Security Basics
This process verifies a user's identity before granting access.
What is Authentication?
This protocol secures web traffic and is indicated by a padlock icon in the browser.
What is HTTPS?
This process transforms readable data into unreadable ciphertext.
What is encryption?
This malware disguises itself as legitimate software to trick users into installing it.
What is a Trojan?
This role describes an ethical hacker hired to find vulnerabilities before attackers do.
What is a penetration tester?
This practice limits users to only the access they need to do their job.
What is Principle of Least Privilege?
This device filters incoming and outgoing network traffic based on rules.
What is a firewall?
This type of encryption uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt.
What is symmetric encryption?
This malware encrypts a victim's files and demands payment for the decryption key.
What is ransomware?
This government agency leads U.S. cybersecurity and infrastructure protection efforts.
What is CISA?
This security model requires two or more independent credentials to verify identity.
What is MFA?
This attack floods a target with traffic from many compromised systems to make it unavailable.
What is a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack?
This type of encryption uses a public/private key pair.
What is asymmetric encryption?
This malware self-replicates across systems/networks without needing a host file or user action.
What is a worm?
This team monitors and responds to security incidents around the clock.
What is a SOC (Security Operations Center)?
This security model assumes no user or device is trusted by default, even inside the network perimeter, and requires continuous verification.
What is Zero Trust architecture?
In this attack, an adversary intercepts communication between two parties without their knowledge, often by exploiting ARP or DNS.
What is a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack?
This property of a hash function means it's computationally infeasible to find two different inputs producing the same output.
What is collision resistance?
This attack technique injects malicious code into memory without writing a file to disk, evading traditional antivirus.
What is fileless malware?
This knowledge base catalogs real-world adversary tactics and techniques, widely used to map detections and threat intel.
What is MITRE ATT&CK?
This term describes the gap between when a vulnerability is discovered and when it's patched, i.e. the period attackers race to exploit.
What is the window of exposure (or time-to-patch window)?
This TCP handshake step, if abused with spoofed source IPs and no completed connection, is the basis for a classic DoS technique.
What is a SYN flood attack?
This protocol allows two parties to establish a shared secret over an insecure channel without ever transmitting the key itself.
What is Diffie-Hellman key exchange?
This type of attack compromises a trusted third-party vendor or software update mechanism to infect all downstream users. As seen in the SolarWinds incident...
What is a supply chain attack?
This EU regulation, enforced since 2018, imposes strict data protection and privacy requirements with steep fines for noncompliance.
What is GDPR?