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
  • "‘Controller’ means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the(...)
  • Small data files written to a user's hard drive by a Web server. These files contain specific information that identifies users (i.e., passwords and lists of pages visited). 
  • A copy is an accurate reproduction of information contained in the data objects independent of the original physical
  • "A deliberately assembled collection of knowledge and data (structured and/or unstructured) believed to contain relevant information on a topic or topics to be used by software systems for which useful analysis, prediction, or outcome is being sought."
  • "In its most general sense correlation denoted the interdependence between quantitative or qualitative data. In this sense it would include the association of dichotomised attributes and the contingency of multiply-classified attributes."
  • "Statements taking the form: Score p was returned because variables V had values (v1, v2,...) associated with them. If V instead had values (v1', v2',...) score p' would have been returned."
  • "Our definition of counterfactual fairness captures the intuition that a decision is fair towards an individual if it the same in (a) the actual world and (b) a counterfactual world where the individual belonged to a different demographic group."
  • "Actions, devices, procedures, techniques, or other measures that reduce the vulnerability of a system. Synonymous with security controls and safeguards."
  • "compares responses to future performance or to those obtained from other, more well-established surveys. Criterion validity is made up two subcategories: predictive and concurrent. Predictive validity refers to the extent to which a survey measure forecasts future performance. A graduate(...)
  • Definition: The systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to society that the incapacity or destruction of such may have a debilitating impact on the security, economy, public health or safety, environment, or any combination of these matters. Related Term(s): key resource
  • "a type of participative online activity in which an individual, an institution, a non-profit organization, or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity, and number, via a flexible open call, the voluntary undertaking of a task. The undertaking of the task,(...)
  • Definition: The operations performed in defeating or circumventing cryptographic protection of information by applying mathematical techniques and without an initial knowledge of the key employed in providing the protection.
  • Definition: A well-defined computational procedure that takes variable inputs, including a cryptographic key, and produces an output. Related Term(s): key, encryption, decryption, symmetric key, asymmetric key
  • Definition: The use of mathematical techniques to provide security services, such as confidentiality, data integrity, entity authentication, and data origin authentication. Extended Definition: The art or science concerning the principles, means, and methods for converting plaintext into(...)
  • Definition: The mathematical science that deals with cryptanalysis and cryptography. Related Term(s): cryptanalysis, cryptography
  • "The beneficiary of the execution of an automated task, process, or service."
  • Definition: In the NICE Framework, cybersecurity work where a person: Addresses problems, installs, configures, troubleshoots, and provides maintenance and training in response to customer requirements or inquiries (e.g., tiered-level customer support).
  • Definition: The interconnected information infrastructure of interactions among persons, processes, data, and information and communications technologies, along with the environment and conditions that influence those interactions.
  • Definition: A planned event during which an organization simulates a cyber disruption to develop or test capabilities such as preventing, detecting, mitigating, responding to or recovering from the disruption.
  • Definition: The information and communications systems and services composed of all hardware and software that process, store, and communicate information, or any combination of all of these elements:  Processing includes the creation, access, modification, and destruction of(...)
  • Definition: In the NICE Framework, cybersecurity work where a person: Performs activities to gather evidence on criminal or foreign intelligence entities in order to mitigate possible or real-time threats, protect against espionage or insider threats, foreign sabotage, international terrorist(...)
  • Definition: in the NICE Framework, cybersecurity work where a person: Performs in-depth joint targeting and cyber planning process. Gathers information and develops detailed Operational Plans and Orders supporting requirements. Conducts strategic and operational-level planning across the full(...)
  • Definition: The collecting, processing, organizing, and analyzing data into actionable information that relates to capabilities, opportunities, actions, and intent of adversaries in the cyber domain to meet a specific requirement determined by and informing decision-makers.
  • Definition: Strategy, policy, and standards regarding the security of and operations in cyberspace, and encompass[ing] the full range of threat reduction, vulnerability reduction, deterrence, international engagement, incident response, resiliency, and recovery policies and activities,(...)
  • Definition: The interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, that includes the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers.