When it comes to cybersecurity, a lot of jargon can be confusing. This article will help you decode some of the more common terms used in the cybersecurity world.
It also gives you a glossary that will help you translate these technical terms into plain, non-technical English. It’s an excellent resource for anyone new to the field!
Network Security
Network security is an essential component of business operations. It ensures legitimate access to systems, applications, and data, protects shared data from viruses and cyber threats, and helps to keep network performance up.
Whether your business uses cloud services or physical infrastructure, a secure network is essential for delivering products and services to customers and employees and ensuring the security of company information and reputation. However, implementing security solutions can be difficult, as many challenges arise when balancing the needs of operations and security teams.
To maintain network security, organizations must perform regular inventories of devices connected to the network, ensure all software is up-to-date, install and maintain endpoint antivirus, and monitor critical assets (financial databases, HR files, etc.) for unauthorized access. While these tasks may seem simple, they can become complicated when dealing with various devices and users.
Security Policy
Cybersecurity jargon is the language of the technology industry in a cyber words list and can only be deciphered with an explanation. However, it is essential to understand the terms used when discussing information security and how they may apply in your workplace.
There are many different types of security policies that an organization can use to protect its data and systems. The kind of policy an organization chooses depends on its risk tolerance and the technology’s specific needs and challenges.
A security policy is a written document that outlines the rules and guidelines for protecting company technology and information assets from potential threats. It also outlines the specific requirements for authenticating users so that they are only authorized to access company networks and servers using solid passwords, biometrics, ID cards, or tokens.
Security policies can be categorized into general, issue-specific, and program policies. The generic security policy is a high-level construct that spells out the intentions of senior management and then provides specific low-level technical guidance for the IT team to implement.
It also includes a statement of applicability that identifies to who the policy applies. This can be based on geographic region, business unit, or job role.
An issue-specific policy is a more detailed document that addresses specific technology issues pertinent to an organization’s employees. These may be network security policies, bring-your-own-device (BYOD), social media, or remote work policies.
Intrusion Detection
Intrusion detection systems (IDS) monitor network traffic and flag suspicious activities. They can also take action, like blocking IP addresses and limiting access to sensitive resources.
The type of IDS you choose depends on the specific threat you want to monitor. Some solutions look for signatures of known attacks, while others base their detection on deviations from normal behavior.
A signature-based IDS uses a database of attack signatures to identify threats, much like antivirus software. This method is prone to false positives and staffing issues, but it’s still the most effective way to protect your business against cyberattacks.
On the other hand, an anomaly-based IDS uses machine learning to establish a baseline of “normal” behavior for your network. This baseline includes bandwidth, protocols, ports, and device usage. Then, new network traffic is compared to this model to determine whether it’s a threat.
Reputation-based detection is similar to anomaly-based, but instead of comparing new network traffic against a predefined baseline, external hosts’ IP addresses and DNS records are compared to a reputation database. This way, you can block external hosts with low reputation scores from connecting to your network.
You can do a few things to increase your IDS’s accuracy. First, ensure it’s tuned to your network and configured to recognize devices, applications, ports, and security points. You can also set the system to run in stealth mode, which makes it harder to detect by hackers.
Access Control
Access control is integral to data security, as it limits access to authorized users and prevents people from accessing data outside their privilege level. This process ensures that users can only access their official resources and protects sensitive data from breaches.
Access control can be implemented in various ways, including physical barriers and software. It can also be used as a security strategy combining physical and cyber security strategies to eliminate potential gaps in an organization’s overall security posture.
Depending on the security model, access can be granted or denied based on the user’s identity or rules governing their access. Examples include role-based access control and rule-based access control, popular methods for controlling who has access to specific areas or resources in a building.
In the case of a role-based access control model, security administrators determine a list of permissions that can be granted to users. This model works with the principle of least privilege, which requires that users only have the minimum amount of access they need to do their jobs celebrities bio.
When using this type of access control, ensuring that the system is user-friendly and easy to navigate is essential. If it’s difficult for employees to use, they may circumvent the system and create compliance gaps or other security vulnerabilities.
Encryption
Encryption is a computing process that converts human-readable data into something only an authorized party can decode. It’s critical to data privacy protection, helping businesses and individuals stay safe from hackers, identity thieves, or other threats.
There are several encryption methods, but they all work by using a cryptographic key that can be used to scramble readable information. The type of key used depends on the encryption method. For example, symmetric key encryption requires the sender and receiver to access the same key before decrypting the message. Symmetric keys can be either public or private keys.
Tokenization is a form of encryption that translates individual sensitive values or entire data sets into a series of similar-looking but different tokens. It can be based on format-preserving encryption,; random value generation, such as the hash function, or a combination of these technologies.
