The Glossary contains several hundred definitions of terms that you might come across in our articles and blogs, or on other information security sites. Unlike the in-depth articles in the Knowledge Base, every definition in the Glossary is succinct, while remaining highly informative.
(This section is currently under construction)
In the Knowledge Base, you will find various articles about common threats, a general classification of malware and unwanted messages, and a brief historical overview of the evolution of these and many other threats.
The Knowledge Base now has three main sections:
– The Detectable Objects section gives detailed information about malicious and potentially dangerous programs that we protect users against every single day all around the world, as well as advice on what to do in case of infection.
– In the Spam and Phishing section, you will learn about phishing and spam mailings, how their creators earn money from them, and how this type of threat has evolved since the 1990s to the present day.
– The articles in the Vulnerabilities and Hackers section is devoted to the topic of software vulnerabilities and how cybercriminals exploit them, as well as legislation and hackers in the broad sense of the word.
A unique identifier for a network device that uses a connection based on one of the IEEE 802 standards, such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. It is factory-installed and is meant to unambiguously identify each host, as well as provide… Read Full Article
A method of restricting access to a computer network through setting device permissions based on the MAC address, the unique identifier of the network card. Information security experts note that MAC filtering does little to increase network security, since the… Read Full Article
A cyber attack aimed at compromising data transmitted to a device that is connected to a network switch. The method is based on overflowing the MAC address table for devices and their corresponding network segments. This database is necessary for… Read Full Article
A technique for temporarily changing the MAC address of a device to bypass access blocks at the network identifier level (MAC filtering). Address spoofing in most systems does not require advanced hacking skills, and is carried out using the ipconfig… Read Full Article
Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that relies on using data sets to train algorithms. By analyzing the solutions to a large number of similar problems, information systems begin to identify patterns and offer solutions to such problems.… Read Full Article
Viruses are often classified according to the objects they infect. Macro viruses, as the name suggests, are designed to add their code to the macros associated with documents, spreadsheets and other data files. The vast majority of macro viruses were… Read Full Article
A magic number is a number that is explicitly defined in the code of a computer program without detailing its purpose. The use of uncommented magic numbers is a sign of a poor programming style. An exception is signatures used… Read Full Article
The use of online ads to distribute malicious programs. Cybercriminals embed a special script in a banner or redirect users who click on an ad to a special page containing code for downloading malware. Special methods are used to bypass… Read Full Article
Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a business model under which malware developers provide malicious tools to other cybercriminals for a fee. Read Full Article
A type of cyber attack on devices running Android in which malware installed on a smartphone or tablet targets an app through files located in external storage. Unlike in internal memory, apps are not isolated from each other in this… Read Full Article
A type of attack when a malicious program gains control over traffic between a user’s computer and the webserver of a website and changes the website’s contents. The malware integrates into the victim’s operating system and installs the browser extension.… Read Full Article
In a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack, threat actors gain access to a communication channel between parties exchanging information, allowing the perpetrators to intercept and modify messages. Read Full Article
A man-on-the-side is an attack in which an intruder is able to read and respond to data packets sent over a network communication channel, such as between an application and a server, but not to modify them. Read Full Article
The MBR is the first sector on a hard disk and contains the partition table, which holds information on the number of partitions, their size and which one is active (i.e. which one contains the operating system used to boot… Read Full Article
A hashing algorithm that converts a dataset of arbitrary size into a hash — a pseudorandom sequence of fixed-length characters. The result is a kind of identifier for the encrypted data array. MD5 is used to verify the authenticity, integrity,… Read Full Article
MDM (mobile device management) is a set of solutions and technologies for the centralized management of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other mobile devices used for work purposes. MDM is applied to both corporate mobile devices and the personal devices of… Read Full Article
Mean Time to Respond (MTTR, sometimes written as Mean Time to Response) is the average time required to return a system to operational condition after receiving notification of a failure or cyberattack. MTTR characterizes the functional security of devices and… Read Full Article
A malicious program that scans the RAM of infected devices (usually POS terminals) to steal confidential data. Most often, memory scrapers are on the prowl for bank card numbers and PIN codes. Only cards with magnetic strips are vulnerable. EMV… Read Full Article
A program for generating (mining) cryptocurrency. Most cryptocurrencies are issued in a decentralized manner by creating new blocks of “money” according to certain rules. The generation of each new unit of currency requires considerable computational resources. Miners utilize resources to… Read Full Article
A process of creating new blocks of information about transactions conducted in a cryptocurrency (i.e. bitcoin) and adding them to the incorruptible and continuous digital ledger called ‘blockchain‘. Every new block contains the information about the transactions that were conducted… Read Full Article
MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques & Common Knowledge) is a knowledge base describing cybercriminal tactics and techniques based on real-world observations. The MITRE Corporation created the knowledge base in 2013. The project’s purpose is to develop a structured matrix of… Read Full Article
A standalone and functionally complete part of an application, structured as a separate piece of code, packaged in a separate file, or isolated in some other way. An example of a module is a DLL library, which processes subsystem requests… Read Full Article
A participant in a jackpotting attack. The mule‘s task is to extract cash from the hacked terminal. Low-skilled criminals are usually hired for this role. The mule needs to be physically in front of the compromised ATM when the attackers send the command… Read Full Article
A universal multiplatform DBMS based on the relational model. MySQL is designed for small and medium-sized applications. It offers developers a choice of different types of tables for various tasks. This DBMS is included in several server software products and… Read Full Article