23 Tech Terms Writers Should Know
/
Technology has its own vocabulary, and I’m often fascinated with the terms and where they come from. Here’s a list of 23 that could worm their way into your writing.
Account Harvesting - This is the method of collecting a system’s account names.
Back Door - This is a tool that’s installed to give the attacker access and bypasses security.
Biometrics - These are physical attributes of a user that can be used to provide access to a device or software (e.g. retinal, fingerprint, or facial scans).
Brute Force - This is a type of attack that tries all possibilities by bombarding the victim with one option after another in a continuous attack.
Cookie - When you access a website with your browser, some information is stored on your computer that can be retrieved later.
Data Mining - This is a technique used to analyze information, sometimes from different sources. It’s often used in business and marketing tasks.
Denial of Service - This is a type of attack that prevents users from accessing system.
Hardening - This is when computer engineers identify and fix vulnerabilities.
Honey Pot - These are defense mechanisms that appear to be vulnerabilities in a system. When attacked, they track information on the attacker. (Flies are attracted to a honey pot.)
Least Privilege - This is where system administrators assign the least amount of access or permissions necessary for a user.
MAC Address - This is the number that uniquely identifies your network device from all the other devices.
Masquerade Attack - This is a type of attack where one system falsely poses as another. It pretends or assumes the identity of the victim.
Phishing - This is when the bad actor uses emails that look like trusted sources to get the victim to enter his or her credentials. It allows them to steal logins, passwords, and other personal information.
Ping (Packet Internet Groper) - The is the time it takes a small data set or communication to go from a server to your device and back again. It allows the sender to see if the destination exists or accepts requests. It takes its name from a submariner’s sonar pulse.
Plain Text - This is ordinary (readable) text before it is encrypted or decrypted.
Smurf - This is a type of attack on a system that sends a call out (ping) to the site. It usually results in a lot of communication activity.
Social Engineering - This is the term that describes the nontechnical ways that bad actors get information to attack a system. It can be by phone calls, lies, tricks, or threats.
Spoof - This is when a bad actor tries to gain access by posing as an authorized user.
Time to Live - This is a value in the code that tells the network router whether or not the request (network packet) is too old and should be discarded.
Trojan Horse - This is a program that appears to be useful, but it has malicious code that allows it entry or access to a system. The user thinks he/she is accessing a program, but it loads dangerous code that allows the bad actor to bypass security protocols.
Worm - This is a computer program that infects other hosts on a network. It often uses the victim’s computer resources for malicious purposes.
Zero Day - This is the day that a new computer vulnerability is discovered. Often a patch to correct it has not yet been released.
Zombie - This is a type of computer that is connected to the internet and is infected by a virus or controlled by a hacker. It is often part of a botnet (network of bots involved in malicious attacks) Most owners of zombie computers are not aware that someone is using their computer this way.
