Browse Definitions by Alphabet

cookie - A cookie is information that a website puts on a user's computer.
cookie poisoning - Cookie poisoning is a type of cyber attack in which a bad actor hijacks, forges, alters or manipulates a cookie to gain unauthorized access to a user's account, open a new account in the user's name or steal the user's information for purposes such as identity theft.
cooperative games - Cooperative games are games where players work with one and other in order to achieve a common objective.
coopetition (co-opetition) - Coopetition is a business strategy that uses insights gained from game theory to understand when it is better for competitors to work together.
COPE (corporate-owned, personally enabled) - COPE (corporate-owned personally-enabled) is a business model in which an organization provides its employees with mobile computing devices and allows the employees to use them as if they were personally-owned notebook computers, tablets or smartphones.
COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ) - The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a federal law that imposes specific requirements on operators of websites and online services to protect the privacy of children under 13.
copy data management (CDM) - Copy data management (CDM) is an approach to reducing storage consumption that involves eliminating the unnecessary duplication of production data.
copypasta - Copypasta is a chunk of text that is repeatedly copied and pasted until it proliferates across the Web, gaining meme status.
copyright - Copyright is a legal term describing ownership of control of the rights to the use and distribution of certain works of creative expression, including books, video, motion pictures, musical compositions and computer programs.
core banking system - A core banking system is the software that banks use to manage their most critical processes, such as customer accounts, transactions and risk management.
Core competencies: What they are and how they lead to success - For any organization, its core competencies refer to the capabilities, knowledge, skills and resources that constitute its 'defining strengths.
core HR (core human resources) - Core HR (core human resources) is an umbrella term that refers to the basic tasks and functions of an HR department as it manages the employee lifecycle.
corollary - A corollary is a statement that follows naturally from some other statement that has either been proven or is generally accepted as true.
corporate culture - Corporate culture is the collection of values, beliefs, ethics and attitudes that characterize an organization and guide its practices.
corporate culture model - A corporate culture model is the organizing principle behind the values, beliefs and attitudes that characterize a company and guide its practices.
corporate division - A corporate division, also known as a business division, is a discrete part of a company that may operate under the same name and legal responsibility or as a separate corporate and legal entity under another business name.
corporate governance - Corporate governance is the combination of rules, processes and laws by which businesses are operated, regulated and controlled.
corportal (corporate portal) - Corportals, short for corporate portals, are sometimes referred to as enterprise information portals and are used by corporations to build their internal web presence by leveraging a company's information resources.
correlation - Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate in relation to each other.
correlation coefficient - A correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the degree to which changes to the value of one variable predict change to the value of another.
COSO cube - The COSO cube is a diagram that shows the relationship among all parts of an internal control system.
COSO Framework - The COSO Framework is a system used to establish internal controls to be integrated into business processes.
cost containment - Cost containment is a process of judiciously reducing costs in a business or limiting them to a constant level.
cost management - Cost management is the process of planning and controlling the budget of a business.
cost of goods sold (COGS) - Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the total of the costs directly attributable to producing things that can be sold.
cost per engagement (CPE) - Cost per engagement (CPE) is an advertising pricing model in which digital marketing teams and advertisers only pay for ads when users interact with their campaign in some way.
cost per sale (CPS) - The cost per sale (CPS), also known as the pay per sale, is a metric used by advertising teams to determine the amount of money paid for every sale generated by a specific advertisement.
cost price - Cost price is the total amount of money that it costs a manufacturer to produce a given product or provide a given service.
COTS, MOTS, GOTS and NOTS - COTS, MOTS, GOTS and NOTS are abbreviations that describe prepackaged software or -- less commonly -- hardware purchase alternatives.
coulomb (C) - A coulomb (C) is the standard unit of electric charge in the International System of Units (SI).
Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) - Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) is an encryption protocol based on the U.
counterintelligence - Counterintelligence (CI) is the information gathered and actions taken to identify and protect against an adversary’s knowledge collection activities or attempts to cause harm through sabotage or other actions.
COVID-19 Glossary for Employers and HR Managers - We will be updating this pandemic glossary frequently over the next few weeks to help you use consistent vocabulary in your crisis communication emails, newsletters, phone scripts and telecommuter updates.
cow power (biogas) - Cow power is a term for the conversion of manure to usable energy.
CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) - CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) is a specification for wireless communication networks that defines the key criteria for interfacing transport, connectivity and control communications between baseband units (BBUs) and remote radio units (RRUs), which are also called remote radio heads (RRHs).
CQRS (command query responsibility segregation) - CQRS (command query responsibility segregation) is a programming design and architectural pattern that treats retrieving data and changing data differently.
CRC-4 (Cyclic Redundancy Check 4) - CRC-4 (Cyclic Redundancy Check 4) is a form of cyclic redundancy checking -- a method of checking for errors in transmitted data -- that is used on E1 trunk lines.
credential stuffing - Credential stuffing is the practice of using stolen login information from one account to gain access to accounts on a number of sites through automated login.
credential theft - Credential theft is a type of cybercrime that involves stealing a victim's proof of identity.
crisis communication - Crisis communication is a strategic approach to corresponding with people and organizations during a disruptive event.
crisis management - Crisis management is the application of strategies designed to help an organization deal with a sudden and significant negative event, while maintaining business continuity.
crisis management plan (CMP) - A crisis management plan (CMP) outlines how an organization should respond to a critical situation that if left unaddressed, could negatively affect its profitability, reputation or ability to operate.
critical infrastructure - Critical infrastructure is the collection of systems, networks and public works that a government considers essential to its functioning and safety of its citizens.
critical path method (CPM) - The critical path method (CPM) is a step-by-step project management technique for process planning that defines critical and non-critical tasks with the goal of preventing project schedule problems and process bottlenecks.
CRM (customer relationship management) - Customer relationship management (CRM) is the combination of practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.
CRM (customer relationship management) analytics - CRM (customer relationship management) analytics comprises all of the programming that analyzes data about customers and presents it to an organization to help facilitate and streamline better business decisions.
crontab - Crontab is a Unix command that creates a table or list of commands, each of which is to be executed by the operating system (OS) at a specified time and on a regular schedule.
cross-docking - Cross-docking is the practice of unloading goods from inbound delivery vehicles and loading them directly onto outbound vehicles.
cross-functional team - A cross-functional team is a workgroup made up of employees from different functional areas within an organization who collaborate to reach a stated objective.
cross-platform mobile development - Cross-platform mobile development is an approach to developing software applications that are compatible with multiple mobile operating systems (OSes) or platforms.
cross-site scripting (XSS) - Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of injection attack in which a threat actor inserts data, such as a malicious script, into content from otherwise trusted websites.
crosstalk - Crosstalk is a disturbance caused by the electric or magnetic fields of one telecommunication signal affecting a signal in an adjacent circuit.
crowdsourcing - Crowdsourcing is the practice of turning to a body of people to obtain needed knowledge, goods or services.
cruft - Cruft is the elements of a program, system or product that are either useless, poorly designed or both.
cryptanalysis - Cryptanalysis is the study of ciphertext, ciphers and cryptosystems to understand how they work and to find and improve techniques for defeating or weakening them.
crypto wallet (cryptocurrency wallet) - A crypto wallet (cryptocurrency wallet) is software or hardware that enables users to store and use cryptocurrency.
crypto-agility - Crypto-agility, or cryptographic agility, is a data encryption practice used by organizations to ensure a rapid response to a cryptographic threat.
cryptocurrency - Cryptocurrency is a digital form of currency that uses cryptography to secure the processes involved in generating units, conducting transactions and verifying the exchange of currency ownership.
cryptogram - A cryptogram is a word puzzle featuring encrypted text that the user decrypts to reveal a message of some sort.
cryptographic checksum - Generated by a cryptographic algorithm, a cryptographic checksum is a mathematical value assigned to a file sent through a network for verifying that the data contained in that file is unchanged.
cryptographic nonce - A nonce is a random or semi-random number that is generated for a specific use.
Cryptography quiz questions and answers: Test your smarts - Put your encryption knowledge to the test, and perhaps even learn a new word or concept in the process with these cryptography quiz questions.
cryptojacking - Cryptojacking is a cybercrime in which another party's computing resources are hijacked to mine cryptocurrency.
cryptology - Cryptology is the mathematics, such as number theory and the application of formulas and algorithms, that underpin cryptography and cryptanalysis.
cryptosystem - A cryptosystem is a structure or scheme consisting of a set of algorithms that converts plaintext to ciphertext to encode or decode messages securely.
Crystal Reports - Crystal Reports is a popular Windows-based report writer solution that allows a developer to create reports and dashboards from a variety of data sources with a minimum of code to write.
CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) - CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) is a protocol for carrier transmission in 802.
CSO (Chief Security Officer) - A Chief Security Officer (CSO) is a C-suite executive responsible for a company's physical and digital security.
CSR (Certificate Signing Request) - A Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is a specially formatted encrypted message sent from a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) digital certificate applicant to a certificate authority (CA).
CSS (cascading style sheets) - This definition explains the meaning of cascading style sheets (CSS) and how using them with HTML pages is a user interface (UI) development best practice that complies with the separation of concerns design pattern.
CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) - CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) is a certification from ISC2 that focuses on application security within the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) - A CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) is a hardware device about the size of a modem.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete - On a personal computer with the Microsoft Windows operating system, Control+Alt+Delete is the combination of the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and Del key that a user can press at the same time to terminate an application task or to reboot the operating system.
curation - Curation is a field of endeavor involved with assembling, managing and presenting some type of collection.
curiosity artificial intelligence (curiosity AI) - Curiosity artificial intelligence (curiosity AI) is the simulation of human curiosity in artificial intelligence.
currency - Currency is anything that is generally accepted to have value as a medium of exchange so that it can be traded for goods and services.
current - Current is a flow of electrical charge carriers, usually electrons or electron-deficient atoms.
cursor - A cursor is the position indicator on a computer display screen where a user can enter text.
customer acquisition cost - Customer acquisition cost is the fee associated with convincing a consumer to buy your product or service, including research, marketing and advertising costs.
customer analytics (customer data analytics) - Customer analytics, also called customer data analytics, is the systematic examination of a company's customer information and behavior to identify, attract and retain the most profitable customers.
customer base - Customer base is the group of clients to whom a business markets and sells their goods or services.
customer churn (customer attrition) - Customer churn, also called customer attrition, is the number of paying customers who fail to become repeat customers.
customer data integration (CDI) - Customer data integration (CDI) is the process of defining, consolidating and managing customer information across an organization's business units and systems to achieve a "single version of the truth" for customer data.
customer data management (CDM) - Customer data management (CDM) is a set of administrative processes that allow data about customers and customer interactions from different source systems to be aggregated and normalized.
customer data platform (CDP) - A customer data platform (CDP) is a type of software application that provides a unified platform of customer information that can be collected, viewed or accessed by other systems.
customer demographics - Customer demographics are categories of consumer populations that are relevant to a business' purposes, such as marketing and product design.
customer engagement - Customer engagement is the way a company creates a relationship with its customer base to foster brand loyalty and awareness.
customer journey map - A customer journey map is a visual representation of the stages a customer goes through when interacting with a company.
customer journey orchestration - Customer journey orchestration is the coordination of customer experiences in real time, in an omnichannel environment, to better understand customer needs and encourage further interaction with a brand.
customer lifecycle - In customer relationship management (CRM), customer lifecycle is a term used to describe the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using and maintaining loyalty to a product or service.
customer premises equipment (CPE) - Customer premises equipment (CPE) is telecommunications and information technology equipment kept at the customer's physical location rather than on the service provider's premises.
customer proprietary network information (CPNI) - Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) in the United States is information that telecommunications services -- such as local, long-distance and wireless telephone companies -- acquire about their subscribers.
customer retention - Customer retention is a metric that measures customer loyalty, or an organization's ability to retain customers over time.
customer satisfaction (CSAT) - Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a measure of the degree to which a product or service meets customer expectations.
customer self-service (CSS) - Customer self-service is a type of electronic support (e-support) that allows end users to access information and perform routine tasks without requiring the assistance of a human.
customer service and support - Customer service is the support that organizations offer to customers before and after purchasing a product or service.
customer service charter - A customer service charter is a document that outlines how an organization promises to work with its customers along with providing insights into how an organization operates.
customer success - Customer success is a strategy to ensure a company's products are meeting the needs of the customer.
customer touchpoint - A customer touchpoint is any direct or indirect contact a customer has with a brand.
customer-managed relationship (CMR) - A customer-managed relationship (CMR) is a relationship in which a business uses a methodology, software, apps and perhaps internet capability to encourage the customer to control access to information and ordering.