Cybersecurity glossary
Browse thousands of cybersecurity definitions
What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity safeguards computer networks and systems against cyberattacks. It makes it possible for people everywhere to continue with safe online browsing, shopping, communication, and other digital activities. This can include a variety of tools including VPNs and password managers.
A
ABEND
Accelerated Mobile Pages
Acceptable use policy
Access control entry
Access layer
Access management
Access Point Name
Account compromise
Account hijacking
Account takeover
Activation code
Active attack
Active content
Active defense
ActiveX
Adaptive authentication
Address space
ADFGVX cipher
Administrative privileges
Advanced evasion technique
Advanced metering infrastructure
Advanced penetration testing
Advanced persistent threat
Adversarial machine learning
Adversary group naming
Adware
AES encryption
AFTS
AI TRiSM
Air gap
Alert fatigue
Allowlist
Allowlisting
AlphaGo
Alphanumeric password
Alternative routing
Analog computer
Android package kit
Angler phishing
Anna Kournikova virus
Anomaly-based detection
Anonymizer
Anonymous call rejection
Anonymous hackers
Answer-seizure ratio
Anti-fraud system
Anti-malware
Anti-phishing service
Anti-spam
Anti-spyware
Anti-Virus Scanner
Antivirus
Anycast DNS
Application acceleration
Application allow-listing
Application awareness
Application client
Application delivery
Application delivery controller
Application delivery network
Application deployment
Application firewall
Application gateway
Application hosting
Application layer
Application log
Application Management
Application performance monitoring
Application program
Application programming interface
Application server
Arbitrary code execution
Area border router
ARM processor
ARPANET
Artificial intelligence
ASLR
Assembler
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous transmission
ATM skimming
Attack signature
Attack surface
Attack surface management
Attack taxonomy
Attribute value pair
Audit log
Audit trail
Augmented intelligence
Authentication server
Auto attendant
Automatic content recognition
Automatic network
Automation platform
Autonomous intelligence
Autonomous system
Autorun Worm
B
Backdoor
Backhaul
Backporting
Backpropagation
Backtracking
Backup
Backwards compatibility
BadUSB
Baiting
Bak file
Bandwidth
Bandwidth meter
Banker trojan
Bare metal provisioning
Base address
Baseboard management controller
Baseline configuration
Baselining
Bastion host
Baud rate
Beaconing
Bearer protocol
Behavior monitoring
BGP
Biba Model
Binary code analysis
Binary format
Biometric authentication
Biometric data
Biometric device
Biometric security
Biometric spoofing
BIOS password
BIOS rootkit
Bit rate
BitLocker
Black hat hacker
BlackEnergy
Blackholing
Bladabindi
Blended Threat
Bloatware
Block cipher
Block list
Block size
Blockchain technology
Blue hat hacker
Blue pill attack
Blue team
BlueBorne
Bluebugging
Bluejacking
Bluesnarfing
Bluetooth
Bogon filtering
Boolean logic
Boot sector virus
Booter
Bootkit
Bootloader
Bot herder
Bot mitigation
Botnet
Boundary protection
Bridge connection
Bridge mode
Bridge protocol data unit
Broadband over power line
Broadband router
Broadcast address
Broken access control
Broken authentication attack
Browser hijacker
Browser hijacking
Browser isolation
Browser sandboxing
Brute-force attack
Buffer overflow attack
Bulk data transfer
Bullet camera
Business email compromise
Byzantine fault tolerance
C
C&C server
Cache coherence
Cache hit
Cache invalidation
Cache miss
Cache server
Caching proxy
Caching server
Caesar encryption
Call detail record
Campus area network
Canary token
Canonical name
Captcha
Captive portal
Carberp
Cardinality
Carrier ethernet
Catching server
Catfishing
CCTV
Cellular network
CEO fraud
Cerber ransomware
Certificate authority server
Certificate management
Certificate pinning
Certificate-based authentication
CGNAT
ChaCha20
Chaffing and winnowing
Char
Character set
Chargeware
Checksum
Chosen Plaintext Attack
CIDR
Ciem
Cipher suite
Ciphertext
Circuit-level gateway
Cisco IOS
Class A IP address
Class B IP address
Class C IP address
Class D IP address
Class E IP address
Clean install
Clickjacking
Clicktivism
Client
Cloaking
Clocking
Clop ransomware
Cloud archiving
Cloud attack
Cloud operating system
Cloud sandboxing
Cloud security posture management
Cloud VPN
Cloud VPS
CloudTrust protocol
CLSID
Cluster analysis
Cluster controller
CNAPP
Co-location
Code generator
Code injection
Code management
Code monkey
Code morphing
Code signing
Cognitive computing
Cognitive technology
Cold boot
Cold boot attack
Cold data
Collision
Command injection
Command-line interface
Committed information rate
Communications system
Compatibility
Compressed file
Computer forensics
Computer network defense
Computer network operations
Computer system
Computer virus
Computer worm
COMSEC
Concurrency control
Conficker
Conficker worm
Configuration file
Connection-oriented protocol
Consumer electronics
Container breakout
Container isolation
Container technology
Content Delivery Network
Content security policy
Context Delivery Architecture
Continuous integration and continuous deployment
Control framework
Control network
Control plane
Control structure
Control unit
Cookie theft
Copy protection
Copy-paste compromise
CoreBOT
Country code top-level domain
Covert channel
CPU contention
CPU utilization
Cracker
Credential harvesting
Credential stuffing
Credentials
Creeper virus
Creepware
Critical infrastructure and key resources
Crlf injection
Cross-platform
Cross-site requested forgery
Crossover Cable
Cryptanalysis
CryptBot
Crypto malware
Crypto shredding
Cryptographic algorithm
Cryptographic hash function
Cryptographic key
Cryptographic protocol
Cryptolocker ransomware
Cryptovirology
Cryptovirus
Cryptowall
CSCW
CSIRT
CTB locker
Curation
Customer edge router
CVE
CVSS
Cyber attribution
Cyber espionage
Cyber harassment
Cyber incident
Cyber incident response plan
Cyber insurance
Cyber operations
Cyber privateering
Cyber range
Cyber resiliency
Cyber vandalism
Cyber vigilantism
Cyber warfare
Cyber-physical attack
Cyberattack
Cyberbullying
Cybercrime
Cybercriminal
Cyberlibel
Cyberlocker
Cybersecurity ecosystem
Cybersecurity framework
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification
Cybersecurity mesh
Cyberspace
Cybersquatting
Cyberstalking
Cyberterrorism
Cyberthreat
Cyberwarrior
Cyclic redundancy check
D
Daemon
Daisy chain routers
Dangling pointer
Dark patterns
Dark web
Data access
Data acquisition
Data administration
Data aggregation
Data asset
Data audit
Data availability
Data backup
Data bank
Data breach
Data breach prevention
Data bus
Data center design
Data center proxy
Data center rack
Data center storage
Data center tiers
Data center virtualization
Data conversion
Data corruption
Data custodian
Data deduplication
Data diddling
Data diode
Data driven
Data exfiltration
Data flow model
Data governance framework
Data hiding
Data in motion
Data integrity
Data intelligence
Data key
Data lake
Data leakage
Data link layer
Data logging
Data loss
Data loss prevention
Data manipulation language
Data marketplace
Data masking
Data migration
Data mining
Data packet
Data plane
Data poisoning
Data profiling
Data protection policy
Data remanence
Data retrieval
Data sanitization
Data scraping
Data segregation
Data source
Data sovereignty
Data subject
Data terminal equipment
Data theft
Data transfer
Data transmission
Data validation
Data vaulting
Data verification
Data warehouse
Data wiping
Data-centric security
Data driven
Data-in-transit encryption
Database replication
Database report
Datafication
Datagram
Datastore
Dcs1000
DD-WRT
DDoS mitigation
Dead code
Dead-box forensics
Debug symbols
Decapsulation
Deception technology
Declassification
Decoding
Decryption
Dedicated IP
Dedicated server
Deepfake
Default gateway
Default password
Defense In-Depth
Deflection routing
Delta rule
Demilitarized zone
Deobfuscate
Deprecation
DFIR
DHCP
DHCP attack
DHCP proxy
Dialog box
Dictionary attack
Differential fault analysis attack
Differential privacy
Diffie-Hellman
Digest authentication
Digital certificate
Digital data
Digital dystopia
Digital envelope
Digital exhaust
Digital fingerprint
Digital footprint
Digital identity
Digital information
Digital piracy
Digital Signature Algorithm
Digital switch
Digital twin
Digital watermarking
Direct memory access
Direct-connection
Directory traversal attack
Dirty bit
Disassociation attack
Discretionary Access Control
Disk defragmentation
Distance Vector
Distorting proxy
Distributed firewalls
Distributed network
Distributed system
Diverse routing
DNS A record
DNS AAAA record
DNS amplification attack
DNS attack
DNS blocking
DNS cache
DNS client
DNS cname record
DNS encryption
DNS failover
DNS filtering
DNS firewall
DNS flushing
DNS hijacking
DNS hosting
DNS load balancing
DNS MX record
DNS NS record
DNS over HTTPS
DNS port
DNS propagation
DNS proxy
DNS PTR record
DNS query
DNS rebinding attack
DNS record
DNS redirection
DNS redundancy
DNS reflection attack
DNS resolution
DNS round-robin
DNS server
DNS sinkhole
DNS SOA record
DNS SPF record
DNS SRV record
DNS TTL
DNS tunneling
DNS TXT record
DNS zone
DNS zone transfer
DNSSEC
Docker
Document versioning
Domain
Domain admin
Domain controller
Domain fluxing
Domain hijacking
Domain shadowing
Domain spoofing
DomainKeys Identified Mail
Dotted decimal notation
Double tagging
Downloader trojan
Doxxing
DrDoS attack
Dridex
Drive-by attack
Drive-by download
DRM-free
Droppper
DSLAM
Dual homed host
Dumpster diving attack
Dwell Time
Dynamic analysis
Dynamic DNS
Dynamic IP
Dynamic library
Dynamic ports
Dynamic website
Dyreza
E
E-government
Eavesdropping
Echo check
Edge caching
Edge gateway
Egosurfing
Egress filtering
Egress traffic
EIGRP
Elastic IP address
Electronic data interchange
Electronic intelligence
Electronic signature
Elliptic-curve cryptography
Email attack
Email bomb
Email gateway
Email hoax
Email signature
Email spoofing
Email virus
Embedded intelligence
Embedded software
Emission security
Emoticon
Emotion recognition
Emulator
Encapsulating security payload
Encoding
Encrypted file transfer
Encryption as a service
Encryption key
End-to-end encryption
Endpoint device
Endpoint security
Erasure coding
Error control
Error correction code
Error detection and correction
F
Face ID
Facebook stalking
Facial recognition
Factory reset
Failover
Fake antivirus
False flag
Fast flux
Fault injection attack
Fault tolerance
FCFS
Fiber Distributed Data Interface
Fiber optic switch
Fiber to the Node
Fieldbus
File allocation table
File binder
File format
File hash
File hosting service
G
Gamification
Garbage in garbage out
Garlic routing
Gateway server
GDPR
Generative AI
Generic routing encapsulation
Geo-blocking
Geotagging
GHOST bug
GhostNet
H
Hackathon
Hackintosh
Hacktivism
Half duplex
Halt and Catch Fire
Hamming distance
Handshake protocol
Hard link
Hard reboot
Hard reset
Hardening
Hardware acceleration
Hardware identification
Hash chain
Hash function
Hashing
Headless system
Heap spray
Heap spraying
HermeticWiper
I
I/O controller
I2P
Ice phishing
Idempotence
Identity and access management
Identity cloning
Identity fabric
Identity orchestration
Identity proofing
IEEE 802
ILOVEYOU
Image recognition
Image spam
IMEI
Impersonation attack
Incremental backups
Indicator of compromise
Indicators of compromise
Inetd
Inference attack
Information hiding
Information management
Information processing
Information security policy
Infotainment
Infrared
Ingress filtering
Initial access brokers
Initialization vector
Inline frame
Input layer
Input validation attack
Insecure deserialization
Insecure direct object references
Insertion attack
Installcore
Integer overflow
Integrated circuit
Integrated drive electronics
Integrated service digital network
Integrity checking
Intel Virtualization Technology
Intelligent character recognition
Intelligent cloud
Intelligent network
Intelligent web
Interception attacks
Interconnection agreement
Interface message processor
Interior gateway protocol
Internet backbone
Internet background noise
Internet bot
Internet Control Message Protocol
Internet key exchange
Internet of bodies
Internet of Everything
Internet of Medical Things
Internet Protocol address
Internet routing
Internet security
Internet telephony
Internet troll
Internet worm
Intranet
Intrusion detection system
IoT botnet
IoT gateway
IoT middleware
IP address blocking
IP Camera
IP forwarding
IP hijacking
IP packet
IP reputation
IP SLA
IP surveillance
IPv4
IS-IS
ISP
Iterative DNS query
ITSM
J
K
L
LAN party
Lateral movement
Lattice-based access control
Layer 2 Forwarding protocol
Layer 4 switch
Leaf-spine architecture
Leakware
Leased line
Least privilege
Least privilege access
Least Significant Bit
Legacy system
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Linear-feedback shift register
M
MAC address
Machine cycle
Machine data
Machine learning
Macro virus
Madware
Magecart
Magnet link
Mail exchange record
Main distribution frame
Malicious code
Malleability
Malvertising
Malware obfuscation
Malware-as-a-service
MAM
MAN
Man trap
Man-in-the-middle attack
Managed file transfer
Managed service provider platform
Management information base
Manchester encoding
Mandatory access control
Masquerade attack
Master boot record
Master password
Md5
Media access control
Media access unit
Melissa virus
Meltdown vulnerability
Memory allocation
Memory cache
Memory dump
Merkle tree
Mesh networking
Mesh node
Message broker
Message passing
Message switching
MetaMask
Metasploit
Metropolitan area network
Micro virtual machine
MiFi
Minification
Mix network
Mobile ad hoc network
Mobile code
Mobile credential
Mobile malware
Mobile network operator
Mobile proxy
Modem
Monitoring software
Monoculture
Monte Carlo simulation
Morris worm
Most significant bit
Moves adds and changes
MPLS
MPOE
MSAU
Muling
Multi-homed
Multicast router
Mutual authentication
Mutual exclusion
N
Name resolution
Narrowband
NAS
NAT traversal
Net neutrality
NetBIOS
Netflow
Netiquette
Netmask
Netsplit
Netwalker ransomware
Network access control
Network adapter
Network administrator
Network based ids
Network bottleneck
Network bridge
Network configuration management
Network congestion
Network connectivity
Network convergence
Network database
Network degradation
Network detection and response
Network encryption
Network forensics
Network frame
Network function virtualization
Network hub
Network ID
Network information system
Network infrastructure
Network intelligence
Network interface card
Network intrusion protection system
Network layer
Network management system
Network node manager
Network port
Network prefix
Network processor
Network resilience
Network sandboxing
Network scanning
Network security protocols
Network segment
Network service provider
Network sniffing
Network socket
Network tap
Network throughput
Network Time Protocol
Network topology
Network traffic analysis
Next hop
Nmap
Node
Non-return-to-zero
Nonce
Nonlinearity
Nord name
Northbound interface southbound interface
Not-a-virus
NotPetya
NTP amplification attack
Nuker
Null authentication
Null session
O
P
Packet capture
Packet coalescing
Packet filtering
Packet loss
Packet sniffer
Packet sniffing
Packet switched network
Packet switching
Parallel processing
Parental controls
Parity check
Parser
Pass the hash
Passcode
Passive attack
Passive surveillance
Passphrase
Password authentication protocol
Password policy
Password protection
Password salting
Password sniffer
Password spraying
Password vault
Passwordless
Patch
Patch management
Patch Tuesday
Pattern recognition
Payload
PCI bus
Peer-to-peer
Peering
Perimeter security
Peripheral device
Permalink
Persistent cookie
Personal firewall
Personal identifiable information
Personal VPN
Personal web server
Petya
PGP Encryption
Pharming
Phase-shift keying
Phlashing
PHP injection
Phreaking
Physical address
Physical layer
Piggybacking
Ping
Ping of death
Ping sweep
Pipeline
Pirated software
Platform security
Point of presence (POP)
Pod slurping
Point of presence
Point-to-point protocol
Polymorphic malware
Polymorphic virus
Port address translation
Port knocking
Port mirroring
Port scanning
Port triggering
Portable computer
Portal application
Post-quantum cryptography
Potentially unwanted application
Poweliks
Power distribution unit
Power over ethernet
Power usage effectiveness
PPPoE
Predictive data mining
Preemption
Presentation layer
Pretexting
Privacy policy
Private internet access
Private IP
Priveleged account
Privilege escalation
Privileged access workstation
Proactive defense
Process hollowing
Product cipher
Promiscuous mode
Proprietary information
Proprietary software
Protocol conversion
Protocol stack
Proxy surfing
Pseudonym
Pseudonymization
PsExec
Public cloud infrastructure
Public domain software
Public IP
Public key encryption
Public key infrastructure
Public proxy
PvE
PvP
PWN
Q
R
Race condition
Rainbow table attack
RAM scraping
Random access memory
RARP
RC4
RC5
RC6
Real time computing
Real-time communications
Real-time data
Recommendation engine
Reconnaissance
Recovery mode
Recovery time objective
Recurrent neutral network
Red hat hacker
Red team
RedHack
Redundant hardware
Relay server
Remote access server
Remote access trojan
Remote attack
Remote computer
Remote desktop
Remote desktop protocol
Remote device
Remote monitoring and management
Remote outdoor router
Remote procedure call
Remote shell
Repeater
Replay attack
Request for Comments
Resident virus
Residual risk
Resource exhaustion
Response time
Reverse brute-force attack
Reverse DNS
Reverse engineering
Reverse-path forwarding
REvil ransomware
RF Jamming
RFC1918
RFID blocking
RFID tag
Rich internet application
Rijndael
Ring network
Risk assessment
Risk modeling
Risk monitoring
Risk-based access control
Risktool
Riskware
Rogue access point
Rogue device
Rogue security software
Rogueware
Rollback
Root access
Root of trust
Root server
Root user
Rooting
Rotating proxy
Round Robin DNS
Round trip time
Route summarization
Routing information protocol
Routing loop
Routing table
Rowhammer
RPG
RPO
Rubber duck debugging
Rubber ducky attack
Ryuk ransomware
S
S/Key
Safe mode
Salami fraud
Salting
Sandbox escape
Sandbox gaming
Sandboxing
Scam
Scanning attack
Scareware
Scatternet
Screen lock
Screen scraping
Screened subnet firewall
Script Kiddie
Scunthorpe problem
SECaaS
Secret key
Secure boot
Secure coding
Secure connection
Secure cookie
Secure destruction
Secure Electronic Transactions
Secure enclave
Secure erase
Secure Print
Secure Shell
Security assessment
Security audit
Security automation
Security certificate
Security content automation protocol
Security domain
Security event management
Security hardening
Security identifier
security operations center
Security perimeter
Security policy
Security software
Security through diversity
Security token
Segment routing
Self-destructing email
Self-signed certificate
Sensitive information
Separation of duties
SerDes
Serial port
Serial server
Server hosting
Server Message Block
Server redundancy
Server virtualization
Serverless
Service pack
Session cookie
Session fixation attack
Session hijacking
Session key
Session layer
Session token
Sextortion
SFTP server
Shadow copy
Shadow Password Files
Shadowsocks
Shamoon
Shared IP
Shared proxy
Shared resources
Shared storage
Sharenting
Sharking
Shellcode
Shimming attack
Shodan search engine
Shoulder surfing
Shylock
Side-channel attack
Sidejacking
Sideloading
Signaling gateway
Signals analysis
Signature verification
Sim toolkit
SIP proxy
Site survey
Skimming attack
Smart bulb
Smart card
Smart contract
Smart grid
Smart meter
SMIME
Smishing
Sms spoofing
Smurf attack
Smurfing
Snake malware
Snowshoe spam
SOC as a service
Social engineering
Soft copy
Softlifting
Software assurance
Software package
Software piracy
Software repository
Software-defined networking
Source code
Source code analysis tool
Spambot
Spamming
Spanning tree protocol
Spear phishing
Spectre vulnerability
Split DNS
Spoofing attack
Spooling
Spyeye
Spyware
SQL injection
SQL injection scanner
SQL injection tool
SSID
SSL Encryption
SSL stripping attack
Stack smashing
Staging server
Stalkerware
STARTTLS
State
Stateful firewall
Stateful inspection
Static code analysis
Static data
Static IP
Static NAT
Static routing
Stealth virus
Stealth VPN
Steganalysis
Steganography
STEM
Sticky bit
Sticky session
Storage area network server
Storage capacity
Storage over Internet Protocol
Stream cipher
Streaming network telemetry
Stress testing
Strict SSL
Strong authentication
Structured prediction
Stub network
STUN
STUN server
Subnet
Subnetting
Substitution cipher
Subtyping
Super cookie
Superkey
Supernetting
Superuser
Svchost.exe
Switching fabric
Switching loop
Sybil attack
Symbian
Symmetric key authentication
SYN flood
Synchronization
Synchronous optical networking
Synthetic data
Synthetic identity theft
Sysinternals
Syslog
Sysmon
System file
System integrity protection
System migration
System security
T
Tabnabbing
Taint analysis
Targeted attacks
Tarpitting
TCP handshake
TCP reset attack
Teardrop attack
Tech support scam
Telecommunications equipment
Telnet
TEMPEST shielding
Template injection
Terminal adapter
Terminal emulation
Terminal master key
Terminal node controller
TeslaCrypt
Tethering
Text data mining
The kill chain
Thick client
Third-party cookie
Third-party risk management
Thrashing
Threat actor
Threat assessment
Threat hunting
Threat landscape
Threat monitoring
Threat vector
Throughput
Thumb drive
Tiger team
Time bomb
Time division duplex
Time to live
Time-division multiplexing
Timestomping
Timing attack
TOCTOU attack
Token ring
Token ring network
Tokenization
Tool kit
Top-down design
Touch ID
Tracking cookie
Tracking pixel
Traffic shaping
Transactional data
Transactions per second
Transceiver
Transcoding
TRANSEC
Transmitter
Transparent bridge
Transparent proxy
Transponder
Transport layer
Transposition cipher
TrickBot
Triple DES
Trivial file transfer protocol
Trojan
True positives
Trusted computing
Tunneling
Two-factor authentication
Two-phase commit
Typosquatting
U
U2F
Ubiquitous computing
UEBA
Uefi rootkit
Unauthorized access
Unicast address
Unified computing system
Uniform resource identifier
Universally unique identifier
V
V2Ray protocol
Vampire tap
Vanity domain
VBN
VCPE
Vehicle-to-Infrastructure
Verichip
Virtual address
Virtual desktop infrastructure
Virtual firewall
Virtual host
Virtual IP address
Virtual machine migration
Virtual private LAN service
Virtual private server
w
Wabbit
Wake-on lan
WAN
WAN aggregation
WAN mini port
WAN optimizer
WAN port
War driving
War texting
Warchalking
Wardialing
Warez
Warm boot
Warshipping
Watering hole attack
Wearable computer
Web access management
Web authorization management
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