The cybersecurity world is stuffed with technical lingo and jargon. At TechCrunch, we now have been writing about cybersecurity for years, and even we generally want a refresher on what precisely a particular phrase or expression means. That’s why we now have created this glossary, which incorporates among the most typical — and never so frequent — phrases and expressions that we use in our articles, and explanations of how, and why, we use them.
This can be a creating compendium, and we are going to replace it commonly.
A complicated persistent menace (APT) is usually categorized as a hacker, or group of hackers, which good points and maintains unauthorized entry to a focused system. The primary purpose of an APT intruder is to stay undetected for lengthy intervals of time, usually to conduct espionage and surveillance, to steal knowledge, or sabotage vital programs.
APTs are historically well-resourced hackers, together with the funding to pay for his or her malicious campaigns, and entry to hacking instruments sometimes reserved by governments. As such, lots of the long-running APT teams are related to nation states, like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. In recent times, we’ve seen examples of non-nation state cybercriminal teams which can be financially motivated (corresponding to theft and cash laundering) finishing up cyberattacks related by way of persistence and capabilities as some conventional government-backed APT teams.
(See: Hacker)
The flexibility to run instructions or malicious code on an affected system, usually due to a safety vulnerability within the system’s software program. Arbitrary code execution will be achieved both remotely or with bodily entry to an affected system (corresponding to somebody’s system). Within the instances the place arbitrary code execution will be achieved over the web, safety researchers sometimes name this distant code execution.
Usually, code execution is used as a approach to plant a again door for sustaining long-term and chronic entry to that system, or for working malware that can be utilized to entry deeper elements of the system or different gadgets on the identical community.
(See additionally: Remote code execution)
Hackers traditionally have been categorized as both “black hat” or “white hat,” normally relying on the motivations of the hacking exercise carried out. A “black hat” hacker could also be somebody who may break the regulation and hack for cash or private acquire, corresponding to a cybercriminal. “White hat” hackers typically hack inside authorized bounds, like as a part of a penetration take a look at sanctioned by the goal firm, or to gather bug bounties discovering flaws in varied software program and disclosing them to the affected vendor. For individuals who hack with much less clearcut motivations, they could be thought to be a “grey hat.” Famously, the hacking group the L0pht used the time period grey hat in an interview with The New York Times Magazine in 1999. Whereas nonetheless generally utilized in fashionable safety parlance, many have moved away from the “hat” terminology.
(Additionally see: Hacker, Hacktivist)
Botnets are networks of hijacked internet-connected gadgets, corresponding to webcams and residential routers, which have been compromised by malware (or generally weak or default passwords) for the needs of being utilized in cyberattacks. Botnets will be made up of a whole lot or 1000’s of gadgets and are sometimes managed by a command-and-control server that sends out instructions to ensnared gadgets. Botnets can be utilized for a variety of malicious causes, like utilizing the distributed community of gadgets to masks and shield the internet traffic of cybercriminals, deliver malware, or harness their collective bandwidth to maliciously crash web sites and on-line providers with large quantities of junk web site visitors.
(See additionally: Command-and-control server; Distributed denial-of-service)
A bug is basically the reason for a software program glitch, corresponding to an error or an issue that causes the software program to crash or behave in an surprising approach. In some instances, a bug may also be a safety vulnerability.
The time period “bug” originated in 1947, at a time when early computer systems had been the scale of rooms and made up of heavy mechanical and shifting gear. The primary identified incident of a bug present in a pc was when a moth disrupted the electronics of considered one of these room-sized computer systems.
(See additionally: Vulnerability)
Command-and-control servers (also referred to as C2 servers) are utilized by cybercriminals to remotely handle and management their fleets of compromised gadgets and launch cyberattacks, corresponding to delivering malware over the web and launching distributed denial-of-service assaults.
(See additionally: Botnet; Distributed denial-of-service)
Cryptojacking is when a tool’s computational energy is used, with or with out the proprietor’s permission, to generate cryptocurrency. Builders generally bundle code in apps and on web sites, which then makes use of the system’s processors to finish advanced mathematical calculations wanted to create new cryptocurrency. The generated cryptocurrency is then deposited in digital wallets owned by the developer.
Some malicious hackers use malware to intentionally compromise giant numbers of unwitting computer systems to generate cryptocurrency on a big and distributed scale.
Once we discuss knowledge breaches, we in the end imply the improper removing of knowledge from the place it ought to have been. However the circumstances matter and might alter the terminology we use to explain a selected incident.
A knowledge breach is when protected knowledge was confirmed to have improperly left a system from the place it was initially saved and normally confirmed when somebody discovers the compromised knowledge. Most of the time, we’re referring to the exfiltration of knowledge by a malicious cyberattacker or in any other case detected on account of an inadvertent publicity. Relying on what is understood concerning the incident, we could describe it in additional particular phrases the place particulars are identified.
(See additionally: Data exposure; Data leak)
A knowledge publicity (a kind of knowledge breach) is when protected knowledge is saved on a system that has no entry controls, corresponding to due to human error or a misconfiguration. This may embrace instances the place a system or database is linked to the web however with no password. Simply because knowledge was uncovered doesn’t imply the info was actively found, however nonetheless may nonetheless be thought of a knowledge breach.
A knowledge leak (a kind of knowledge breach) is the place protected knowledge is saved on a system in a approach that it was allowed to flee, corresponding to as a consequence of a beforehand unknown vulnerability within the system or by means of insider entry (corresponding to an worker). A knowledge leak can imply that knowledge may have been exfiltrated or in any other case collected, however there could not at all times be the technical means, corresponding to logs, to know for positive.
A distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, is a kind of cyberattack that includes flooding targets on the web with junk internet site visitors with a view to overload and crash the servers and trigger the service, corresponding to an internet site, on-line retailer, or gaming platform to go down.
DDoS assaults are launched by botnets, that are made up of networks of hacked internet-connected gadgets (corresponding to residence routers and webcams) that may be remotely managed by a malicious operator, normally from a command-and-control server. Botnets will be made up of a whole lot or 1000’s of hijacked gadgets.
Whereas a DDoS is a type of cyberattack, these data-flooding assaults are usually not “hacks” in themselves, as they don’t contain the breach and exfiltration of knowledge from their targets, however as a substitute trigger a “denial of service” occasion to the affected service.
(See additionally: Botnet; Command-and-control server)
Encryption is the way in which and means through which data, corresponding to information, paperwork, and personal messages, are scrambled to make the info unreadable to anybody apart from to its meant proprietor or recipient. Encrypted knowledge is often scrambled utilizing an encryption algorithm — primarily a set of mathematical formulation that determines how the info ought to be encrypted — together with a personal key, corresponding to a password, which can be utilized to unscramble (or “decrypt”) the protected knowledge.
Practically all fashionable encryption algorithms in use at the moment are open supply, permitting anybody (together with safety professionals and cryptographers) to evaluate and verify the algorithm to verify it’s freed from faults or flaws. Some encryption algorithms are stronger than others, which means knowledge protected by some weaker algorithms will be decrypted by harnessing giant quantities of computational energy.
Encryption is completely different from encoding, which merely converts knowledge into a special and standardized format, normally for the advantage of permitting computer systems to learn the info.
(See additionally: End-to-end encryption)
Finish-to-end encryption (or E2EE) is a safety characteristic constructed into many messaging and file-sharing apps, and is broadly thought of one of many strongest methods of securing digital communications as they traverse the web.
E2EE scrambles the file or message on the sender’s system earlier than it’s despatched in a approach that permits solely the meant recipient to decrypt its contents, making it near-impossible for anybody — together with a malicious hacker, and even the app maker — to snoop inside on somebody’s non-public communications. In recent times, E2EE has grow to be the default safety normal for a lot of messaging apps, together with Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Signal, and WhatsApp.
E2EE has additionally grow to be the subject of governmental frustration lately, as encryption makes it unattainable for tech firms or app suppliers to present over data that they themselves would not have entry to.
(See additionally: Encryption)
Most fashionable programs are protected with a number of layers of safety, together with the flexibility to set consumer accounts with extra restricted entry to the underlying system’s configurations and settings. This prevents these customers — or anybody with improper entry to considered one of these consumer accounts — from tampering with the core underlying system. Nevertheless, an “escalation of privileges” occasion can contain exploiting a bug or tricking the system into granting the consumer extra entry rights than they need to have.
Malware may benefit from bugs or flaws brought on by escalation of privileges by gaining deeper entry to a tool or a linked community, doubtlessly permitting the malware to unfold.
An exploit is the way in which and means through which a vulnerability is abused or taken benefit of, normally with a view to break right into a system.
(See additionally: Bug; Vulnerability)
Usually phrases, extortion is the act of acquiring one thing, normally cash, by using pressure and intimidation. Cyber extortion isn’t any completely different, because it sometimes refers to a class of cybercrime whereby attackers demand cost from victims by threatening to wreck, disrupt, or expose their delicate data.
Extortion is usually utilized in ransomware assaults, the place hackers sometimes exfiltrate firm knowledge earlier than demanding a ransom cost from the hacked sufferer. However extortion has rapidly grow to be its personal class of cybercrime, with many, often younger, financially motivated hackers, opting to hold out extortion-only assaults, which snub using encryption in favor of straightforward knowledge theft.
(Additionally see: Ransomware)
Forensic investigations contain analyzing knowledge and data contained in a pc, server, or cellular system, searching for proof of a hack, crime, or some kind of malfeasance. Typically, with a view to entry the info, company or regulation enforcement investigators depend on specialised gadgets and instruments, like these made by Cellebrite and Grayshift, that are designed to unlock and break the safety of computer systems and cellphones to entry the info inside.
There is no such thing as a one single definition of “hacker.” The time period has its personal wealthy historical past, tradition, and which means throughout the safety group. Some incorrectly conflate hackers, or hacking, with wrongdoing.
By our definition and use, we broadly confer with a “hacker” as somebody who’s a “breaker of issues,” normally by altering how one thing works to make it carry out in another way with a view to meet their targets. In follow, that may be one thing so simple as repairing a machine with non-official elements to make it operate in another way as meant, or work even higher.
Within the cybersecurity sense, a hacker is often somebody who breaks a system or breaks the safety of a system. That might be something from an internet-connected laptop system to a easy door lock. However the individual’s intentions and motivations (if identified) matter in our reporting, and guides how we precisely describe the individual, or their exercise.
There are moral and authorized variations between a hacker who works as a safety researcher, who’s professionally tasked with breaking into an organization’s programs with their permission to establish safety weaknesses that may be fastened earlier than a malicious particular person has an opportunity to use them; and a malicious hacker who good points unauthorized entry to a system and steals knowledge with out acquiring anybody’s permission.
As a result of the time period “hacker” is inherently impartial, we typically apply descriptors in our reporting to supply context about who we’re speaking about. If we all know that a person works for a authorities and is contracted to maliciously steal knowledge from a rival authorities, we’re more likely to describe them as a nation-state or authorities hacker (or, if acceptable, an advanced persistent threat), for instance. If a gang is understood to make use of malware to steal funds from people’ financial institution accounts, we could describe them as financially motivated hackers, or if there may be proof of criminality or illegality (corresponding to an indictment), we could describe them merely as cybercriminals.
And, if we don’t know motivations or intentions, or an individual describes themselves as such, we could merely confer with a topic neutrally as a “hacker,” the place acceptable.
(Additionally see: Advanced persistent threat; Hacktivist; Unauthorized)
Typically, hacking and stealing knowledge is barely step one. In some instances, hackers then leak the stolen knowledge to journalists, or instantly publish the info on-line for anybody to see. The purpose will be both to embarrass the hacking sufferer, or to show alleged malfeasance.
The origins of contemporary hack-and-leak operations date again to the early- and mid-2000s, when teams like el8, pHC (“Phrack Excessive Council”) and zf0 had been concentrating on folks within the cybersecurity business who, in keeping with these teams, had foregone the hacker ethos and had bought out. Later, there are the examples of hackers related to Nameless and leaking knowledge from U.S. government contractor HBGary, and North Korean hackers leaking emails stolen from Sony as retribution for the Hollywood comedy, The Interview.
Among the most up-to-date and well-known examples are the hack against the now-defunct government spyware pioneer Hacking Team in 2015, and the notorious Russian government-led hack-and-leak of Democratic National Committee emails forward of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Iranian authorities hackers tried to emulate the 2016 playbook through the 2024 elections.
A selected type of hacker who hacks for what they — and maybe the general public — understand as a very good trigger, therefore the portmanteau of the phrases “hacker” and “activist.” Hacktivism has been round for greater than 20 years, beginning maybe with teams just like the Cult of the Dead Cow within the late Nineties. Since then, there have been a number of excessive profile examples of hacktivist hackers and teams, corresponding to Nameless, LulzSec, and Phineas Fisher.
(Additionally see: Hacker)
Quick for “data safety,” another time period used to explain defensive cybersecurity centered on the safety of knowledge and data. “Infosec” could also be the popular time period for business veterans, whereas the time period “cybersecurity” has grow to be broadly accepted. In fashionable occasions, the 2 phrases have grow to be largely interchangeable.
Infostealers are malware able to stealing data from an individual’s laptop or system. Infostealers are sometimes bundled in pirated software program, like Redline, which when put in will primarily search out passwords and different credentials saved within the individual’s browser or password supervisor, then surreptitiously add the sufferer’s passwords to the attacker’s programs. This lets the attacker check in utilizing these stolen passwords. Some infostealers are additionally able to stealing session tokens from a consumer’s browser, which permit the attacker to check in to an individual’s on-line account as in the event that they had been that consumer however while not having their password or multifactor authentication code.
(See additionally: Malware)
Jailbreaking is utilized in a number of contexts to imply using exploits and different hacking strategies to bypass the safety of a tool, or eradicating the restrictions a producer places on {hardware} or software program. Within the context of iPhones, for instance, a jailbreak is a technique to remove Apple’s restrictions on putting in apps exterior of its “walled backyard” or to realize the flexibility to conduct security research on Apple devices, which is generally extremely restricted. Within the context of AI, jailbreaking means determining a approach to get a chatbot to give out information that it’s not supposed to.
The kernel, as its title suggests, is the core a part of an working system that connects and controls just about all {hardware} and software program. As such, the kernel has the very best stage of privileges, which means it has entry to just about any knowledge on the system. That’s why, for instance, apps corresponding to antivirus and anti-cheat software program run on the kernel stage, as they require broad entry to the system. Having kernel entry permits these apps to observe for malicious code.
Malware is a broad umbrella time period that describes malicious software program. Malware can land in lots of varieties and be used to use programs in numerous methods. As such, malware that’s used for particular functions can usually be known as its personal subcategory. For instance, the kind of malware used for conducting surveillance on folks’s gadgets can be referred to as “adware,” whereas malware that encrypts information and calls for cash from its victims known as “ransomware.”
(See additionally: Infostealers; Ransomware; Spyware)
Metadata is data about one thing digital, moderately than its contents. That may embrace particulars concerning the measurement of a file or doc, who created it, and when, or within the case of digital pictures, the place the picture was taken and details about the system that took the picture. Metadata could not establish the contents of a file, however it may be helpful in figuring out the place a doc got here from or who authored it. Metadata may confer with details about an change, corresponding to who made a name or despatched a textual content message, however not the contents of the decision or the message.
Ransomware is a kind of malicious software program (or malware) that forestalls system homeowners from accessing its knowledge, sometimes by encrypting the individual’s information. Ransomware is normally deployed by cybercriminal gangs who demand a ransom cost — normally cryptocurrency — in return for offering the non-public key to decrypt the individual’s knowledge.
In some instances, ransomware gangs will steal the sufferer’s knowledge earlier than encrypting it, permitting the criminals to extort the sufferer additional by threatening to publish the information on-line. Paying a ransomware gang is no guarantee that the sufferer will get their stolen knowledge again, or that the gang will delete the stolen knowledge.
One of many first-ever ransomware assaults was documented in 1989, through which malware was distributed by way of floppy disk (an early type of detachable storage) to attendees of the World Well being Group’s AIDS convention. Since then, ransomware has advanced into a multi-billion dollar criminal industry as attackers refine their techniques and hone in on big-name company victims.
(See additionally: Malware; Sanctions)
Distant code execution refers back to the capability to run instructions or malicious code (corresponding to malware) on a system from over a community, usually the web, with out requiring any human interplay from the goal. Distant code execution assaults can vary in complexity however will be extremely damaging when vulnerabilities are exploited.
(See additionally: Arbitrary code execution)
Cybersecurity-related sanctions work equally to conventional sanctions in that they make it unlawful for companies or people to transact with a sanctioned entity. Within the case of cyber sanctions, these entities are suspected of finishing up malicious cyber-enabled actions, corresponding to ransomware assaults or the laundering of ransom funds made to hackers.
The U.S. Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) administers sanctions. The Treasury’s Cyber-Associated Sanctions Program was established in 2015 as a part of the Obama administration’s response to cyberattacks concentrating on U.S. authorities businesses and personal sector U.S. entities.
Whereas a comparatively new addition to the U.S. authorities’s bureaucratic armory in opposition to ransomware teams, sanctions are more and more used to hamper and deter malicious state actors from conducting cyberattacks. Sanctions are sometimes used in opposition to hackers who’re out of attain of U.S. indictments or arrest warrants, such as ransomware crews based in Russia.
A broad time period, like malware, that covers a variety of surveillance monitoring software program. Adware is often used to confer with malware made by non-public firms, corresponding to NSO Group’s Pegasus, Intellexa’s Predator, and Hacking Crew’s Distant Management System, amongst others, which the businesses promote to authorities businesses. In additional generic phrases, these kinds of malware are like distant entry instruments, which permits their operators — normally authorities brokers — to spy and monitor their targets, giving them the flexibility to entry a tool’s digital camera and microphone or exfiltrate knowledge. Adware can be known as industrial or authorities adware, or mercenary adware.
(See additionally: Stalkerware)
Stalkerware is a type of surveillance malware (and a type of adware) that’s normally bought to abnormal shoppers beneath the guise of kid or worker monitoring software program however is usually used for the needs of spying on the telephones of unwitting people, oftentimes spouses and home companions. The adware grants entry to the goal’s messages, location, and extra. Stalkerware sometimes requires bodily entry to a goal’s system, which provides the attacker the flexibility to put in it instantly on the goal’s system, actually because the attacker is aware of the goal’s passcode.
(See additionally: Spyware)
What are you attempting to guard? Who’re you anxious about that would go after you or your knowledge? How may these attackers get to the info? The solutions to those sorts of questions are what’s going to lead you to create a menace mannequin. In different phrases, menace modeling is a course of that a company or a person has to undergo to design software program that’s safe, and devise strategies to safe it. A menace mannequin will be centered and particular relying on the scenario. A human rights activist in an authoritarian nation has a special set of adversaries, and knowledge, to guard than a big company in a democratic nation that’s anxious about ransomware, for instance.
Once we describe “unauthorized” entry, we’re referring to the accessing of a pc system by breaking any of its security measures, corresponding to a login immediate or a password, which might be thought of unlawful beneath the U.S. Pc Fraud and Abuse Act, or the CFAA. The Supreme Court in 2021 clarified the CFAA, discovering that accessing a system missing any technique of authorization — for instance, a database with no password — just isn’t unlawful, as you can’t break a safety characteristic that isn’t there.
It’s price noting that “unauthorized” is a broadly used time period and infrequently utilized by firms subjectively, and as such has been used to explain malicious hackers who steal somebody’s password to interrupt in by to incidents of insider entry or abuse by workers.
A digital non-public community, or VPN, is a networking technology that permits somebody to “just about” entry a personal community, corresponding to their office or residence, from anyplace else on this planet. Many use a VPN supplier to browse the online, considering that this may help to keep away from on-line surveillance.
TechCrunch has a skeptics’ guide to VPNs that may provide help to determine if a VPN makes sense for you. If it does, we’ll present you how you can arrange your individual non-public and encrypted VPN server that solely you management. And if it doesn’t, we explore some of the privacy tools and other measures you can take to meaningfully enhance your privateness on-line.
A vulnerability (additionally known as a safety flaw) is a kind of bug that causes software program to crash or behave in an surprising approach that impacts the safety of the system or its knowledge. Typically, two or extra vulnerabilities can be utilized at the side of one another — often called “vulnerability chaining” — to realize deeper entry to a focused system.
(See additionally: Bug; Exploit)
A zero-day is a particular kind of safety vulnerability that has been publicly disclosed or exploited however the vendor who makes the affected {hardware} or software program has not been given time (or “zero days”) to repair the issue. As such, there could also be no speedy repair or mitigation to forestall an affected system from being compromised. This may be significantly problematic for internet-connected gadgets.
(See additionally: Vulnerability)
First printed on September 20, 2024. Final up to date on December 23, 2024.
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