulnerability that occurs when a web application allows user input to be embedded as script code, which can be executed by other users who view the same page.
3. XML (Extensible Markup Language): A markup language used for exchanging structured data over the internet.
4. XOR (Exclusive OR): A logical operation that returns true if exactly one of its operands is true, and false otherwise.
5. XOR encryption: A symmetric encryption method that uses the XOR operation to encrypt and decrypt data.

Y:

1. YARN (Yet Another Resource Negotiator): A cluster management system used in Apache Hadoop to manage the allocation of resources, such as CPU and memory, to applications.
2. Yellow pages: A directory of businesses or individuals, typically sorted by category.
3. Y2K (Year 2000): A potential problem that was predicted to occur in the year 2000, due to the use of two-digit date representations in computer systems, which could cause errors or failures.
4. Yum: A package manager for Linux systems, used to manage software installations and updates.
5. Yubikey: A type of security key that can be used for two-factor authentication or secure passwordless login.

Z:

1. Zero-day: A security vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or to the public, and can be exploited by attackers before it can be patched.
2. Zero-knowledge proof: A type of proof that allows one party to prove to another party that they know a secret, without revealing the secret itself.
3. Zonal OCR (Optical Character Recognition): A type of OCR that performs recognition on specific zones or regions of an image, rather than the entire image.
4. Zsh: A shell for Unix-based systems, used as an alternative to the default bash shell.
5. Zone-based firewall: A type of firewall that uses zones to group similar types of network interfaces and to enforce security policies based on the type of traffic passing between the zones.