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Cybersecurity Terminology

It's true...cybersecurity terminology is hard to understand!

It's true...cybersecurity terminology is hard to understand!

If you have begun investigating cybersecurity for your business, you might have run into a problem: cybersecurity terminology is hard to understand!

There are many terms specific to the cybersecurity industry, so if you don’t have much experience in IT, you’re going to come across a lot of unfamiliar terms. To add to your difficulties, cybersecurity involves a lot of acronyms—some of which almost appear to mean the same thing (like MSP and MSSP).

But you must find a cybersecurity solution for your business. Without one, you risk steep financial losses from data leak repair, stolen funds, or liability claims.

So, don’t give up your cybersecurity search just because the terminology gets tricky. We’ve got you covered with the basic cybersecurity terms and definitions you need to know.

Our lists aren’t comprehensive, so they don’t cover all the terms or the a to z of cybersecurity. But they are more like a cybersecurity keywords list, covering the terms you’ll commonly find when looking for cybersecurity solutions. However, these lists are better than a cybersecurity terms and terminologies pdf because they are short and designed for people with little to no familiarity with cybersecurity.

Keep reading to learn the cybersecurity terminology you need so you can find the best security solution for your business.

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What Is Security Terminology

Before we dive into the nitty gritty cybersecurity terms and definitions, let’s establish a basic understanding of cybersecurity terminology.

What is security terminology? Security terminology encompasses all the terms used to describe a security system, software, guideline, or other related processes.

This terminology includes a broad range of industries, not limited to cybersecurity. For example, it includes information security terminology, which relates to data protection and information technology. These terms are more cybersecurity related. Or the terms could cover physical security terminology, which is less related to cybersecurity and includes things like building lockdowns and security cameras.

For our security keywords lists to be short and most helpful in your cybersecurity research, we excluded any physical security terms and concentrated on cybersecurity systems and methods to guard against cyber threats.

But our lists are still thorough, and they cover terms from many different sectors of cybersecurity. We discuss malware terminology, cyber extortion terminology, cyber insurance terminology, and cyber risk management terminology to name a few.

Ready to jump into some cybersecurity terminology? We have broken up the terms into three sections below: cybersecurity buzzwords 2022, cyber words list, and information security acronyms.

Cybersecurity Buzzwords 2022

Our first list of cybersecurity phrases covers the cybersecurity buzzwords. 2022 has brought cybersecurity to the forefront of many companies’ minds, making several cybersecurity terms popular. So, we have definitions for the cybersecurity buzzwords of 2022.

But we also included some previous cybersecurity buzzwords. 2021 especially made come security terms popular, and you’ll still common across them today, so we included the most common cybersecurity buzzwords of 2021 as well.

Here are the cybersecurity buzzwords you need to know:

Blackhat hacker: A person who intentionally causes damage to a computer system, steals data, or commits another cybercrime.

Breach: Occurs when a hacker compromises a computer or device and gains access to its files and network.

Cloud: A technology that allows people to store, manage, and process data through the internet from anywhere in the world.

Cyber kill chain: A cybersecurity model that details the stages of a cyber-attack and helps security teams stop the attacks at every stage.

Cybersecurity: The practice of defending networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use.

Cybersecurity awareness: Refers to the level of awareness people have about cybersecurity in day-to-day situations.

Encryption: The process of transforming readable data into cipher text, which is unreadable to parties who don’t have the decoding key.

Firewall: A defensive technology that monitors access to a network and inhibits unauthorized access or unusual activity.

IP Address: A unique address associated with a computer for identification on the Internet.

Malware: A generic term for malicious software that compromises a system by performing an unauthorized function or process.

Phishing: A malicious email sent to obtain sensitive information either by tricking the recipient into responding with information or by sending a link that will corrupt the device.

Ransomware: A type of malware that encrypts a person’s hard drive, denying access to key files and allowing the hacker to demand a ransom before the files are decrypted.

Spoofing: A technique hackers use to hide their identity by posing as an authorized user.

Whitehat hacker: An ethical hacker who assesses a company’s security and identifies vulnerabilities by hacking the system.

Zero Trust: A security framework that eliminates implicit trust and requires all users to be authenticated before they can be granted or continue access to applications and data.

After reading through that list, you should understand cybersecurity websites and articles better because you can recognize some common cybersecurity and hacker words. Copy and paste these definitions if you want to keep them for future reference. Just be sure to credit Trava somewhere!

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Cyber Words List

While the cybersecurity buzzwords list gives you a general overview of cybersecurity terminology, you need to be familiar with several other cybersecurity vocabulary words. This next cybersecurity and hacker words list will cover more of the terminology you would probably find in a cybersecurity terminology pdf. But once again, we made the list shorter so you can quickly understand the basic terminology.

Here is our cyber words list:

Botnet: A group of computer systems that have been infected by malware or other malicious software, allowing a hacker to connect the computers and conduct malicious attacks with them.

Brute force attack: A hacking method where the hacker tries to guess the password to a computer system either manually or with a program.

Command-and-controls server: An application that controls all compromised computers in a botnet.

Cyber extortion: A type of cybercrime where hackers hold your data, website, computer systems, or other electronic files hostage until you pay the demanded ransom. One example of cyber extortion is ransomware.

Cyber insurance: A form of insurance that will cover the policyholder for various losses associated with digital crime including theft of funds, liability claims, customer notification systems, data recovery services, and other services necessary for recovery after a cyberattack.

Domain: A set of network addresses, including computers, printers, and other devices, that are interconnected and governed as a whole.

Honeypot: Programs that simulate a network with high vulnerabilities trying to attract hackers so they don’t attack the actual computers.

Malicious Code: Software like Trojan horse that appears to perform a useful function, but actually gains unauthorized access to system resources.

Patch: New pieces of software that are released to fix vulnerabilities in the original software.

Risk management: The process of identifying and analyzing risk to either accept, avoid, transfer, or control it to an acceptable level.

By adding those words to your vocabulary, you will know most of the commonly used cyber terms. Numbers of acronyms are also large though, so keep reading to learn the cybersecurity acronyms you may come across as you look for a cybersecurity system.

Information Security Acronyms

To complete your cool cyber terms knowledge, you just need to learn some information security acronyms that you will commonly find.

Here is our list of information security acronyms to know:

AI Security: Artificial Intelligence Security—a digital system that can do tasks typically associated with human reason to autonomously identify/respond to potential cyber threats.

CISA: The Cybersecurity and Infrasture Security Agency—a United States federal agency that leads the effort to enhance the security, resiliency, and reliability of the Nation’s cybersecurity and communications infrastructure.

DDoS: Distributed Denial of Service– a cyber attack that makes a service unusable by overwhelming it with malicious traffic or data from multiple sources.

MDR: Managed Detection and Response—an outsourced service that provides active threat hunting services and responds to discovered threats.

MSSP: Managed Security Service Provider—an outsourced service that provides monitoring and management of security devices and systems.

NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology— an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that publishes the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and several other industry standards to guide organizations in advancing their cybersecurity.

SIEM: Security Information and Event Management—a security solution that helps organizations recognize potential security threats before they disrupt business operations.

Although our lists don’t make a complete cybersecurity dictionary, we have tried to provide enough information so you can continue your search for cybersecurity without getting stuck on the cybersecurity terminology.

Do you want more help with your cybersecurity beyond some cyber terminology? Trava offers unique security solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. We can perform risk assessments to determine your system vulnerabilities, mitigation tools that will strengthen your security system, and cyber insurance that will cover your financial loss if you were to experience a cyberattack.

To learn more about our offerings, schedule a demo and see our services in action today!

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