Cyber Security Glossary

Find definitions for IT security and compliance in our online glossary of key terms, acronyms, and vocabulary.

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  • Term
    Definition
  • "[An overarching concept, value, belief, or norm that guides AI development, testing, and deployment across the AI lifecycle. The OECD] identifies five complementary values-based principles for the responsible stewardship of trustworthy AI and calls on AI actors to promote and implement them:(...)
  • Definition: The physical separation or isolation of a system from other systems or networks.
  • Definition: A notification that a specific attack has been detected or directed at an organization’s information systems.
  • "A set of step-by-step instructions. Computer algorithms can be simple (if it's 3 p.m., send a reminder) or complex (identify pedestrians)."
  • "[a] framework [that] centers human decision making, providing a more precise lens for studying the social impacts of algorithmic decision making aids; . . . processes that employ algorithmic aids to enhance human decision making. In contrast to the human-in-the-loop paradigm, which privileges(...)
  • "biased assessment of an algorithm which manifests in negative behaviours and attitudes towards the algorithm compared to a human agent."
  • "ensur[ing] that powerful AI is properly aligned with human values. ... The challenge of alignment has two parts. The first part is technical and focuses on how to formally encode values or principles in artificial agents so that they reliably do what they ought to do. ... The second part of(...)
  • Definition: In the NICE Framework, cybersecurity work where a person: Analyzes threat information from multiple sources, disciplines, and agencies across the Intelligence Community. Synthesizes and places intelligence information in context; draws insights about the possible implications.
  • Definition: A list of entities that are considered trustworthy and are granted access or privileges. Related Term(s): Blocklist
  • "[an act of amplifying, which is] to make larger or greater (as in amount, importance, or intensity)."
  • "Analytics is the application of scientific & mathematical methods to the study & analysis of problems involving complex systems. There are three distinct types of analytics: * Descriptive Analytics gives insight into past events, using historical data. * Predictive Analytics provides insight(...)
  • Definition: A NICE Framework category consisting of specialty areas responsible for highly specialized review and evaluation of incoming cybersecurity information to determine its usefulness for intelligence.
  • "Further documentation accompanying a requirement."
  • "Anything observed in the documentation or operation of a system that deviates from expectations based on previously verified system, software, or hardware products or reference documents."
  • "The process in which individually identifiable data is altered in such a way that it no longer can be related back to a given individual. Among many techniques, there are three primary ways that data is anonymized. Suppression is the most basic version of anonymization and it simply removes(...)
  • "the attribution of distinctively human-like feelings, mental states, and behavioral characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, and in general to natural phenomena and supernatural entities"
  • Definition: A program that specializes in detecting and blocking or removing forms of spyware. Related Term(s): spyware
  • Definition: A program that monitors a computer or network to detect or identify major types of malicious code and to prevent or contain malware incidents. Sometimes by removing or neutralizing the malicious code.
  • An application is a collection of one or more related software programs that enables a user to enter, store, view, modify or extract information from files or databases. The term is commonly used in place of “program,” or “software.” Applications may include word processors, Internet browsing(...)
  • "A software program hosted by an information system."
  • "a software contract between the application and client, expressed as a collection of methods or functions. . . it defines the available functions you can execute; . . . the intermediary interface between the client and the application."
  • Archival data is information that is not directly accessible to the user of a computer system but that the organization maintains for long-term storage and record keeping purposes. Archival data may be written to removable media such as a CD, magneto-optical media, tape or other electronic(...)
  • Archives are long term repositories for the storage of records. Electronic archives preserve the content, prevent or track alterations and control access to electronic records.
  • "Algorithms that perform a wide variety of tasks and switch simultaneously from one activity to another in the manner that humans do."
  • "Interdisciplinary field, usually regarded as a branch of computer science, dealing with models and systems for the performance of functions generally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and learning."