Anti-virus Software: A program that monitors a computing device or network to detect or identify major types of malicious code. The software also prevents or contains malware incidents.
Black Hat: A person who tries to find computer security vulnerabilities and exploits them for malicious reasons or personal financial gain.
Chip and Pin: A system of paying for something using a credit or debit card that has information stored on it on a microchip. Instead of signing, you enter your card into a machine, along with your 4-digit PIN number to prove who you are.
Critical infrastructure: The systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to society that the incapacity or destruction of such may have a debilitating impact on the security, economy, public health or safety, environment, or any combination of these matters. (give examples people can understand e.g. electricity generation, telecommunication, financial services, public health etc.)
Cyberbullying: The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending threatening or intimidating messages.
Data breach: The unauthorised movement or disclosure of sensitive information to an unauthorised party.
Encryption: Converting and encoding data into a form that cannot be easily understood by unauthorised people. Encryption is considered an effective method of protecting information as authorised users are able to decrypt encrypted data by making use of an encryption key or password.
DoS and DDoS: A Denial of Service Attack (DoS) seeks to make a target machine or network resource unavailable for its intended users. A Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) comes from numerous sources using different IP addresses. These IP addresses are often spoofed, making it difficult to find the actual perpetrators.
Hack-a-thon: An event, typically lasting several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming.
Hacker: An unauthorised individual who attempts to or gains unlawful access to an information system.
Internet of Things: The connection of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity. These embedded items enable the objects to collect and exchange data via the internet. Some examples of IoT devices include home automation systems, wearable tech devices such as Fitbit, etc.
Internet Service Provider/ISP: A company that provides internet services, including personal and business access to the internet.
Juice jacking: Malware may be installed on your mobile via a USB cable that doubles up as a charger and to transfer data. In this way, data on your device can also be copied without you even knowing.
Malware: Software that compromises the operation of a system by performing unauthorised functions or processes.
Multi-factor authentication: A security tool that uses multiple verification techniques to prove that the person attempting to log onto an account really is the individual authorised to access it. For example, logging into an online service may require a password along with an OTP code sent to you via SMS.
Personally Identifiable Information (PII): Information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.
Phishing: A digital form of social engineering to trick individuals into providing sensitive information.
Ransomware: A type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. The ransom is often demanded in a digital currency – such as Bitcoin – as this provides anonymity for the cybercriminal.
Spam: The abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages.
Spoofing: The forgery of an e-mail header so that the message appears to have originated from a well-regarded, legitimate source – rather than a malicious individual trying to imitate the actual source.
Spyware: Software that is secretly installed into an information system without the knowledge of the system user or owner. The spyware then gathers passwords or other sensitive information from the host system.
Trolling: Making a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.
White Hat: A computer security specialist who breaks into protected systems and networks to test and assess their security.