Internet, Cyberspace, and Cybersecurity Lecture Notes

A set of 100 vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts, agencies, historical cyberattacks, and emerging threats discussed in the lecture on Cybersecurity and the Global Era.

Cybersecurity

The collection of tools and procedures that ensure availability, integrity, authenticity, and confidentiality of information and communications.

Availability

Ensuring that information can be accessed efficiently by authorized personnel.

Integrity

Ensuring that data has not been altered in an unauthorized manner.

Authenticity

One of the four key components ensured by cybersecurity tools and procedures for information and communications.

Confidentiality

The principle of restricted access to authorized individuals only.

SVR

The Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia, involved in reconnaissance and strategic espionage.

FSB

The Federal Security Service of Russia, associated with signal intelligence and reconnaissance.

GRU

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia, involved in information, sabotage, and military operations.

APT29

A specific threat actor group associated with Russia's SVR.

Calisto

A threat actor group associated with Russia's SVR.

Gamaredon

A threat actor group associated with Russia's FSB.

Turla

A threat actor group associated with Russia's FSB.

APT28

A threat actor group associated with Russia's GRU.

Sandworm

A threat actor group associated with Russia's GRU.

EMBER BEAR

A threat actor group associated with Russia's GRU.

Espionage

The act of obtaining secret information, often conducted by agencies like the SVR.

Reconnaissance

The exploration of an area or system to gain information, often used in hybrid warfare.

Destabilisation

A goal of hybrid warfare involve activities meant to undermine the stability of a state.

Hybrid Warfare

A strategy combining conventional military force with unconventional methods like cyberattacks and disinformation.

Signal Intelligence

Intelligence-gathering by the interception of signals, a function performed by the FSB.

Court Square Ventures

The company associated with a data breach affecting $200$ million people.

Adobe

The company that experienced a data breach in $2018$ affecting $150$ million people.

eBay

The company that experienced a data breach in $2018$ affecting $145$ million people.

Heartland

A company that suffered a data breach of $130$ million credit card details.

Target

A retail company that suffered a data breach of $110$ million names and credit card details.

T-kmaxx

A company that experienced a data breach affecting $94$ million people.

Anthem

A healthcare company that suffered a data breach of $88$ million social security numbers and employment info.

PlayStation

A gaming platform that suffered a data breach in $2018$ affecting $77$ million people.

Mossack Fonseca

The law firm from which $11.5$ million documents regarding offshore companies were leaked.

Change Healthcare

The organization affected by a major data breach in $2024$.

Sony Picture Hack

A $2014$ cyber attack associated with the film 'The Interview' and threats of war.

Stuxnet

A malicious computer worm discovered in $2010$ that disrupted Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Natanz

The location of the Iranian uranium enrichment facility targeted by the Stuxnet worm.

Siemens Step 7

The control software targeted by Stuxnet to regulate centrifugal rotational speed.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

One of the sources cited for data regarding the Iranian centrifuges out of operation.

Boris Alekseyevich Antonov

One of the $12$ Russian military intelligence officers indicted for interfering with the $2016$ U.S. elections.

Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin

A Russian officer wanted by the FBI for conspiracy to commit computer crimes and identity theft.

Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev

An individual charged with conspiracy to hack state boards of elections and U.S. election technology companies.

Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek

A member of the Russian military intelligence indicted for the $2016$ election interference.

Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev

A Russian intelligence officer indicted for hacking into computers of U.S. persons involved in the $2016$ election.

Artem Andreyevich Malyshev

One of the Russian defendants charged with aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev

A Russian military officer indicted for his role in the computer hacking conspiracy against the U.S. in $2016$.

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk

A Russian officer charged with two separate conspiracies to commit computer crimes related to U.S. elections.

Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin

One of the $12$ Russian military intelligence officers indicted for U.S. election interference.

Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov

A Russian military officer wanted for gaining unauthorized access to U.S. election-related computers.

Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov

A Russian intelligence officer indicted by a federal grand jury for computer crimes in $2018$.

Viktor Borisovich Netyksho

One of the $11$ defendants charged with a computer hacking conspiracy to steal and release documents.

ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers, a nonprofit created in $1998$ to manage domain names.

.com

The common top-level domain name used for commercial websites.

.org

The top-level domain name typically used for organizations.

.net

The top-level domain name used for network providers.

.gov

The top-level domain name reserved for the U.S. Government.

.co.uk

The country-code domain name used for commercial entities in the United Kingdom.

.co.za

The country-code domain name used for commercial entities in South Africa.

Surface Web

The part of the worldwide web that is reachable by standard search engines like Google or Bing.

Deep Web

The part of the web containing private information not indexed by search engines, such as medical records and netbanking.

Dark Web

A part of the web that requires specific software like Tor to access and is often used for illegal sales.

Silk Road

A famous dark web marketplace used for illegal drug sales, taken down by authorities.

Evolution

One of the dark web marketplaces cited for illegal sales along with Silk Road and Agora.

Agora

A dark web marketplace active between $2013$ and $2015$ for sales including drugs and hacking services.

Tor

Software used to access the Dark Web and provide anonymity for users.

Hidden Wiki

A directory of websites on the Dark Web.

The Splinternet

The fragmentation of the internet often caused by government policies like the Great Chinese Firewall.

The Great Chinese Firewall

A primary example of the Splinternet where a state regulates its national internet.

Tribalism

A factor that amplifies fake news, making it difficult to combat within the global digital era.

Metaverse

An emerging digital space that currently lacks established checks and balances.

Phishing

A cybercrime where scammers impersonate a trusted source to lure victims into revealing personal information.

Social Engineering

Tactics used by scammers to manipulate people into giving up confidential information, often through heightening emotions.

Ransomware

A type of malware that locks a user's data and blackmails them for payment.

Spyware

A type of malware designed to steal data from a computer system without the user's knowledge.

Adware

Malware that spams a user with unwanted advertisements.

Worms

Types of malware that spread autonomously across various computers.

Trojans

A form of malware that sneaks onto a personal computer by appearing as legitimate software.

Botnets

A network of private computers infected with malicious software and controlled as a group, turning PCs into 'zombies'.

Killer Robots

Autonomous weapons systems that can attack without human guidance, posing legal and ethical problems.

Deepfakes

AI-generated synthetic media used for disinformation, sexual exploitation, and social engineering.

Large Language Models (LLMs)

AI technology that can be used in false flag operations and to generate fake attack images.

Smile to Pay

A Chinese facial recognition payment system mentioned as part of the 'Police State' concept.

Megvii

A highly valued Chinese facial recognition startup that filed for an IPO.

False Flag Operations

Tactics where deepfakes and LLMs are used to generate images of fake attacks to mislead the public.

Legal Warfare

The use of laws to obstruct, delay, or mobilize against an entity in the cybersecurity era.

Psychological Warfare

The use of digital tools like deepfakes to influence morale, emotions, or induce terrorism.

Attack Surface

The total sum of points where an unauthorized user can enter or extract data from an environment.

Marea

A high-capacity submarine cable system owned by companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

TeleGeography

The source provider for the maps of planned and active submarine cable systems.

Big Brother

A term representing state-sponsored surveillance and the oversight of citizens.

Killer Robots Ban

A movement supported by over $3,000$ AI and robotics researchers to prevent a military AI arms race.

Facial Recognition public shaming

The use of AI surveillance to identify and publicly punish citizens for specific behaviors, as seen in China.

Disinformation

The spread of false information, described in the lecture as a 'business' in the Splinternet era.

Cyber Trends

Observations such as increasing global attack surfaces and the malicious activity of nation-state sponsored actors.

Generative AI

A technology trend described as making us 'play an old game with new rules'.

Silk Road illegal drugs

A category of Dark Web sales valued at $27.0$ million in the Economist sample.

Fake IDs

A type of non-drug sale found on dark web markets alongside credit-card data and hacking services.

Kinetic Attacks

Physical attacks using military force, contrasted with cyberattacks in global security reflections.

Undersea Cables

Physical infrastructure essential for connecting the world's internet, subject to modern hacking concerns.

Malware

A broad category of malicious software including Ransomware, Spyware, and Trojans.

Domain Names

The addresses like .gov or .com managed through the process established by ICANN.

Intellectual Property Theft

The target of a $2015$ agreement between the U.S. and China to stop or support its cessation.

Digital Era Human Rights

The UN recognition that human rights must be protected online just as they are offline.