ITM 100 Class 12 (4.1) Key Terms 2025/2026

acceptable use policy (AUP)

A policy that a user must agree to follow in order to be provided access to a network or to the Internet.

AI explainability

Refers to the ability to understand and interpret the output or prediction from the algorithm.

AI hallucination

The fabrication of imaginary text, images, and sources when an AI model does not have enough data to answer a question.

AI transparency

Refers to the extent to which the decision-making processes, algorithms, and data used by artificial intelligence systems are open, accessible, and understandable to stakeholders and users.

anti-spam policy

States that email users will not send unsolicited emails (or spam).

bring your own device (BYOD)

Policy allowing employees to use their personal mobile devices and computers to access enterprise data and applications.

Child Online Protection Act (COPA)

A law that protects minors from accessing inappropriate material on the Internet.

click-fraud

The practice of artificially inflating traffic statistics for online advertisements.

competitive click-fraud

A computer crime where a competitor or disgruntled employee increases a company’s search advertising costs by repeatedly clicking on the advertiser’s link.

confidentiality

The assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorized to view them.

copyright

The legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, book, or video game.

counterfeit software

Software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such.

cyberbullying

Refers to the act of using digital communication technologies, such as social media platforms, text messages, or online forums, to harass, intimidate, threaten, or humiliate others.

cyberbullying policy

Outlines the guidelines, expectations, and consequences related to cyberbullying within an organization or educational institution.

cybervandalism

The electronic defacing of an existing website.

data harvesting

Refers to the process of collecting and extracting large amounts of data from various sources, often through automated means, for analysis, storage, or business purposes.

data scraping

The process of extracting large amounts of data from a website and saving it to a spreadsheet or computer.

digital rights management

A technological solution that allows publishers to control their digital media to discourage, limit, or prevent illegal copying and distribution.

digital trust

Measure of consumer, partner, and employee confidence in an organization's ability to protect and secure data and the privacy of individuals.

Ediscovery (electronic discovery)

Refers to the ability of a company to identify, search, gather, seize, or export digital information in responding to a litigation, audit, investigation, or information inquiry.

email privacy policy

Details the extent to which email messages may be read by others.

employee monitoring policy

Stating explicitly how, when, and where the company monitors its employees.

epolicies

Policies and procedures that address information management, along with the ethical use of computers and the Internet in the business environment.

ethical computer use policy

Contains general principles to guide computer user behavior.

ethics

The principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.

fair information practices (FIPs)

A general term for a set of standards governing the collection and use of personal data and addressing issues of privacy and accuracy.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information of individuals within the European Union (EU).

information compliance

The act of conforming, acquiescing, or yielding information.

information ethics

Governs the ethical and moral issues arising from the development and use of information technologies, as well as the creation, collection, duplication, distribution, and processing of information itself (with or without the aid of computer technologies).

information governance

A method or system of government for information management or control.

information management

Examines the organizational resource of information and regulates its definitions, uses, value, and distribution, ensuring that it has the types of data/information required to function and grow effectively.

information privacy policy

Contains general principles regarding information privacy.

information property

An ethical issue that focuses on who owns information about individuals and how information can be sold and exchanged.

information secrecy

The category of computer security that addresses the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure and confirmation of data source authenticity.

intellectual property

Intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form and includes copyrights, trademarks, and patents.

Internet censorship

The government attempts to control Internet traffic, thus preventing some material from being viewed by a country’s citizens.

Internet use policy

Contains general principles to guide the proper use of the Internet.

nonrepudiation

A contractual stipulation to ensure that ebusiness participants do not deny (repudiate) their online actions.

opt in

Receiving emails by choosing to allow permissions to incoming emails.

opt out

Receiving emails by choosing to deny permission to incoming emails.

patent

An exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention granted by a government to the inventor.

pirated software

The unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software.

privacy

The right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent.

social media manager

A person within the organization who is trusted to monitor, contribute, filter, and guide the social media presence of a company, individual, product, or brand.

social media monitoring

The process of monitoring and responding to what is being said about a company, individual, product, or brand.

social media policy

Outlines the corporate guidelines or principles governing employee online communications.

spam

Unsolicited email.

the right to be forgotten

Allows individuals to request to have all content that violates their privacy removed.

threat

An act or object that poses a danger to assets.

typosquatting

A problem that occurs when someone registers purposely misspelled variations of well-known domain names.

website name stealing

The theft of a website’s name that occurs when someone, posing as a site’s administrator, changes the ownership of the domain name assigned to the website to another website owner.

workplace MIS monitoring

Tracks people’s activities by such measures as number of keystrokes, error rate, and number of transactions processed.