Common Security Terms Explained
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Information security can sometimes be confusing. Even some of the terms themselves can easily be misunderstood. So we created a list of the most commonly used information security awareness terms and what they mean in simple English. The primary editors for this reference are Lenny Zeltser (SANS Institute instructor) and Ed Skoudis (SANS Institute instructor and founder of Counter Hack Challenges).
Anti-Virus
A security program that can run on a computer or mobile device and protects you by identifying and stopping the spread of malware on your system. Anti-virus cannot detect all malware, so even if it is active, your system might still get infected. Anti-virus can also be used at the organizational level. For example, email servers may have anti-virus integrated with it to scan incoming or outgoing email. Sometimes anti-virus tools are called ‘anti-malware’, because these products are designed to defend against various types of malicious software.
Drive-by Download
These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in your browser or its plugins and helper applications when you simply surf to an attacker-controlled website. Some computer attackers set up their own evil websites that are designed to automatically attack and exploit anyone that visits the website. Other attackers compromise trusted websites such as ecommerce sites and deploy their exploit software there. Often these attacks occur without the victims realizing that they are under attack.
Exploit
Code that is designed to take advantage of a vulnerability. An exploit is designed to give an attacker the ability to execute additional malicious programs on the compromised system or to provide unauthorized access to affected data or applications.
Firewall
A security program that filters inbound and outbound network connections. In some ways you can think of firewalls as a virtual traffic cop, determining which traffic can go through the firewall. Almost all computers today come with firewall software installed. In addition, firewalls can be implemented as network devices to filter traffic that traverses through them.
Read more from this link https://cyberaware.securingthehuman.org/common-security-terms-explained/