Threat management

Terms related to security threats, including definitions about anti-virus programs or firewalls and words and phrases about malware, viruses, Trojans and other security attacks.

digital profiling - Digital profiling is the process of gathering and analyzing information about an individual that exists online.
Digital Signature Standard (DSS) - The Digital Signature Standard (DSS) is a digital signature algorithm (DSA) developed by the U.
directory traversal - Directory traversal is a type of HTTP exploit in which a hacker uses the software on a web server to access data in a directory other than the server's root directory.
disaster recovery plan (DRP) - A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented, structured approach that describes how an organization can quickly resume operations after an unplanned incident.
distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack - A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one in which multiple compromised computer systems attack a target, such as a server, website or other network resource, and cause a denial of service for users of the targeted resource.
DMZ in networking - In computer networks, a DMZ, or demilitarized zone, is a physical or logical subnet that separates a local area network (LAN) from other untrusted networks -- usually, the public internet.
DNS attack - A DNS attack is an exploit in which an attacker takes advantage of vulnerabilities in the domain name system.
domain generation algorithm (DGA) - A domain generation algorithm (DGA) is a program that generates a large list of domain names.
double blind test - Double blind test is an experiment where both the subject and observer are unaware that the exercise in practice is a test.
double extortion ransomware - Double extortion ransomware is a novel form of malware that combines ransomware with elements of extortionware to maximize the victim's potential payout.
dropper - A dropper is a small helper program that facilitates the delivery and installation of malware.
dumpster diving - Dumpster diving is looking for treasure in someone else's trash.
Electronic Code Book (ECB) - Electronic Code Book (ECB) is a simple mode of operation with a block cipher that's mostly used with symmetric key encryption.
electronic discovery (e-discovery or ediscovery) - Electronic discovery -- also called e-discovery or ediscovery -- refers to any process of obtaining and exchanging evidence in a civil or criminal legal case.
electronic intelligence (ELINT) - Electronic intelligence (ELINT) is intelligence gathered using electronic sensors, usually used in military applications.
Elk Cloner - Elk Cloner is the first personal computer virus or self-replicating program known to have spread in the wild on a large scale.
elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) - Elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) is a public key encryption technique based on elliptic curve theory that can be used to create faster, smaller and more efficient cryptographic keys.
email security - Email security is the process of ensuring the availability, integrity and authenticity of email communications by protecting against unauthorized access and email threats.
email spoofing - Email spoofing is a form of cyber attack in which a hacker sends an email that has been manipulated to seem as if it originated from a trusted source.
email virus - An email virus consists of malicious code distributed in email messages to infect one or more devices.
embedded system security - Embedded system security is a strategic approach to protecting software running on embedded systems from attack.
encoding and decoding - Encoding and decoding are used in many forms of communications, including computing, data communications, programming, digital electronics and human communications.
encryption - Encryption is the method by which information is converted into secret code that hides the information's true meaning.
encryption key - In cryptography, an encryption key is a variable value that is applied using an algorithm to a string or block of unencrypted text to produce encrypted text or to decrypt encrypted text.
ethical hacker - An ethical hacker, or white hat hacker, is an information security expert authorized by an organization to penetrate computing infrastructure to find security vulnerabilities a malicious hacker could exploit.
evil twin attack - An evil twin attack is a rogue Wi-Fi access point (AP) that masquerades as a legitimate one, enabling an attacker to gain access to sensitive information without the end user's knowledge.
executable file (EXE file) - An executable file (EXE file) is a computer file that contains an encoded sequence of instructions that the system can execute directly when the user clicks the file icon.
Faraday cage - A Faraday cage is a metallic enclosure that prevents the entry or escape of an electromagnetic field (EM field).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a United States government agency with the purpose to coordinate aid and respond to disasters around the nation when local resources are insufficient.
federated identity management (FIM) - Federated identity management (FIM) is an arrangement between multiple enterprises or domains that enables their users to use the same identification data (digital identity) to access all their networks.
FFIEC compliance (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) - FFIEC compliance is conformance to a set of standards for online banking issued in October 2005 by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC).
firewall - A firewall is a network security device that prevents unauthorized access to a network.
footprinting - Footprinting is an ethical hacking technique used to gather as much data as possible about a specific targeted computer system, an infrastructure and networks to identify opportunities to penetrate them.
freeware - Freeware (not to be confused with free software) is a type of proprietary software that is released without charge to the public.
frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) - Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) transmission is the repeated switching of the carrier frequency during radio transmission to reduce interference and avoid interception.
Google dork query - A Google dork query, sometimes just referred to as a dork, is a search string or custom query that uses advanced search operators to find information not readily available on a website.
government Trojan - A government Trojan is spyware installed on a computer or network by a law enforcement agency for the purpose of capturing information relevant to a criminal investigation.
Great Firewall of China - The Great Firewall of China is the name that western media has given to the combination of tools, services and rules that the government of the People's Republic of China uses to block certain internet content from those within China's borders.
hacker - A hacker is an individual who uses computer, networking or other skills to overcome a technical problem.
hacking as a service (HaaS) - Hacking as a service (HaaS) is the commercialization of hacking skills, in which the hacker serves as a contractor.
hacktivism - Hacktivism is the act of misusing a computer system or network for a socially or politically motivated reason.
hard-drive encryption - Hard-drive encryption is a technology that encrypts the data stored on a hard drive using sophisticated mathematical functions.
hashing - Hashing is the process of transforming any given key or a string of characters into another value.
Heartbleed - Heartbleed was a vulnerability in some implementations of OpenSSL, an open source cryptographic library.
honey monkey - A honey monkey is a virtual computer system that is programmed to lure, detect, identify and neutralize malicious activity on the Internet.
honeynet - A honeynet is a network set up with intentional vulnerabilities hosted on a decoy server to attract hackers.
honeypot (computing) - A honeypot is a network-attached system set up as a decoy to lure cyber attackers and detect, deflect and study hacking attempts to gain unauthorized access to information systems.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a protocol that secures communication and data transfer between a user's web browser and a website.
hypervisor security - Hypervisor security is the process of ensuring the hypervisor -- the software that enables virtualization -- is secure throughout its lifecycle.
identity theft - Identity theft, also known as identity fraud, is a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personally identifiable information (PII), such as Social Security or driver's license numbers, to impersonate someone else.
ILOVEYOU virus - The ILOVEYOU virus comes in an email with 'ILOVEYOU' in the subject line and contains an attachment that, when opened, results in the message being re-sent to everyone in the recipient's Microsoft Outlook address book.
indicators of compromise (IOC) - Indicators of compromise are unusual activities on a system or network that imply the presence of a malicious actor.
industrial espionage - Industrial espionage is the covert, and sometimes illegal, practice of investigating competitors to gain a business advantage.
initialization vector - An initialization vector (IV) is an arbitrary number that can be used with a secret key for data encryption to foil cyber attacks.
inline frame (iframe) - An inline frame (iframe) is a HTML element that loads another HTML page within the document.
input validation attack - An input validation attack is any malicious action against a computer system that involves manually entering strange information into a normal user input field.
insecure deserialization - Insecure deserialization is a vulnerability in which untrusted or unknown data is used to inflict a denial-of-service attack, execute code, bypass authentication or otherwise abuse the logic behind an application.
insider threat - An insider threat is a category of risk posed by those who have access to an organization's physical or digital assets.
International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) - The International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is a symmetric key block cipher encryption algorithm designed to encrypt text to an unreadable format for transmission via the internet.
Internet Key Exchange (IKE) - Internet Key Exchange (IKE) is a standard protocol used to set up a secure and authenticated communication channel between two parties via a virtual private network (VPN).
intrusion prevention system (IPS) - An intrusion prevention system (IPS) is a cybersecurity tool that examines network traffic to identify potential threats and automatically take action against them.
IoT security (internet of things security) - IoT security (internet of things security) is the technology segment focused on safeguarding connected devices and networks in IoT.
IP spoofing - Internet Protocol (IP) spoofing is a type of malicious attack where the threat actor hides the true source of IP packets to make it difficult to know where they came from.
ISA Server - Microsoft's ISA Server (Internet Security and Acceleration Server) was the successor to Microsoft's Proxy Server 2.
ISO 27001 - ISO 27001, formally known as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, is an information security standard created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which provides a framework and guidelines for establishing, implementing and managing an information security management system (ISMS).
ISO/TS 22317 (International Organization for Standardization Technical Standard 22317) - ISO/TS 22317 is the first formal standard to address the business impact analysis process.
JavaScript - JavaScript is a programming language that started off simply as a mechanism to add logic and interactivity to an otherwise static Netscape browser.
juice jacking - Juice jacking is a security exploit in which an infected USB charging station is used to compromise devices that connect to it.
Kerberos - Kerberos is a protocol for authenticating service requests between trusted hosts across an untrusted network, such as the internet.
key fob - A key fob is a small, programmable device that provides access to a physical object.
keylogger (keystroke logger or system monitor) - A keylogger, sometimes called a keystroke logger, is a type of surveillance technology used to monitor and record each keystroke on a specific device, such as a computer or smartphone.
kill switch - A kill switch in an IT context is a mechanism used to shut down or disable a device or program.
LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol) - LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol) is a Cisco-proprietary version of EAP, the authentication protocol used in wireless networks and Point-to-Point connections.
logic bomb - A logic bomb is a string of malicious code that is inserted intentionally into a program to harm a network when certain conditions are met.
macro virus - A macro virus is a computer virus written in the same macro language used to create software programs such as Microsoft Excel or Word.
macrotrend - A macrotrend is a pervasive and persistent shift in the direction of some phenomenon on a global level.
mail bomb - A mail bomb is a form of a denial-of-service (DoS) attack designed to overwhelm an inbox or inhibit a server by sending a massive number of emails to a specific person or system.
managed security service provider (MSSP) - A managed security service provider (MSSP) is an IT service provider that sells security services to businesses.
MD5 - The MD5 (message-digest algorithm) hashing algorithm is a one-way cryptographic function that accepts a message of any length as input and returns as output a fixed-length digest value to be used for authenticating the original message.
meet-in-the-middle attack - Meet-in-the-middle is a known plaintext attack that can greatly reduce the number of brute-force permutations required to decrypt text that has been encrypted by more than one key.
Melissa virus - Melissa was a type of email virus that initially become an issue in early 1999.
metamorphic and polymorphic malware - Metamorphic and polymorphic malware are two types of malicious software (malware) that can change their code as they propagate through a system.
MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) - MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) is a technology invented in the 1950s that's used to verify the legitimacy or originality of checks and other paper documents.
Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant - The Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant is a software application that provides common sign-on capabilities for a suite of Microsoft online services, such as Office 365.
mobile malware - Mobile malware is malicious software specifically written to attack mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches.
multifactor authentication - Multifactor authentication (MFA) is an account login process that requires multiple methods of authentication from independent categories of credentials to verify a user's identity for a login or other transaction.
mutual authentication - Mutual authentication, also called two-way authentication, is a process or technology in which both entities in a communications link authenticate each other.
national identity card - A national identity card is a portable document, typically a plasticized card with digitally embedded information, that is used to verify aspects of a person's identity.
near-field communication (NFC) - Near-field communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that uses magnetic field induction to enable communication between devices when they're touched together or brought within a few centimeters of each other.
Nessus - Nessus is a platform developed by Tenable that scans for security vulnerabilities in devices, applications, operating systems, cloud services and other network resources.
network intrusion protection system (NIPS) - A network intrusion protection system (NIPS) is an umbrella term for a combination of hardware and software systems that protect computer networks from unauthorized access and malicious activity.
network vulnerability scanning - Network vulnerability scanning is the process of inspecting and reporting potential vulnerabilities and security loopholes on a computer, network, web application or other device, including firewalls, switches, routers and wireless access points.
Nimda - First appearing on September 18, 2001, Nimda is a computer virus that caused traffic slowdowns as it rippled across the internet.
nonrepudiation - Nonrepudiation ensures that no party can deny that it sent or received a message via encryption and/or digital signatures or approved some information.
offensive security - Offensive security is the practice of actively seeking out vulnerabilities in an organization's cybersecurity.
one-time pad - In cryptography, a one-time pad is a system in which a randomly generated private key is used only once to encrypt a message that is then decrypted by the receiver using a matching one-time pad and key.
Open System Authentication (OSA) - Open System Authentication (OSA) is a process by which a computer could gain access to a wireless network that uses the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol.
out-of-band patch - An out-of-band patch is a patch released at some time other than the normal release time.
parameter tampering - Parameter tampering is a type of web-based cyber attack in which certain parameters in a URL are changed without a user's authorization.
passive attack - A passive attack is a network attack in which a system is monitored and sometimes scanned for open ports and vulnerabilities.