Deepfake

Phishing

Phishing is a message, almost always an email, that impersonates a trusted company or person so the victim hands over credentials or opens a malicious file. It's the entry point for most incidents in companies.

View term →

Malvertising

Malvertising (malicious advertising) is the use of online ads to spread malware or lead the victim to a fraudulent site. The ads run through legitimate ad networks, so they can appear on news portals or well-known sites without the site knowing.

View term →

Social engineering

Social engineering is the set of techniques used to trick a person into handing over information, approving a payment or granting access. It exploits trust, urgency or authority instead of a technical flaw, and phishing is its most common form.

View term →

Exploit

An exploit is a program or sequence of instructions that takes advantage of a specific software vulnerability to run code or take control of a system. It's the bridge between a known flaw and a real attack.

View term →

Data exfiltration

Data exfiltration is the unauthorized transfer of information from an organization's network to a destination the attacker controls. It's usually the last stage of an intrusion and is disguised as normal traffic (email, cloud, DNS) to go unnoticed; catching it in time is what keeps an intrusion from becoming a breach.

View term →

APT (advanced persistent threat)

An APT (advanced persistent threat) is a targeted attack in which a well-resourced group gets into an organization's network and stays hidden for weeks or months to steal information or set up a larger strike. Unlike an opportunistic attack, an APT picks its victim and moves slowly, changing tactics to avoid detection.

View term →