5 Internet security jargon words explained simply

Internet security can be confusing, often down to the weird sounding terms and phrases that those in the industry use. We explain 5 such terms.

Zero-day attack/vulnerability

It may sound like something that you’d think you would hear in the new Star Wars movie as opposed to something related to Internet security, but zero-day attacks and vulnerabilities are an important aspect to cyber security and a massive problem for software developers and Internet frequenters.

Basically, all software – be it games, apps, music players, word processors or even the software used to run your computer – will most likely have bugs that won’t be discovered until it gets released to the public. And some of these bugs will be vulnerabilities, meaning cyber criminals can exploit them to the detriment of the people using the software.

If the good guys spot the vulnerability first, they should be able to fix it, usually by releasing a security patch that typically comes through via an update.

However, sometimes the bad guys find the vulnerability first, and they start exploiting it before the developers have a chance to try and fix it. This is a zero-day attack. The developers have zero days’ notice to fix the vulnerability.

Zero day attacks can be very dangerous because they are exploiting vulnerabilities in software – this means the target of the attack may do little wrong in terms of their own security, but may still become a victim, because it isn’t them committing a security faux-pas, it’s the software they are using. Zero-day attacks are more likely to be discovered in large and widely used software, such as Windows, Java, Flash or Adobe software.

Virus

Virus may not sound like a confusing term, but it is one of the most incorrectly used terms in the Internet security industry. The reality is that most people don’t really know what a virus is, or how it differentiates from other types of Internet nasties. This isn’t helped by big business and Hollywood movies also using the term incorrectly. It also isn’t helped by the term “antivirus” which itself is a bit of a misnomer.

Basically, a virus is a type of malware. Malware is the umbrella term used to describe all types of nasty software out there, of which virus is one type. People incorrectly use the term virus when they actually mean malware. If your computer is infected with some malicious software, people claim they “have a virus” – now unless that person has correctly identified exactly what the infection is, the correct claim should be “I have a malware infection”.

That malware infection may be another type of malware, like a rootkit, adware or a Trojan. In fact most malware infections these days would not be referred to as a virus.

A virus is a type of malware that is capable of self-replicating and spreading across a computer or network by attaching itself to other files. That is what makes a piece of malware a virus. Antivirus software should really be called “anti-malware” software, since the vast majority of antivirus software is not limited to just detecting viruses.

In fact most malware infections these days are from malware that would not be classified as a virus. Key-sniffers, botnets, ransomware and spyware are all variants of malware more likely to infect your computer (though malware can have more than one classification!)

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Botnet

Another futuristic sounding term, a botnet is actually quite simple to explain, though many people still get it completely wrong.

A botnet is simply a network of infected computers, all infected with the same piece of malware. Once a computer is infected by this malware, it is referred to as a “bot”, “slave” or “zombie” and it will listen out for instructions from whoever is in control of botnet. Computers that are infected may show little signs of infection, and often those people who own and use the computer have no idea that it has been infected.

Botnets are often used to orchestrate targeted attacks that require a lot of computer power, such as DDOS attacks (sending a LOT of information to a specific computer or network to overload it) or they may be used to send out spam to other computers to try and infect them as well, resulting in those computers joining the botnet as well.

Keylogger/Keysniffer

A keylogger is a type of malware that is designed to specifically record keystrokes entered into the computer that the keylogger has infected. And this means all keystrokes, including usernames, passwords, sensitive information and everything else.

Most keyloggers will also record the name of the active window open at the time and send all that information straight to the person operating the malware. This mean the criminal will know exactly where you were when you entered the information.

Needless to say, keyloggers are typically used to record usernames and passwords which result in online accounts becoming compromised which in turn can lead to a whole host of more serious problems for those who fall victim.

Social engineering

In terms of cyber security, social engineering refers to the social or psychological techniques used by criminals to gain the trust of the victim and thus coerce them into complying (and consequently falling for a scam.)

Social engineering is one of the most popular and more important aspects to almost any Internet scam. After all, you won’t fall for a scam that consists of being led to a page that states “download this virus”.

Social engineering will be used to convince or manipulate the victim that the download button is actually safe, and they should click it. Social engineering techniques vary widely, and unsurprisingly are extremely common on social media.