Autonomous System/Server (AS)
Badware
Blacklists
Botnet
DNS (Domain Name System)
Exploits
Hosting
Malicious Links
MX
NS (Name Server)
Open Source Security
Pharming
Phishing
Registrars
Rogue Software
Rootkit
Sandnet
Spam
Trojans
Worms
Autonomous System/Server (AS):
An AS is a unit of router policy, either a single network or a group of networks that is controlled by a common network administrator (or group of administrators) on behalf of an entity (such as a university, a business enterprise, or ISP). An AS is also sometimes referred to as a routing domain. Each autonomous system is assigned a globally unique number called an Autonomous System Number (ASN).
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Badware:
Software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice regarding how his or her computer will be used. You may have heard of some types of badware, such as spyware, malware, or deceptive adware. Common examples of badware include free screensavers that surreptitiously generate advertisements, malicious web browser toolbars that take your browser to different pages than the ones you expect, or keylogger programs that can transmit your personal data to malicious parties.
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Blacklists:
In computing, a blacklist is a basic access control mechanism that allows access much like your ordinary nightclub; everyone is allowed in except people on the blacklist. The opposite of this is a whitelist, equivalent of your VIP nightclub, which means allow nobody, except members of the white list. As a sort of middle ground, a greylist contains entries that are temporarily blocked or temporarily allowed. Greylist items may be reviewed or further tested for inclusion in a blacklist or whitelist. Some communities and webmasters publish their blacklists for the use of the general public such as Spamhaus or Emerging Threats.
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Botnet:
Botnet is a term for a collection of software robots, or bots, that run autonomously and automatically. The term is now mostly associated with malicious software where cyber criminals but it can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.
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DNS (Domain Name System):
DNS associates various information with domain names; most importantly, it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-readable computer hostnames, e.g. www.example.com, into IP addresses, e.g. 208.77.188.166, which networking equipment needs to deliver information. A DNS also stores other information such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given domain. By providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of contemporary Internet use.
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Exploits:
Turning the verb for taking advantage of a weakness into a noun, but with the same meaning, just in a digital sense, an exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that take advantage of a bug, glitch or vulnerability in order to cause irregular behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic (usually computerized). This frequently includes such things as violently gaining control of a computer system or allowing privilege escalation or a denial of service attack.
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Hosting:
Usually refers to a computer (or a network of servers) that stores the files of a web site which has web server software running on it, connected to the Internet. Your site is then said to be hosted.
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Malicious Links:
These are links which are planted on a site to deliberately send a visitor to a malicious site, e.g. a site with which will plant viruses, spyware or any other type of malware on a computer such as a fake security system. These are not always obvious as they can be planted within a feature of the site or masked to misdirect the visitor.
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MX:
A mail server or computer/server rack which holds and can forward e-mail for a client.
Every domain must have a primary name server (e.g. ns1.xyz.com), and at least one secondary name server (ns2.xyz.com etc). This requirement aims to make the domain still reachable even if one name server becomes inaccessible.
Open source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the production and design process for various goods, products, resources and technical conclusions or advice. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is made available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. For Open Source Security this allows users to create user-generated software content and advice through incremental individual effort or through collaboration.
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Pharming:
Pharming is a hackers attack aiming to redirect a website’s traffic to another website, like cattle rustlers herding the bovines in the wrong direction. The destination website is usually bogus.
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Phishing:
Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your valuable personal data, such as credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information. Phishing is typically carried out using e-mail (where the communication appears to come from a trusted website) or an instant message, although phone contact has been used as well.
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Registrars:
A domain name registrar is a company with the authority to register domain names, authorized by ICANN.
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Rogue Software:
Rogue security software is software that uses malware (malicious software) or malicious tools to advertise or install its self or to force computer users to pay for removal of nonexistent spyware. Rogue software will often install a trojan horse to download a trial version, or it will execute other unwanted actions.
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Rootkit:
A set of software tools used by a third party after gaining access to a computer system in order to conceal the altering of files, or processes being executed by the third party without the user's knowledge.
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Sandnet:
A sandnet is closed environment on a physical machine in which malware can be monitored and studied. It emulates the internet in a way which the malware cannot tell it is being monitored. Wonderful for analyzing the way a bit of malware works. A Honeynet is the same sort of concept but more aimed at attackers themselves, monitoring the methods and motives of the attackers.
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Spam:
Spam is the term widely used for unsolicited e-mail. . Spam is junk mail on a mass scale and is usually sent indiscriminately to hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of inbox's simultaneously.
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Trojans:
Also known as a Trojan horse, this is Software that appears to perform or actually performs a desired task for a user while performing a harmful task without the user's knowledge or consent.
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Worms:
A malicious software program that can reproduce itself and spread from one computer to another over a network. The difference between a worm and a computer virus is that a computer virus attaches itself to a computer program to spread, while a worm is self-contained and can send copies of itself across a network.
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