Key Terms:

computer crime: any crime accomplished through knowledge or use of computer technology


identity theft: the crime, committed by hackers or other unscrupulous individuals, of obtaining enough information about a person to assume his or her identity, often as a prelude to illegally using the victim's credit cards

spoofing: a process used to steal passwords online

social engineering: slang for the use of deception to get individuals to reveal sensitive information


sabotage: a malicious attack on work, tools or business


malware: malicious software, especially destructive programs such as the viruses, worms, and Trojan horses devised and spread by computer saboteurs


virus: software that spreads from program to program or from disk to disk, and uses each infected program of disk to make copies of itself. a form of software sabotage macro virus: viruses that attach to and are transmitted through macros embedded in documents; usually spread via email email virus:viruses spread via email


worms: programs that use computer hosts to reproduce themselves, Worm programs travel independently over computer networks, seeking out uninfected workstations to occupy, a form of software sabotage


trojan horse: a program that performs a useful task while at the same time carrying out some secret destructive act. a form of software sabotage. logic bomb: a program designed to attack in respnse to a particular logical event or sequence of events time bomb: a logic bomb that is triggered by a time-related event


spyware: technology that collects information from computer users without their knowledge or consent tracking software -> spybot: a spyware application, also called tracking software, that gathers user information and communicates it to an outsider via the Internet drive-by download: a spyware download onto your computer that occurs simply by visiting certain websites

hackers: someone who uses computer skills to gain unauthorized access to computer systems cracking: unauthorized access and/or vandalism of computer systems, shore for criminal hacking phreaking: the hacking of telecommunications systems

DoS attacks: Denial-of-service attacks: bombard servers and web sites with so much bogus traffic that they are shut down, DDos: distributed denial-of-service attacks: a denial of service attack in which the flood of messages comes from many compromised systems distributed across the Net


antivirus: a program designed to search for viruses, notify users when they're found, and remove them from infected files

computer security: protecting computer systems and the information they contain against unwanted access, damage, modification, or destruction

passwords: the most common security tools used to restrict access to computer systems firewalls: a gateway with a lock, encryption: codes protect transmitted information and a recipient needs a special key to intercept it, SSL: badges: A microprocessor-controlled ID badge that broadcasts infrared identification codes to a network receiver that updates a badge-location database.

verification and validation: the process of checking that a product, service, or system meets specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose

UPS: uninterruptible power supply: protect computers from data loss during power failures

virus scans: when a software scans the computer for files infected by viruses

backups: a data recovery insurance

RAID: redundant array of independent disk: a storage technology that enables multiple hard disks to operate as a single logical unit

authentication mechanisms: guarantee that users have permission to perform particular actions

user identifier: information about the user's privileges associated with every user

smart weapons: a missile that uses computerized guidance systems to locate its target

autonomous system: complex systems that can assume almost complete responsibility for a task without human input, verification, or decision making