Cybersecurity Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the cybersecurity terms, attacks, and acronyms you keep running into. Search or jump by letter.
A
Account Manipulation
Some of these changes can remain after a password reset, so resetting the password may not be enough. Someone logs into your account on the class group chat…
Agent Hijacking
The attacker plants instructions in content the agent reads while working, and the agent carries them out with its own access instead of doing what its user…
AiTM Phishing
AiTM (adversary-in-the-middle) phishing is a phishing attack in which a fake sign-in page sits between a person and the real service and relays their sign-in.…
AS-REP Roasting
A domain controller will answer a request for such an account, even from someone who has not proven their identity. Part of that reply is protected by a key…
C
C2 Server
A C2 (command and control) server is the computer that sends instructions to software running on other devices and collects what that software sends back. In…
Callback Phishing
An email or text, such as a fake bill or subscription renewal, gives a number to call, and the person who answers poses as the company's support staff to get…
Consent Phishing
The approval screen is real and the attack does not require stealing the password: by clicking Accept, the person lets the attacker's app read or act on their…
D
Data Exfiltration
In an attack, it is the step where an outside attacker or malicious insider with access copies or moves files and records, often to a place they control and…
Dedicated Leak Site
A dedicated leak site (DLS) is a website a ransomware or data-extortion group uses to threaten to publish data it says it stole, and sometimes to publish it.…
Device Code Phishing
The attacker's own device asked for that code, so when the person signs in, completing their password and multi-factor authentication if asked, the attacker's…
DLL Sideloading
The attacker's code then runs inside a trusted program, which can make the activity look ordinary. Picture a teacher who tells the class to hand in "the…
DNS Tunneling
Security testers use it, and attackers use it to send commands to a compromised device or move stolen data out of a network. Think of a school library where…
Dwell Time
Security firms that investigate intrusions, such as Mandiant, count it in days, from the earliest evidence of the attacker's activity to the moment of…
E
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P
Phishing
If you have already clicked a link, opened a file or replied to a message you now doubt, the steps for each situation, and where to report it, are under "What…
Pyramid of Pain
The Pyramid of Pain is a model, created by David J. Bianco in 2013, that ranks the types of indicators defenders use to spot attackers by how costly each is…
Q
R
S
Smishing
A criminal sends a text that often pretends to come from a bank, a delivery company, a toll service or a government agency, to get the recipient to click a…
Spear Phishing
The attacker uses information about the target, such as details from their website and social media, to make a message convincing enough that the target clicks…