Jargon Buster

AAA server



An AAA server is a server program that handles user requests for access to

computer resources and provides authentication, authorization, and accounting

(AAA) services for an enterprise.

ActiveX Malicious Code



ActiveX controls allow web developers to create interactive, dynamic web

pages with enhanced functionality. Active X can be used to access a user’s

system and files automatically without the knowledge of the user.

Application gateway



One form of a firewall in which valid application-level data must be

checked/confirmed before allowing a connection. In the case of an ftp connection

the application gateway appears as a ftp server to the client and as a ftp

client to the server.

Armored virus



An armored virus is one, which uses special tricks to make the tracing,

disassembling and understanding of their code more difficult. A good example is

the Whale virus.

Authorization



The process of determining what types of activities are permitted. Usually,

authorization is in the context of authentication. Once you have authenticated a

user, the user may be authorized different types of access or activity.

Back door



This is a hole in the security of a computer system deliberately left in

place by designers or maintainers. Synonymous with trap door; a hidden software

or hardware mechanism used to battle security controls.

Breach



The successful defeat of security controls which could result in a

penetration of the system. A violation of controls of a particular information

system such that information assets or system components are exposed.

Business intelligence



Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of applications and

technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to

help enterprise users make better business decisions. BI apps include the

activities of decision support systems, query and reporting, online analytical

processing, statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining.

Clickstream analysis



On a website, clickstream analysis (sometimes called clickstream analytics)

is the process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting aggregate data about

which pages visitors visit in what order–which are the result of the

succession of mouse clicks each visitor makes (that is, the clickstream).

Cookie



Block of text in a file on your computer’s hard drive by a website you’ve

visited. A cookie is used to identify you the next time you access the site.

Cracker



One who breaks security on a system, or engages in computer and

telecommunications intrusion.

Customer valuation



In customer relationship management (CRM), customer valuation is a scoring

process used to help a company determine which customers the company should

target in order to maximize profit. Customer valuation requires that the company

evaluate past data to learn which customers purchased recently, which customers

purchased frequently, and which customers spent the most money, in hopes that

the company can forecast future purchase potential.

Database management system



A database management system (DBMS), sometimes just called a database

manager, is a program that lets one or more computer users create and access

data in a database. The DBMS manages user requests (and requests from other

programs) so that users and other programs are free from having to understand

where the data is physically located on storage media and, in a multi-user

system, who else may also be accessing the data.

DAO



DAO (Data Access Objects) is an application program interface (API)

available with Microsoft’s Visual Basic that lets a programmer request access

to a Microsoft Access database.

DNS spoofing



Assuming the DNS name of another system by either corrupting the name

service cache of a victim system, or by compromising a domain name server for a

valid domain.

Domain controller



Primary domain controller (PDC) and backup domain controller (BDC) are roles

that can be assigned to a server in a network of computers that use the Windows

NT operating system. Windows NT uses the idea of a domain to manage access to a

set of network resources (applications, printers, and so forth) for a group of

users.

Encryption



Data that is scrambled into a private code for secure transmission.

Enterprise server



An enterprise server is a computer containing programs that collectively

serve the needs of an enterprise rather than a single user, department, or

specialized application. Historically, mainframe-sized computers have been

enterprise servers although they were not referred to as servers then.

Firewall



A system or combination of systems that enforces a boundary between two or

more networks. Gateway that limits access between networks in accordance with

local security policy.

Fragmentation



In some operating systems/file systems, a data file over a certain size is

stored in several ‘chunks’ or fragments rather than in a single contiguous

sequence of bits in one place on the storage medium, a process that is called

fragmentation.

Grid computing



Grid computing (or the use of a computational grid) means applying the

resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time.

This applies to a problem that requires a great number of computer processing

cycles.

Hacker



The label ‘hacker’ has come to connote a person who deliberately

accesses and exploits computer and information systems to which he/she has no

authorized access.

(To be continued as a regular feature)