IT Vocabulary
A specialist who configures hardware, maintains IT infrastructure and fixes technical problems.
IT technician
A combination of characters, numbers and symbols designed to resist brute-force attacks.
Strong Password
You open an attachment from an unknown sender without checking whether it is safe.
Opening a Suspicious Attachment
Deceptive emails or messages designed to trick people into revealing sensitive credentials.
Phishing
Software designed to detect, quarantine and remove computer viruses and other threats.
Antivirus
An automated chronological record of system events, user logins and data transactions.
Network log
An authentication method that requires two independent forms of verification.
Two-Factor Authentication
You click a link in an unexpected email that may lead to a fraudulent website.
Clicking a Suspicious Link
Malicious software that encrypts files and demands money to restore access to them.
Ransomware
A person who exploits technical weaknesses to gain unauthorised access to a computer system.
Hacker
A weakness in software code that attackers can exploit to compromise a system
Vulnerability
A duplicate copy of important files kept so that lost or corrupted data can be recovered.
Backup
You give your login details to someone who pretends to work in IT support.
Social Engineering
Malicious software that secretly tracks user activity and collects sensitive information without consent.
Spyware
A security incident in which confidential company records are accessed without authorisation.
Data Breach
A software release designed to fix bugs and security weaknesses.
Security patch
A network barrier that checks incoming and outgoing traffic to block unauthorised access.
Firewall
You install malicious software disguised as a legitimate application.
Trojan Horse
An attack that overwhelms a server with illegitimate requests to exhaust its resources.
Denial of Service (DoS)
The process of isolating an infected computer or malicious file to stop a threat from spreading.
Quarantine
The process of scrambling readable data so that only authorised people can read it.
Encryption
Physical drives or tape media kept completely disconnected from the internet to protect copies of data.
Offline Storage
You delay installing an update even though it fixes a known security weakness.
Ignoring a Security Patch
The systematic collection of usernames and passwords, often using fake login pages.
Credential Harvesting
A formal protocol that explains how an organisation contains, removes and recovers from a cyberattack.
Incident Response Plan