The Command Line & Scripts
This three-letter command is used in Unix to move into a different directory.
What is cd?
This "one-way" mathematical function turns a password into a fixed-length string of characters for secure storage.
What is a Hash?
This letter of the CIA triad ensures that data has not been altered or tampered with by unauthorized users.
What is Integrity?
This critical internet service acts as a "phonebook," translating domain names like https://www.google.com/search?q=google.com into IP addresses.
What is DNS (Domain Name System)?
This term refers to an attacker following an authorized person into a secure building without scanning their own badge.
What is Tailgating (or Piggybacking)?
This term describes a "good" hacker who uses their skills to find vulnerabilities and report them responsibly.
What is an Ethical Hacker (or White Hat)?
This powerful but intimidating text editor is built into almost every Unix system and requires the :wq command to save and quit.
What is Vi (or Vim)?
This type of cipher, like AES, encrypts data in fixed-size chunks rather than one bit at a time.
What is a Block Cipher?
Information is categorized into these three states: stored (at rest), in use (processing), and this third state.
What is Transmission (or In Transit)?
This term describes using advanced operators like site: or filetype: to find sensitive information via search engines.
What is Google Dorking (or Google Hacking)?
This is the most common motivation for "Physical Attacks" on hardware, such as stealing a laptop or a server.
What is Data Theft (or Corporate Espionage)?
On January 14, 2026, this major carrier suffered a massive outage that highlighted the fragility of our cellular infrastructure.
Who is Verizon?
This file, found in a website's root directory, tells search engine crawlers which pages they are not allowed to index.
What is robots.txt?
This tool is used to precalculate millions of hashes to quickly "crack" passwords by looking up the results in a table.
What is a Rainbow Table?
Firewalls and Encryption are examples of this type of "Control," which uses technology to protect systems.
What is a Technical Control?
These are the three main types of cookies: Session, Persistent, and this type, often used for cross-site tracking.
What are Third-party cookies?
Organizations use these programs to ensure that employees don't leave passwords on sticky notes or doors propped open.
What are Training and Awareness programs?
This AWS region is often cited as a "single point of failure" because so many global services rely on its data centers.
What is US-EAST-1?
This practice involves writing a series of Unix commands into a file to automate repetitive tasks.
What is Shell Scripting?
This open-source command-line tool allows users to encrypt files using algorithms like ChaCha20 or AES.
What is OpenSSL?
This "Factor of Authentication" includes biometrics like fingerprints or facial recognition.
What is Inherence?
This malicious act involves making a false report to emergency services to send a police response to a victim's address.
What is Swatting?
An attacker with this type of "access" can often bypass almost all digital security controls by interacting directly with the hardware.
What is Physical Access?
This ethical dilemma occurs when a researcher finds a bug but must decide whether to disclose it or keep it for personal gain.
What is Responsible Disclosure?
This specific notation (e.g., /24) is used to express a subnet mask in a more concise way than decimal dot notation.
What is CIDR notation (or Slash notation)?
Unlike synchronous communication, this type of messaging (like email or many IoT protocols) doesn't require both parties to be "present" at the same time.
What is Asynchronous communication?
This security strategy involves using multiple cloud providers to prevent a "single point of failure."
What is a Multi-cloud environment?
This automated tool detects threats by looking for specific patterns or "fingerprints" of known malware.
What is Signature-based detection?
This type of physical lock uses a series of pins of varying lengths to prevent the plug from rotating without the correct key.
What is a Pin-Tumbler lock?
This is the act of publicly revealing private, identifying information about someone on the internet with malicious intent.
What is Doxing?