A
Access Point
A device that allows wireless-equipped computers and other devices to communicate with a wired network.
ASP: Application Service Provider
A third-party company that manages and distributes software-based services and solutions to their customers over a wide-area network, usually the Internet.
Authentication
The process of identifying yourself and the verification that you’re who you say you are. Computers where restricted information is stored may require you to enter your username and password to gain access.
B
BYOD: Bring Your Own Device
A business and technology policy that allows employees to bring in personal mobile devices and use these devices to access company data, e-mail, etc.
C
Cloud Computing
Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid.
Content Filtering
Software that prevents users from accessing or sending questionable content via your Internet. Content filtering is used to block job application sites, dating sites, gambling sites, shopping sites, as well as pornography, explicit language and images. Many programs also screen inbound and outbound e-mails for offensive and confidential information. This software is not designed for virus, worm or hacker prevention.
CPU: Central Processing Unit
The brains of a computer.
CSP: Cloud Service Provider
A business model for providing cloud services.
D
Dark Web
The unknown, hidden part of the web that consists of websites that use the public Internet, but requires specific software for access and is not indexed by search engines. Stolen data on the dark web is traded, sold and used for financial or political gain.
Deep Web
Ninety percent of the web is actually the deep web, just below the surface of the World Wide Web. Web developers and companies tell Google not to index the information so it’s not searchable.
Default Gateway
In a TCP/IP network, this is the gateway that computers on that network use to send data to, and receive it from, computers and networks outside of the local network. Typically, this is the router or firewall that connects the local network to the public Internet, although it might also be a router that connects to another remote server or computer within the same company.
DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
A method for dynamically assigning IP addresses to devices on request, rather than explicitly programming an IP address into each device. If you have a server on your network, configuring that server as a DHCP server will make it much easier to add or reconfigure individual workstations on the network.
DMZ: Demilitarized Zone
A separate area of your network that is isolated from both the Internet and your protected internal network. A DMZ is usually created by your firewall to provide a location for devices such as web servers that you want to be accessible from the public Internet.
DNS: Domain Name Server (or Server)
An Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Even though most domain names are alphabetic, hardware devices (like your PC) can only send data to a specific IP address. When you type www.microsoft.com into your web browser, or send an e-mail message to someone@business.com, your web browser and e-mail server have to be able to look up the IP address that corresponds to the microsoft.com web server, or to the mail server that receives e-mail for business.com. DNS is the mechanism for doing this lookup.
E
EHR/EMR/PHR: Electronic Health Record/Electronic Health Record/Personal Health Record
These terms are used interchangeably to refer to record patient-centered health records.
Encryption
The manipulation of data to prevent accurate interpretation by all but those for whom the data is intended.
Endpoint Protection
Also referred to as endpoint security, it’s an approach to detecting malicious activity while protecting secure networks, including servers, computers and devices from an attack.
Ethernet
Ethernet is the standard wired network technology in use almost everywhere today. If your computer is connected to a network via a cable, it’s likely using an Ethernet cable. That cable plugs into an Ethernet port on your computer.
F
Firewall
A device or software program designed to protect your network from unauthorized access over the Internet. It may also provide network address translation (NAT) and virtual private network (VPN) functionally.
H
Hosted Applications (e.g., Hosted Sharepoint or Hosted Exchange)
A service whereby a provider makes a software (e.g., e-mail) and space available on a server so its clients can host their data on that server.
I
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
In the most basic cloud-service model, providers of IaaS offer computers – physical or (more often) virtual machines – and other resources.
ISP: Internet Service Provider
Your Internet service provider is the company that provides you with your Internet connection. For example, your ISP may be Comcast, Time Warner or whatever other company you’re paying each month.
L
LAN: Local Area Network
A small network that’s confined to a local area. For example, your home network or an office network is a LAN. A LAN connects a group of computers for the purpose of sharing resources such as programs, documents or printers. Shared files often are stored on a central file server.
M
Mail Server
A networked computer dedicated to supporting electronic mail. You use a client program like Microsoft Outlook for retrieving new mail from the server and for composing and sending messages.
Microsoft Exchange Server
The server side of a client server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products. Exchange’s major features consist of e-mail, calendaring, contacts and tasks; support for mobile and web-based access to information; and support for data storage.
MSP: Managed Services Provider
A proactive and responsive business model for providing information-technology services. A managed services provider can save you considerable money by minimizing costly network disasters while decreasing downtime by providing proactive solutions. By ensuring your network and data are secure, reliable and running just as it should, MSPs provide peace of mind.
Multi-Factor Authentication
An authentication method in which a computer user is granted access only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism: knowledge, possession and inherence. Two-factor authentication is a type, or subset, or multi-factor authentication.
N
Nameserver
A computer that runs a program for converting Internet domain names into the corresponding IP addresses and vice versa.
Network Interface/Network Adapter
Your computer’s wired Ethernet connection and WiFi connection are basically both network interfaces. If your laptop was connected to both a wired connection and a WiFi network, each network interface would have its own IP address. Each is a different connection.
Next-Generation Endpoint Security
Beyond traditional endpoint security solutions, next-generation endpoint security utilizes modern artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide real-time analysis of user and system behavior. These advanced tools address threats and also learn from threats and continuously adapt methods and combat them with greater speed and efficiency.
P
Patch
Piece of software designed to update a computer program or its supporting data, to fix or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance.
Port
When an application wants to send or receive traffic, it has to use a numbered port between 1 to 65535. This is how you can have multiple applications on a computer using the network and each application knows which traffic is for it.
Protocol
An agreed format for transmitting data between two devices. TCP and UDP are the most common protocols. The ICMP protocol is also used, but primarily so network devices can check each other’s status. Different protocols are ideal for different types of communication.
R
Remote Desktop
A Windows feature that allows you to have access to a Windows session from another computer in a different location.
Remote Login
An interactive connection from your desktop computer over an Internet connection to a computer at a remote site.
RMM: Remote Monitoring and Management
A piece of software managed services providers use to monitor the performance of endpoints and other IT assets remotely. From a single device, you can monitor systems, remotely access devices, review data, deploy patches and more.
Router
A device used for connecting two local area networks (LANs); a device that passes traffic back and forth. You likely have a home router. The router’s job is to pass outgoing traffic from your local devices to the Internet and to pass incoming traffic from the Internet to your devices. A router is also used if you have multiple office locations and you need all devices to communicate to the home office servers.
S
SaaS: Software as a Service
A software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet. SaaS is one of three main categories of cloud computing, alongside infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).
SAN: Storage Area Network
A dedicated storage network that provides access to consolidated, block level storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices accessible to servers so the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system. A SAN typically has its own network of storage devices that are generally not accessible through the regular network by regular devices.
SIEM: Security Information and Event Management
A software solution that aggregates and analyzes activity from many different resources across your IT network. SIEM collects security from network devices, servers and more.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
An Internet standard for e-mail transmission.
SOC: Security Operations Center
A centralized unit that deals with security issues on an organizational and technical level. A SOC within a building or facility is a central location from which staff supervises the site, using data processing technology. Typically, a SOC is equipped for device monitoring such as hacker threats.
Spam
E-mail spam, also known as junk e-mail or unsolicited bulk e-mail, is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. By definition, spam is unsolicited and sent in bulk. Spammers collect e-mail addresses from chatrooms, websites, newsgroups and viruses that harvest users’ address books and are sold to other spammers.
Spear Phishing
Phishing attempt directed at specific individuals or companies. In contrast to bulk phishing, spear phishing attackers often gather and use personal information about their target to increase the probability of successfully getting their victim take action.
SSL: Secure Socket Layer
Small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the HTTPS protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Typically, SSL is used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer and logins, and more recently is becoming the norm when securing browsing of social media sites.
Switch
Serves as a controller, enabling networked devices to talk to each other efficiently. Through information-sharing and resource allocation, switches save businesses money and increase employee productivity.
T
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
An agreed-upon set of rules that tells computers how to exchange information over the Internet. Other Internet protocols, like FTP, Gopher and HTTP, sit on top of TCP/IP.
Threat Actor
Any individual or group of individuals who attempt to conduct malicious activities against enterprises. Threat actors can be internal or external.
Two-Factor Authentication
An extra level of security achieved using a security token device; users have a personal identification number (PIN) that identifies them as the owner of a particular token. The token displays a number that is entered following the PIN number to uniquely identify the owner of a particular network service. The identification number for each user is changed frequently, usually every few minutes.
U
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
The global address of documents, websites and other resources on the web. Virus – A program intended to alter data on a computer in an invisible fashion, usually for mischievous or destructive purposes. Viruses are often transferred across the Internet, as well as by infected diskettes, and can affect almost every type of computer. Special antivirus programs are used to detect and eliminate them.
V
VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol
A means of using the Internet as the transmission medium for phone calls. An advantage is you do not incur any additional surcharges beyond the cost of the Internet access.
VPN: Virtual Private Network
A network constructed by using public wires (the Internet) to connect nodes (usually computers and servers). A VPN uses encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and the data it holds. This allows businesses to connect to other servers and computers located in remote offices, from home or while traveling.
W
WAN: Wide Area Network
A larger network used to connect two or more locations. If you have two or more offices and want to send and receive data securely between them, a WAN is ideal.
WAP: Wireless Application Protocol
A set of communication protocols for enabling wireless access to the Internet.
WEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy
A security protocol for wireless local area networks defined in the 802.11b used in a wireless network. WEP provides the same level of security as that of a wired LAN.
WiFi: Wireless Fidelity
A generic term from the WiFi Alliance that refers to any type of 802.11 network. Products approved as “WiFi Certified” are certified as interoperable with each other for wireless communications.
WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network
The computers and devices that make up a wireless network.
WPA: WiFi Protected Access
A standard designed to improve on the security features of WEP.
