The world of cybersecurity involves many sophisticated terms and techniques that can be overwhelming sometimes. However, since “half the battle is knowing”, it’s very important for each and every one of us owning an electronic device connected to the internet to know and understand the types of attacks and protection techniques. <h6 Therefore, we’ve collected 30 of the most important terms that you need to know so you can keep yourself and your devices protected. <h6

But first of all, what is cybersecurity really?

What is Cybersecurity?

It’s the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks like breaches, data leaking, and theft. So, with no further ado, here are the 30 cybersecurity terminologies for you to know:

Cybersecurity Terminology You Must Know

1. Attack surface

Think of it as if you are on a battlefield, the attack surface is the sum of every possible point where an attacker can enter your work or system, hence beat your defenses. In other words, we can define it as the total number of your cyber vulnerabilities. In the world of cyber security, the main goal is to make the attack surface as small as possible.

2. Attack vector

Simply put, an attack vector is a specific method used by a cybercriminal to infiltrate a system, access your network or system in order to deliver a payload or malicious outcome.

3. Account hijacking

It’s actually considered a form of identity theft. When a user’s account is stolen by a hacker or a bad actor and used to perform malicious actions, then we can say the account has been hijacked.

4.Brute force attack

It’s also an attack method that occurs when someone uses software that runs through all possible combinations to crack a password and access an account, network, or system.

5. Social engineering

This is something very exciting when you think about it! Social Engineering is actually a technique or method used to manipulate and deceive people to give up sensitive and private information.

Why is it exciting? because it actually depends on the human element and let’s be honest it’s always intriguing to get to know the way someone thinks.

So, once a hacker understands what motivates a person’s actions, they will find mysterious ways to get exactly what they’re looking for – like financial data and passwords. For more information on social engineering and how to protect yourself against it, you can view our blog.

6. Catfishing

It’s a type of attack depending on social engineering that occurs when a bad actor uses a social network to create an account with fake identity and information in order to perform malicious acts and deceive other users.

7. Cryptojacking

We’re all aware now of cryptocurrency and how it works. This term is used to describe the case where a criminal uses a user’s computing power without authorization to mine cryptocurrency.

8. Credential harvesting

This refers to the act of virtually attacking an organization in an effort to illegally obtain employees' login information.

9. Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

In simple words, DLP or (Data Loss Prevention) is a security measure that helps detect and prevent data loss.

10. DevSecOps

DevSecOps stands for “Development”, “Security”, and “Operations”. It is an approach of software development that relies on security and takes into consideration from the beginning of the development process to the end of a product’s lifecycle.

11. Honeypot

This is actually our favourite; the joke on the joker! In simple words, it’s a technique used to distract hackers by providing and offering false targets like computers or data. Sweet as honey after all.

12. Keylogger

I guess what we do on our laptops is not that much of a secret!

Keylogger is a software that monitors and captures a user’s keystrokes on keyboards. This type of software can be used maliciously to steal credentials and sensitive data. So be careful who uses your PC and what software could be installed on it.

13. Patch

We’ve all heard of “Patch updates”, which operating systems and software providers release regularly to fix bugs and other software vulnerabilities. If you’re truly taking your own security into account, make sure you keep all your software apps and systems patched or up-to-date.

14. Phishing or Spear Phishing

Another technique used by hackers to obtain sensitive information. For instance, using hand-crafted email messages designed to trick people into revealing personal or confidential data such as passwords, usernames, and bank account information.