AP CompSci Unit 4 Vocab

Digital divide

differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics.

Bias

designing or writing from a particular perspective or point of view (and not including or considering other perspectives or points of view).

Citizen science

scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom may not be scientists, who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.

Crowdsourcing

the practice of obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet.

Intellectual property

material created on a computer is the property of the creator or an organization.

Creative Commons

a public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work; used when the content creator wants to give others the right to share, use, and build upon the work they have created.

Open source

programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

Open access

online research output free of any and all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions.

Personally identifiable information (PII)

information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes them.

Multifactor authentication

a method of computer access control in which a user is only granted access after successfully presenting several separate pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism, typically in at least two of the following categories: knowledge (something they know), possession (something they have), and inherence (something they are).

Encryption

the process of encoding data to prevent unauthorized access.

Decryption

the process of decoding data.

Symmetric key encryption

involves one key for both encryption and decryption.

Public key encryption

pairs a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption; the sender does not need the receiver's private key to encrypt a message, but the receiver's private key is required to decrypt the message.

Certificate authorities

issue digital certificates that validate the ownership of encryption keys used in secure communication and are based on a trust model.

Computer virus

a malicious program that can copy itself and gain access to a computer in an unauthorized way; they often attach themselves to legitimate programs and start running independently on a computer.

Malware

software intended to damage a computing system or to take partial control over its operation.

Phishing

a technique that attempts to trick a user into providing personal information; that personal information can then be used to access sensitive online resources, such as bank accounts and emails.

Keylogging

the use of a program to record every keystroke made by a computer user in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information.

Rogue access point

a wireless point that gives unauthorized access to secure networks.