Cybersecurity Concepts and Terminology

Comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards defining key cybersecurity and cryptographic concepts from the lecture transcript.

Confidentiality

Ensures information is accessible only to authorized people or systems.

Integrity

Ensures information has not been improperly changed or destroyed.

Availability

Ensures systems and data are accessible when needed.

CIA Triad

The three core security objectives: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Non-repudiation

Provides proof that an action occurred so a party cannot credibly deny performing it.

Authentication

Verifies the identity of a user, device, or system.

Authorization

Determines what an authenticated identity is allowed to access or do.

Accounting

Tracks and records user or system activity.

AAA

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.

Least Privilege

Users receive only the permissions necessary to perform their tasks.

Separation of Duties

Divides critical responsibilities among multiple people to reduce fraud or abuse.

Defense in Depth

Uses multiple layers of security controls so failure of one control does not defeat security.

Zero Trust

Security model that does not automatically trust users or devices based on location and requires verification before access.

Security Control

A safeguard used to reduce security risk.

Preventive Control

A control intended to stop an incident before it occurs.

Detective Control

A control intended to discover or identify security incidents.

Corrective Control

A control intended to fix or reduce the effects of an incident after it occurs.

Deterrent Control

A control intended to discourage someone from attempting an unwanted action.

Compensating Control

An alternative control used when the preferred control cannot be implemented.

Directive Control

A control that tells people what actions or behaviors are required.

Technical Control

A security control implemented using technology.

Managerial Control

A security control involving policies, risk management, planning, and oversight.

Operational Control

A security control implemented primarily through people and operational processes.

Physical Control

A security control that protects physical assets or restricts physical access.

Vulnerability

A weakness that can be accidentally triggered or intentionally exploited to cause a security breach.

Threat

The potential for someone or something to exploit a vulnerability and breach security.

Threat Actor

The person, group, or entity that poses a threat.

Threat Vector

The path or method a threat actor uses to exploit a vulnerability.

Risk

The level of hazard created by threats and vulnerabilities, based on likelihood and impact.

Attack Surface

The total number of points through which an attacker could attempt to enter or affect a system.

Internal Threat Actor

A threat actor who already has authorized access, such as an employee, contractor, or partner.

External Threat Actor

A threat actor without authorized access who must first infiltrate the target.

Insider Threat

A security threat originating from someone with legitimate access to organizational resources.

Nation-State Actor

A government-backed threat actor typically possessing substantial funding and advanced capabilities.

Hacktivist

A threat actor motivated primarily by political, ideological, or social causes.

Organized Crime

A financially motivated criminal group using cyberattacks for profit.

Script Kiddie

A low-sophistication attacker who relies primarily on existing tools and exploits.

Shadow IT

Technology used within an organization without approval or oversight from the appropriate IT department.

Social Engineering

Manipulating people into revealing information or performing actions that compromise security.

Phishing

Fraudulent messages designed to trick victims into revealing information or performing malicious actions.

Spear Phishing

Phishing targeted at a specific person or organization.

Whaling

Phishing specifically targeting high-value individuals such as executives.

Smishing

Phishing performed through SMS or text messages.

Vishing

Phishing performed through voice calls.

Pretexting

Creating a fabricated scenario or identity to persuade a victim to reveal information or take an action.

Impersonation

Pretending to be another person or trusted entity.

Tailgating

Following an authorized person into a restricted area without independently authenticating.

Shoulder Surfing

Observing someone's screen, keyboard, or documents to obtain sensitive information.

Dumpster Diving

Searching discarded materials for sensitive information.

Baiting

Using something desirable to lure a victim into compromising security.

Misinformation

Incorrect information spread without necessarily intending to deceive.

Disinformation

False information deliberately created or spread to deceive.

Malware

Malicious software designed to damage, disrupt, spy on, or gain unauthorized access to systems.

Virus

Malware that attaches itself to another file or program and typically requires user action to spread.

Worm

Self-replicating malware capable of spreading between systems without attaching to another program.

Trojan

Malware disguised as legitimate or desirable software.

Ransomware

Malware that restricts access to systems or data, often through encryption, and demands payment.

Spyware

Malware designed to secretly collect information about a user or system.

Keylogger

Software or hardware that records keystrokes to capture information such as passwords.

Rootkit

Malware designed to provide privileged access while hiding itself or other malicious activity.

Botnet

A collection of compromised devices controlled by an attacker.

Command and Control (C2)

Infrastructure attackers use to communicate with and control compromised systems.

Logic Bomb

Malicious code designed to execute when a particular condition or event occurs.

Backdoor

A hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls to access a system.

Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP)

Software that may not be explicitly malicious but can create unwanted or risky behavior.

Fileless Malware

Malware that primarily operates in memory or uses legitimate system tools rather than relying on traditional malicious files.

Privilege Escalation

Gaining permissions beyond those originally granted.

Lateral Movement

Moving from one compromised system or account to other systems within an environment.

Persistence

Techniques used by an attacker to maintain access to a compromised environment.

Data Exfiltration

Unauthorized transfer of data out of an organization or system.

DoS

Denial-of-Service attack intended to make a service unavailable.

DDoS

Distributed Denial-of-Service attack that uses multiple systems to overwhelm a target.

On-Path Attack

An attacker intercepts communications between parties and may monitor or alter the traffic.

Replay Attack

Capturing legitimate authentication or communication data and retransmitting it later.

Brute-Force Attack

Systematically trying many possible passwords or keys until the correct one is found.

Dictionary Attack

Trying passwords from a predefined list of common words or likely passwords.

Password Spraying

Trying a small number of common passwords against many different accounts.

Credential Stuffing

Using username/password combinations stolen from one service to attempt access to other services.

Collision Attack

An attempt to find two different inputs that produce the same hash value.

Birthday Attack

A hash collision attack that exploits the mathematical probability of collisions.

Plaintext

Data in its original readable, unencrypted form.

Ciphertext

Data transformed into encrypted, unreadable form.

Encryption

Transforms plaintext into ciphertext to protect confidentiality.

Decryption

Transforms ciphertext back into plaintext using the appropriate key.

Cipher

An algorithm used to perform encryption and decryption.

Cryptographic Key

A value used by a cryptographic algorithm to control encryption, decryption, signing, or other operations.

Symmetric Encryption

Encryption that uses the same secret key for encryption and decryption.

Asymmetric Encryption

Encryption using a related public/private key pair; a public key can encrypt data that the corresponding private key decrypts.

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard; a widely used symmetric encryption algorithm.

RSA

An asymmetric cryptographic algorithm used for operations such as encryption and digital signatures.

ECC

Elliptic Curve Cryptography; asymmetric cryptography providing strong security with smaller keys than RSA.

Hashing

A one-way cryptographic process that converts input into a fixed-length message digest.

Hash

A fixed-length value produced by a hashing algorithm.

Message Digest

Another term for the output produced by a cryptographic hash function.

SHA

Secure Hash Algorithm; a family of cryptographic hashing algorithms.

MD5

Message Digest Algorithm 5; an older hashing algorithm with known collision weaknesses.

Collision

When two different inputs produce the same hash value.

Salt

Random data added to input before hashing to make attacks against stored hashes more difficult.

Key Stretching

A technique that repeatedly processes a password or key to make brute-force attacks more computationally expensive.

HMAC

Hash-based Message Authentication Code; combines a secret key and hashing to provide integrity and authenticity.