12 Cybersecurity Terms You Must Know In 2019

Introduction

In our daily lives, security has become the most important factor in whatever we do. It provides us assurance and makes us feel in safe hands. In today’s modern era, which is technically advanced, we also require the same security and trust in whatever activities we perform digitally, in the cyber world and this is known as cybersecurity.

Need for Security in Cyber Space

We are not the only ones who are targeted by the cyber attacks, in fact, all the large corporations, small and medium scale companies are also affected by these attacks and hackers and hence there arises an urgent need for all of us to have a system that is secured and complaint. Below are some important factors that we should consider.

a)  Building security for the network provides a sense of relief to large businesses.

b)   A secure system provides us ways to protect our computer networks from invaders

c)  It prevents us from unknowingly providing access to our personal and sensitive data.

d)  It helps us perform risk analysis and suggest mitigations.

e)  It enforces us to be compliant and has preventive measures in place

f)  The security measures further equip us with the skills required to become an expert in managing systems.

Hence it is important for them as well to have proper compliance and security in place.

Traits of a Cyber Professional

Cybersecurity is one of the rapidly growing areas in the industry and they have great importance in the security domain. One of the most important traits of a cybersecurity professional expert is to have good knowledge of the subject matter and perform diligently in their roles and responsibilities.

Some of the roles include:

a)  They are responsible for securing the enterprise system

b)  Regular monitoring of the network

c)  Check for any malicious software or malware in the network.

d)  Make the system strong enough so that it is not vulnerable to the invaders

e)  Deceit cyber attackers who are looking way to steal personal information

f)  Vigilant enough and avoid any unwanted attacks

g)  Have a good command of the technical jargon and phrases used in the security domain

In this article, we will have a look at a short glossary on cybersecurity and discuss 12 of the most important cybersecurity terms that all the professional including the beginners in the field of cybersecurity should be aware of.

1.  DDoS- The acronym DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. These attacks are targeted to have cause network unavailable. This cyberattack can affect the entire corporate network and bring out the loss of connection for all the system users. These are triggered by sending multiple requests in huge numbers to the network. These causes network slowdown due to low bandwidth and eventually lead to network unavailability. The whole network gets blocked and even the genuine connection and request are not able to be established, the resource gets collapsed and hence results in loss of service accessibility.

2.  Social Engineering- As the name it suggests, it deals with socializing with the people and it is one of the common yet trickiest forms of cyber-attacks. It is an art of manipulating people and trying to read their minds by a set of questionnaires or even as simple as a general discussion. This victim ends up giving confidential information even without being aware of it. The types of information the attacker is seeking may vary but in general, they trick the victim for getting information about their password or bank account details and can even get control of their computer to install unwanted software and steal all personal information.

3.  Exploit - The exploit is a way of attacking the victim’s computer system by installing malicious application or script that can be used to corrupt the computer memory and results in a data breach. The attackers quietly inject the infect data into the system and get exposure to the computer’s vulnerability in order to get access to the required information.

4.  Malware – It is malicious software that contains programs that are injected into the system by wicked means and causes trouble. They are designed to infect all the data present in the user’s computer which eventually damages and weakens the entire system. This is often delivered in the form of email attachments or by luring users to download a file from the internet.

5.  Phishing – It is a scam where the attacker impersonates to be a genuine business organization and deceits the victim to provide their personal or sensitive information. These are carried out usually by sending an email or including attachment in them. These emails are indistinguishable and seem to be an authentic mail from an organization or service that the victim is aware of. It intrigues the users to enter information such as personal details, and sensitive information such as bank details or passwords. This way the attacker gets all the private information and can also access the system by sending malware in those email attachments

6.  Man In The Middle Attack – It is also referred to as the MITM attack. In this cyberattack, there are three parties involved, the victim, the party victim is communicating to and the invader who gets into the middle of the conversation between them and therefore is known as the man in the middle. Here, the invader gets into the network, where both the sender and receiver are interacting and eavesdrops all the information that is being shared between them without them being aware of it. By this means the attacker is now able to steal any of the personal data as they are now in the system and have control over it.

7.  Honeypot – It is a way to lure cyber attackers to lure them into the system in order to read their activities and understand how they operate. In this approach, the vulnerability of the system is intentionally exposed so that it appears to be a potential target and entices these cybercriminals to get into the system. The activities are then monitored tacitly, and this helps in learning about their working and prepare the real system with the security measures that can prevent the attackers to get into them.

8.  Botnet – A botnet is a combination of a bot i.e. a robot and a net i.e. network. Hence, it forms a network of systems that have been infected by viruses. These are generally a type of unwanted software or script that executes tasks on receiving the command from the attacker. It way the attacker is now in control of the affected system and perform maliciously activates such as DDoS attacks or spreading spams emails.

9.  Ransomware – It is a form of malware that mischievously enters into the system of an individual or an enterprise and hijacks the system. It further encrypts all the data and the files that are important to the user and denies access to them. To regain access to their own files the victim has demanded a ransom i.e. a huge amount of money. The data remains locked until the payment is made, and the user falls into this prey. In other words, it kidnaps the system and demands a ransom in return.

10.  Trojan Horse – This is one of the dangerous forms of malware that misleads the user of the system pretending to be innocent and harmless. It, in turn, gives backdoor access to the cybercriminals allowing them to control the host system of which the victim is unaware. It exposes all the sensitive and personal information to the invader and infects the network as well.

11.  Spoofing – It is a deed of fraudulent and malicious practice where the communication from an unknown source is disguised to the user so that it appears to be from a known or trusted one. It can be performed by impersonating an email, phone call, website and even the computer system such as spoofing the IP address of the network. It allows cyber attackers to bypass the system and gain access to the required information or even spread malware.

12.  Blackhat and Whitehat – Any hacker who endeavors to get access to the system in an unethical or mischievous way for their own advantage or with an intention to cause damage to the system is known as Black Hat. On the other hand, a hacker who is invited to test the computer systems for vulnerabilities to suggest the users the area of security that needs improvement is known as White Hat, good hackers, and even ethical hackers. 

Conclusion

This concludes the popular terms that are buzzing in the cyber world and should be known by aspiring cybersecurity professionals. Since we are aware of these, it will help us in starting with cybersecurity and we can focus more on sharpening our cybersecurity skills through training and online courses. This can be of great help if we are looking forward to upskilling or start a new career in cybersecurity. Many organizations have realized the importance of security and looking for cybersecurity experts who can help them secure their enterprise system.  If you are willing to explore more about the training and online course in Cyber Security and upskill your knowledge, please check out our offerings here.