Cybersecurity

A type of surveillance software or hardware that records every keystroke made on a computer. Keyloggers can be used maliciously to capture passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive informati...

Multi-Factor Authentication: a security mechanism that requires users to provide two or more verification factors (something you know, something you have, something you are) to gain access to a resour...

Malicious software designed to infiltrate, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems. Malware includes viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware, and adware.

A cyberattack where the attacker secretly intercepts and potentially alters the communication between two parties who believe they are communicating directly with each other. TLS/SSL certificates and...

The practice of dividing a computer network into smaller subnetworks (segments) to improve security and performance. Segmentation limits the lateral movement of attackers by isolating sensitive system...

An open authorization framework that allows third-party applications to access a user's resources without exposing their credentials. OAuth 2.0 defines authorization flows for web apps, mobile apps, d...

Open Web Application Security Project: a nonprofit foundation that works to improve the security of software. OWASP is best known for its Top 10 list of the most critical web application security risk...

Public Key Infrastructure: a framework of policies, procedures, and technologies used to manage digital certificates and public-key encryption. PKI enables secure electronic communication by verifying...

The process of identifying, acquiring, testing, and installing software updates (patches) to fix security vulnerabilities and bugs. Effective patch management is critical for reducing the attack surfa...

An authorized simulated cyberattack on a computer system, performed to evaluate the security of the system. Penetration testers use the same tools, techniques, and processes as attackers to find and d...

A social engineering attack where an attacker disguises themselves as a trustworthy entity to trick victims into revealing sensitive information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, or pers...

A technique used by attackers to gain higher-level access permissions than initially granted. Vertical escalation involves gaining admin or root access, while horizontal escalation involves accessing...

Role-Based Access Control: a method of restricting system access based on the roles of individual users within an organization. Permissions are assigned to roles rather than individuals, simplifying a...

A type of malware that encrypts a victim's files or locks their system, demanding a ransom payment (often in cryptocurrency) in exchange for the decryption key or restored access.

A collection of malicious tools that provides an attacker with privileged (root-level) access to a computer system while actively concealing its presence. Rootkits can modify the operating system to h...

Security Information and Event Management: a solution that aggregates and analyzes log data from across an organization's IT infrastructure to detect security threats, generate alerts, and support inc...

Security Operations Center: a centralized facility staffed by security analysts who continuously monitor, detect, analyze, and respond to cybersecurity incidents using a combination of technology solu...

A code injection technique that exploits security vulnerabilities in an application's database layer by inserting malicious SQL statements into input fields, allowing attackers to read, modify, or del...

Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security: cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication over a computer network. TLS (the successor to SSL) encrypts data in transit between web brow...

An isolated testing environment that mimics end-user operating conditions where suspicious code or files can be executed without risking damage to the host system. Sandboxes are used in malware analys...