Essential Hacking Terms Every Business Should Know
Data breaches are becoming a daily occurrence in today’s connected world. As a business owner, it’s important to understand the risks and educate yourself about the problem. There are plenty of blogs, newsletters and trade websites where you can learn about vulnerabilities as they appear. Like any industry, security professionals have a language that they use to describe and discuss vulnerabilities and solutions.
If you’re new to IT or just want to educate yourself, here’s a list of common terms so you can have an informed discussion with your security team.
- Malware – Malware is short for malicious software and is used to describe the software that is designed to disrupt a computer or network with malicious intent. One recent malware attack was Cryptolocker, which encrypted data on an infected computer and then attempted to extort a payment for the key to the encryption.
- Denial of Service – Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are attempts to make a network resource unavailable by flooding a network or website with rapid requests that can’t be serviced, overwhelming the resource.
- Dictionary Attack – A dictionary attack is a sophisticated brute force password attack where thousands or millions of randomly generated passwords are attempted in order to break password security.
- Logic Bomb – A logic bomb is a piece of code intentionally inserted into a software system that will set off a malicious function when specific conditions are met. For example, a programmer may hide a piece of code that starts deleting files (such as a salary database trigger), should they ever be terminated from the company.
- Phishing – This is the most common type of attack. It’s those emails from global lotteries that tell you you’re rich but only if you take certain steps which can range from filling out bank information to mailing a check to pay “taxes” on your winnings. Often pretends to be an email from a trusted source whose computer was infected by a virus that hijacks their address book.
- Zero-Day Attack – A common term, a zero-day attack is the use of a previously undetected flaw in an app or operating system that can be exploited to gain access or control system resources. Zero-day refers to the fact that it is the day on which the attack was first identified.
IT vulnerabilities change daily. Regardless of your industry, it’s crucial to keep on top of the latest cyber threats. Want to learn more? Contact an Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office representative and let’s discuss how to keep your data and business protected.
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