Advanced Persistent Threat
What Is an Advanced Persistent Threat? An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a threat (that could transform into a full-scale attack) where a hacker has…
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Cybersecurity Glossary
Defining the key cybersecurity terms you need to know
Deepen your knowledge with definitions, explanations, and overviews of the most important terms and concepts in cybersecurity.
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Botnet
What Is a Botnet? A botnet is a network of bot-compromised machines that can be controlled and used to launch massive attacks by a bot-herder.…
Brute-Force Attack
What Is a Brute-Force Attack? Brute-force is a hacking method that uses trial-and-error password guessing. It relies on software to automatically go through millions of…
Business Email Compromise (BEC)
What is Business Email Compromise? Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a kind of cybercrime where a hacker gains control of an internal email account and…
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Cryptojacking
What Is Cryptojacking? Cryptocurrencies have become more popular and edging towards the mainstream, the mining of these digital currencies—which uses computing power to solve complex…
Cyber Attack
What Is a Cyber Attack? A cyber attack is any attempt – successful or otherwise — by cybercriminals to access a cloud or computer network…
Cyber Risk Assessment
What Is a Cyber Risk Assessment? A cyber risk assessment (also known as a cybersecurity assessment) is a key component of a risk management…
Cyber Threat Intelligence
What Is Threat Intelligence? According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), threat intelligence refers to “threat information that has been aggregated, transformed,…
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Dark Web Monitoring
What Is Dark Web Monitoring? Dark web monitoring is the scanning of the dark web for employee credentials and confidential company information. Dark web monitoring…
DDoS Attack
What Is a DDoS Attack? A DDoS attack consists of multiple compromised systems attacking a target on your network, such as a server or your…
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Endpoint
What Is an Endpoint? It may seem like a simple question, but the answer is complicated — not because of the tech industry, but rather…
Endpoint Detection and Response
What Is an Endpoint? An endpoint is any device that resides at the end point of a network connection and can communicate on that network.…
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Hypervisor (VMM)
What Is a Hypervisor? A hypervisor is another term for a virtual monitoring machine (VMM), a device that is able to manage multiple virtual machines…
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Incident Response
What Is Incident Response? Incident response (IR) is a set of processes and tools used to identify, contain, and remediate cyber attacks, and to restore…
Initial Access Brokers
What Are Initial Access Brokers? Initial access brokers are threat actors that sell cybercriminals access to corporate networks. They are highly skilled in their field…
Internet of Things (IoT)
What Is IoT? “IoT” is short for “Internet of Things,” which is the network of internet-enabled and connected devices. Since the term was first coined…
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Keylogger
What Is a Keylogger? A keylogger is a program that monitors user keystrokes on a device. This can be used for both illegal and legitimate…
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Lateral Movement
What Is Lateral Movement? Lateral movement is when a threat actor navigates through a breached environment, gaining new access and user privileges as they go.…
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Malicious Apps
What Are Malicious Apps? Malicious apps are a method of manipulating users into downloading malware that allows cybercriminals to steal personal information, including login credentials…
Malware
What Is Malware? Malware, a portmanteau of the words malicious and software, is any software or program that is designed to disrupt and damage a…
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
What Is Managed Detection and Response? Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions combine human work with technology to provide continuous monitoring as well as threat…
MTTD and MTTR
What Is MTTD? Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) is the average time it takes a team to discover a security threat or incident. What Is…
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
What Is Multi-Factor Authentication? Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a form of access control that acts as an additional security measure to a user login. It’s…
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Network Segmentation
What Is Network Segmentation? Network segmentation is the division of an organisation’s network architecture into subnets. Each of these subnets is its own, albeit smaller,…
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Password Fatigue
What Is Password Fatigue? Password fatigue is a feeling of stress and/or frustration stemming from the creation and maintenance of passwords for the multitude of…
Penetration Testing (Pen Tests)
What Is Penetration Testing Penetration testing, also known as pen test, is an authorised and simulated cyber attack performed on an IT system (or systems)…
Phishing
What Is Phishing? The most common social engineering attack, phishing is, simply, a ruse tricks a user into giving access, data, or money to bad…
Polymorphic Virus
What Is a Polymorphic Virus? A polymorphic virus is malware that can adapt, or “morph,” to avoid detection and circumvent security tools. The polymorphic virus…
Pretexting
What Is Pretexting? Pretexting is a social engineering tactic used by threat actors to gain trust, data, or access to accounts using a fabricated story,…
Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP)
What Is the Principle of Least Privilege? It often makes sense for an organisation to limit access to specific systems and data only to those…
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Ransomware
What Is Ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malware that freezes a system or data, preventing users from accessing them. The idea behind the attack…
Ransomware-as-a-Service
What Is Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)? In recent years, threat actors have begun collaborating with each other in a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model to infiltrate organizations. The RaaS…
Red Team v. Blue Team
What Is a Red Team v. Blue Team Exercise? A red team v. blue team is a training exercise conducted by an organisation to test…
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Security Awareness
What Is Security Awareness? Security awareness is a standardised process that provides employees, contractors, vendors, and other third-party stakeholders with cybersecurity education. Security awareness training…
Security Operations (SecOps)
What Is Security Operations (SecOps)? SecOps refers to the people, processes, and technology that all work together to create and manage a security architecture for…
Security Operations Center (SOC)
What Is a Security Operations Center? A security operations center (SOC) is responsible for orchestrating people, technology, and processes to reduce the likelihood and impact…
Shadow IT
What Is Shadow IT? Shadow IT is the unauthorised use of any apps, devices, services, technologies, solutions, and infrastructure without the knowledge, approval, and support…
Social Engineering
What Is Social Engineering? Essentially, social engineering uses psychology to manipulate a person into taking an action. This could be anything from revealing sensitive data…
Spear Phishing
What Is Spear Phishing? Spear phishing is a specific kind of phishing attack where a threat actor targets a specific person or organisation with a…
Spoofing Attack
What Is Spoofing? Spoofing is when bad actors impersonate another person or company. The attacker’s goal is to gain the confidence of the potential victim…
Supply Chain Attack
What Is a Supply Chain Attack? A supply chain attack is when an organisation, or multiple organisations, is attacked through a third-party vendor. A third-party…
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Threat Actor
What Is a Threat Actor? A threat actor is an individual, or group of individuals, who conduct malicious activities on the internet such as cyber…
Threat Hunting
What Is Threat Hunting? Threat hunting is the proactive search through the full spectrum of environmental data to identify advanced threats while developing additional detection…
Trojan Horse
What Is a Trojan Horse? A Trojan Horse is malware that comes in disguise. Designed to look like a legitimate piece of code or software,…
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UEBA
What Is UEBA? UEBA stands for user and entity behavior analytics. It’s a type of cybersecurity solution that uses machine learning algorithms to detect suspicious…
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Vishing
What Is Vishing? Vishing is a cybercrime combining voice calls with phishing attacks. So-called “voice phishing” uses multiple tools and strategies, such as social engineering,…
Vulnerability Management
What Is Vulnerability Management? Vulnerability management is the ongoing process of identifying, assessing, and remediating vulnerabilities within your network or systems. The four stages of…
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Whaling
What Is Whaling? It’s a great question. The answer, however, relies on the proper context. Before we get into what whaling is, let’s take a…
Wire Transfer Fraud
What Is Wire Transfer Fraud? The term comes from the original version of this crime which used wire transfers, or the transfer of funds between…
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XDR
What Is XDR? Extended Detection and Response (XDR) consolidates the data and tools necessary to provide enhanced visibility, analysis, and response for all system risks…
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Zero Trust
What Is Zero Trust? Zero Trust is a cybersecurity strategy that eliminates implicit trust within a network or system. In short, it means, “trust no…
Zero-Day Exploit
What Is a Zero-Day? A zero-day is a vulnerability in a piece of hardware or software that was previously unknown to the vendor, meaning they…
