Introduction to and Overview of Cybersecurity (Video)

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the cybersecurity lecture notes.

Cyberspace

The notional environment where communication over computer networks occurs; an operational domain framed by electronics and the electromagnetic spectrum to create, store, modify, exchange, and exploit information via interconnected information systems.

Cybersecurity

The protection of computer systems from theft or damage to hardware, software, or information, and from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.

CIA Triad

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

Confidentiality

Protecting information from disclosure to unauthorized entities.

Integrity

Ensuring information is not altered accidentally or by unauthorized entities.

Availability

Ensuring information and services are accessible when needed.

Threat

The potential for an event that could cause an undesirable effect on an asset, evaluated with respect to the CIA triad.

Safeguard

A control or measure designed to reduce the risk posed by a threat.

Vulnerability

A weakness or gap in safeguards that allows a threat to cause harm to an asset.

Exploit

A technique that takes advantage of a vulnerability to achieve an effect on an asset.

Asset

Information, software, hardware, and bandwidth; also intangible assets like reputation, privacy, or money.

Risk

The potential for loss or undesired effects on an asset, often assessed relative to threats, safeguards, and the CIA triad.

Cost-Benefit Principle

Do not devote more resources than the potential loss; weigh cost of loss against cost of prevention and consider secondary costs.

Attack Phases (Five P’s)

Probe, Penetrate, Persist, Propagate, Profit—the sequential stages of an attack.

Denial of Service (DoS)

An attack aimed at overwhelming resources to prevent legitimate use of services.

Defensible Systems

Systems designed to be harder to attack and easier to defend, built around four elements: Controlled, Minimized, Monitored, Current.

Controlled

Element of defensible systems focusing on accountability, authentication, access controls, and related concepts (MAC/DAC/RBAC, physical security).

Minimized

Reduce attack surface by removing unnecessary services, software, accounts, and hardware; enforce least privilege.

Monitored

Logging and auditing to detect and respond to security events; includes antivirus/IDS and file integrity monitoring.

Current

Keeping software and systems patched and up to date from trusted sources; includes backups.

Access Control

Mechanisms that regulate who or what can access data, executables, and hardware; involves subjects, objects, ACLs, and kernel enforcement.

MAC (Mandatory Access Control)

Access decisions based on fixed policy and levels of clearance, often with multi-level security.

DAC (Discretionary Access Control)

Access decisions controlled by the owner of the resource.

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

Access based on user roles rather than individual identity alone.

Authentication

Verifying the identity of a user, process, or device before permitting access.

Something You Know

A knowledge factor in authentication, such as a password or passphrase.

Something You Have

A possession factor in authentication, such as a token or smart card.

Something You Are

A biometric factor in authentication, such as a fingerprint or iris scan.

Password Security

Best practices for passwords: complexity, passphrases, mandatory changes, lockouts, hashing and salts, and protection against attacks.

Least Privilege

Giving users only the minimum privileges necessary to perform their jobs.

Logging and Auditing

Recording user activities and system events to support troubleshooting and security monitoring.

Patch Management

Keeping operating systems, services, applications, and drivers up to date with security patches from trusted sources.

Encryption

Encoding information to protect confidentiality, often used on networks and stored data.

Digital Signatures

Cryptographic signatures that verify data integrity and authenticity.

Firewall

A security device or software that filters network traffic according to policy to block threats and control access.

Physical Security

Protection of hardware and facilities from physical tampering or damage.