Cyber Crime is increasing day after day and companies are facing huge loss by cyber-attacks events. According to a report, cost of a cyber-attack is huge, even in most cases cyber-attack costs millions of dollars to a company. So to be stay safe from cyber-attack, we should take proper precautions. Today, we will acquaint you with some more frequently used cyber terms that are related to Cyber Security.
1. Malware – Malware is a malicious software program designed to damage computer system and networks. Malware can infect computers to give cyber criminals remote access to the computer. Malware can steal your confidential information from your device; even malware can send spam from an infected device to other devices.
2. Computer Virus – The term ‘Computer Virus’ was coined by Fred Cohen in 1983. Computer virus is a malicious program which get loaded in your device without your knowledge, and Computer virus can replicate by copying itself to another program.
3. Denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) – Denial-of-service attack is a type of attack where cyber criminals temporary or permanently disrupt service of a host connected to the internet. So user won’t be able to access network resources. First Denial-of-service attack was made by Khan C. Smith in 1997. He demonstrated the Denial-of-service attack in a DEFCON event. He disrupted the internet access to the Las Vegas Strip for over an hour.
4. Hacker – Hacker is an individual, who exploits weakness in computer network by his security skills. Hacker may exploit computer networks to earn money, to steal confidential information etc. There are three types of hackers; these are White Hat Hacker, Black Hat Hacker and Gray Hat Hacker.
5. Data Breach – A data breach is release of private and confidential information to public. This confidential information may be in the form of digital data.
6. Ransomware – Ransomware is a type of malware which deliberately encrypts your data, prevent you from accessing your data and ask for money to decrypt the data.
7. Phishing – Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to steal you secret and confidential information. Fraudster steals your username, password, credit card, debit card data, banking and financial information through Phishing attack. There are 5 categories of phishing these are Vishing , Smishing , Spear Phishing , Search Engine Phishing and Whaling
8. Virtual Private Network (VPN) – VPN or Virtual Private Network is an encrypted connection over the internet from a device to a network, to hide your online activity from Cyber Criminals, Government Agencies etc.
9. IP address – According to Wikipedia “An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing.”
10. Firewall – Firewall is a network security system designed to monitor and control incoming and outgoing internet traffic. Firewall helps to prevent unauthorized access to a network. Firewall can be implemented as both hardware and software level.
11. Encryption – Encryption is a method by which digital data is converted from a readable form to a non-readable form. Encryption is done to secure your digital information.
12. Exploit – Exploit is an attack on computer system, software or network, where cyber criminals take advantage of vulnerability of that computer system, software or network.
13. Vulnerability – Vulnerability is a flaw or weakness in a computer system, software or network software which can be exploited by cyber criminals.
14. Patch – When security researchers find a flaw or vulnerability in software, they provide a patch to fix the vulnerability.
15. Penetration Testing – Penetration testing is also known as Pen test. Security Researchers do penetration testing on Computer System or Computer Network to find out vulnerability in it. Cyber Criminals can also do penetration testing to computer systems or computer network to find vulnerability so that they can exploit it later.
16. Anti-Virus – Anti-virus is a computer program to prevent and remove malware from computer system or computer network.
17. Keylogger – Key logger is a malicious computer program which records every keystroke you made on computer. Cyber Criminals install keylogger on your computer to steal your password and secret confidential information.
18. BEC Scam – BEC scam is Business Email Compromise scam, It is also known as CEO Fraud. In this type of scam, Cyber Criminals send phishing mails to CEO of company to gain maximum profit by minimum efforts.