Computer security terms

Updated: 12/23/2025 by Computer Hope

Computer security terms with full definitions and information on each term. Explore this list of over 660 terms like antivirus, black hat, and computer crime. Navigate quickly through the list by clicking one of the letters below; for example, click 'W' to find terms like 'white hat' in the 'W' section.

Top 10 computer security terms
Internet terms - Network terms
Network Prime number Username Computer crime Monitor Scam Unauthorized access Cyber law Update Antivirus
Number
0-day 2600 2FA 3DES 419
A
Abort Abuse Access Access card Access control system Access denied Access log Access number Access rights Account harvesting Account lockout ACE ACL Actor Address spoof Admin Administrator Administrative Advanced persistent threat Advisory Adware AES Air gap ANI Anonymous Application gateway Authentication Authorize Anti-spyware Antivirus Antivirus program AntiVirus Software Append virus APT Asymmetric cryptography Atlas VPN Attachment Attack Attack tagging Attagging AUP Authy AV AVS
B
Back Orifice Backdoor Bad actor Bifurcate Biometrics Bitlocker Black hat Blacklist Blagging Bleachbit Block cipher Blue box Back Orifice BO Bomb Boot sector virus Bootleg Botnet Breach Bruteforce Brute-force attack Bug bounty Burner Butt dial Bypass
C
Callback Cam troll Candy drop Card Carnivore Catfish Cavity virus CCTV CD key CDA CDC Censorship CERT Certificate Certificate authority Chain mail Checksum Checkpoint Chernobyl packet Chilling effect Chrome notifications CIA CIA triad Cipher Ciphertext CISSP Clbuttic Cleartext Clickjacking Cloaking CMA CMOS virus Code signing Cold call Combofix Communications act Companion virus Compromise Compromised Compromised account Computer crime Computer forensics Computer fraud Computer security Computer security risk Con Confidentiality Cookie poisoning COPPA Copy protection Crack Cracker Crackz Credential Credential theft Credit card fraud Cridex malware CRL Cross-site scripting Cryptanalysis Cryptographic nonce Cryptography Cryptolocker Cryptology Cybercriminal Cyberextortionist Cyber law Cyberwar Cult of the dead cow CVE
D
DACL Dark web Darknet Dark pattern DARPA Data breach Data carving Data diddling Data loss Data protection Data Protection Directive Data recovery Data theft DataDot DCS1000 DDoS Dead man's switch Decryption Deep Web DEF CON Deface Default password Definition Denial Denial Of Service DES DHS Differential cryptanalysis Diffie-Hellman Diffie-hellman key exchange Dictionary attack Digital citizenship Digital rights management Digital signature Directory harvest attack Disaster recovery DLL injection DLP DNS hijacking DoD DoS DoS attack Doxing DRDoS Drive-by download DRM DroidKit DSO DSO exploit DSS Dumpster diving
E
E-discovery E-mail spoof Earwigging EAP EAP-FAST Eavesdropping ECDSA ECHELON EFS Elite EMP Encrypt Encrypted virus Endpoint End-to-end encryption Ephemeral EPIC Ethical hacking Evil twin EVP Executable virus Exploit ExpressVPN
F
Face ID Facial recognition Fake Fake antivirus Fake tech support Family Safety FBI Fed Federated identity Fencing FIDO Alliance File protection File tab Fingerprint Filter FIPS Firesheep Firewall Fishing Flame Flaw Flood Fob FOIA Foistware Forensics Fork bomb Freedom of Information Act Full rights Fuzz testing
G
Gatekeeper GCHQ Glary Utilities GlassWire Google Authenticator Google Nest GPG GPO Gray hat
H
Hack Hackathon Hacker HackerOne Hacktivism Hacktivist Hackz Harvester Hash Hashing Haxor Hazard HDCP Heap spraying Heuristic Hiew Hijack HijackThis Hoax Homomorphic encryption Honeypot HOPE Hotfix HouseCall HTTP HTTPS
I
ICRA IDEA Identity Identity theft IDS Inactive Account Manager Incognito mode Infect InfoSec Insider Insider threat Integrity Intruder Intrusion detection software Intrusion Detection System IP cloaking IPsec IP spoofing IPS ISACA Island hopping
J
Jailed shell Jailbreaking JavaScript hijacking Joe Job
K
Kali Linux Kensington lock Kerberos Key fob Keygen Keylogger Keystroke logger Killer poke
L
L3 cache LastPass Layer Socket Provider Leak Leet Let's Encrypt LFD Linkjacking Lock Lockdown Locked file Lock screen Logic bomb Login Login screen Log off LoJack Loophole LSP
M
Macro virus Mail bomb Mail relay Malicious Malicious actor Malicious payload Malicious Removal Tool Malicious Software Removal Tool Malvertisement Malvertising Malware Malwarebytes Malware dropper Man-in-the-middle attack Manhole Manifesto Master Boot Record virus MBR virus MDC Melissa virus Meltdown Metadata MFA Microsoft Defender Antivirus Microsoft Security Essentials MILNET Mixing Modification Detection Code Monkey testing Mullvad Multi-Factor Authentication Multipart virus Multipartite virus Monitor MSE
N
National Cybersecurity Center NAP Nation state NCSC Network Network Access Protection NIDS NOBUS Node encryption Nonce Non-resident virus NordVPN NSA
O
Obfuscation OCTAVE One-time password Orange book OTP Overrun Overwrite Overwrite virus OWASP
P
Packet monkey Passcode Passphrase Password Password generator Password manager Password protect Passport Patch Patch Tuesday Pattern file Payload Permission Personally identifiable information Penetration Penetration test Pentest People hacking PGP Pharming Phishing Phreak Picture password Pig butchering Piggyback PII Pin Ping storm PITM Pivot Pivoting Pixel tag Pocket call Pocket dial POE Point of entry Police scanner Policeware Polyinstantiation Polymorphic virus Port scanner Possessed object PoW Predator Pretty Good Privacy Prime number PRISM Privacy Privacy filter Private Privileges Product key Promiscuous mode Proof-of-Work Protected Public-key cryptography Public-key forward secrecy Pump and dump PureVPN
Q
Quantum cryptography Quarantine
R
Rabbit virus Rainbow Random seed Ransomware RAT RBAC RCE Read-only Recover Remote admin Reset password Resident virus Restricted function Right Rijndael encryption Risk Role-Based Access Control Rookie Root Rootkit RSA Rule
S
Sabotage Safe Samsung Knox Salami Slicing Sandbox Sanitized data SATAN Scam Scareware Script kiddie Scriptz Scunthorpe problem SDDL Secret question Secure boot Secure connection Secure Enclave Security Security hole Security question Secure network Security Security through obscurity Seed SELinux Setuid Sextortion Shadow Shadow ban Shellshock Shoulder surfing Sidejacking SIGINT Sign off Silk Road Simjacking SIM swap SIM swap scam Slack space Slave Slogin Smurf attack Smishing Snarf Sniffing Social engineering Spacefiller virus Spam Spectre Spear phishing SPI SPIT Spoof Spoofing Spybot Spyware SQL injection SSH SSL Stealth virus Stuxnet Superfish Surfshark Swatting SYN attack
T
Tabnabbing Tamper TAO Tarsnap TCPA Tempest Threat Threat actor Theft TheftGuard Throwaway account TLS Tor Tor Browser Track Tracking Tracking bug Trapdoor Trip code Trojan Trojan horse Troll Truecrypt TrustArc TRUSTe Trusted Execution Technology Trusted source Two-factor authentication
U
UAC Unauthorized access Unethical hacking Unit 8200 Unlock Update Upgrade USENIX Username UTM
V
Vaccine Vandalism Vein recognition Virus Virus signature Viruses Vishing VoMM Vulnerability
W
Wabbit War dial War driving Warchalking Wardriving WARP Watch list Wave bubble Web beacon Web bug Web harvester WEP Whale Whaling White hat Windows 99 Windows Defender Windows Defender Antivirus Windows Defender Firewall WireShark Worm WOT WPA
X
Currently, no listings.
Y
Currently, no listings.
Z
Zero-day flaw Zero filling ZERT Zombie Zombie network Zoo

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