By Trifork Security | 2,078 words | Read time: 11 minutes
R
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts a victim’s files or system, demanding a ransom for decryption. Attackers often set deadlines or threaten to leak stolen data to pressure victims into paying. These attacks can cripple businesses, disrupt operations, and lead to financial and reputational damage. Preventative measures like regular backups, employee awareness training, and strong security controls help reduce the risk.
Red teaming
An offensive security approach where ethical hackers simulate real-world cyberattacks to test an organization’s defenses. Red teams attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and human behavior to uncover weaknesses that could be exploited by real attackers.
Risk assessment and risk management
Risk Assessment involves identifying, analyzing and prioritizing potential threats and vulnerabilities in an organization’s systems and data. It evaluates the likelihood and impact of cyber threats, helping organizations implement appropriate security measures. A thorough risk assessment supports compliance, strengthens defenses and reduces the chances of security breaches
Risk Management is the ongoing process of identifying, assessing and mitigating security risks to protect an organization’s systems, data and operations. It involves developing policies, implementing security controls and continuously monitoring threats to reduce the impact of cyberattacks. Effective risk management helps organizations stay resilient and compliant with regulations.
S
Social engineering
A manipulation technique that exploits human psychology to deceive individuals into divulging confidential information, performing certain actions, or visiting malicious websites. Unlike technical exploits, social engineering attacks primarily target the human element, capitalizing on trust, fear or curiosity.
Common types include phishing (fraudulent emails designed to steal sensitive information), pretexting (where attackers impersonate someone with legitimate authority) and baiting (where attackers offer something enticing, like free software, to lure users into compromising their systems). The success of social engineering depends largely on how convincingly the attacker can manipulate their victim’s behavior.
Spear phishing and smishing
- Spear Phishing is a highly targeted form of phishing where the attacker sends personalized messages to an individual or a small group. These messages often incorporate personal information, such as the victim’s name, position, or organizational details, to make the communication seem legitimate. This specific targeting makes spear phishing more dangerous, as it increases the likelihood of success by preying on the victim’s trust or familiarity.
- Smishing is a variation of phishing that is carried out through SMS text messages. In a smishing attack, the attacker sends a text message containing a malicious link, urging the victim to click and provide personal information or download malware. Because smishing messages are typically sent via mobile devices, they can bypass traditional email security filters, making them harder to detect.
Splunk
Splunk is a software platform used for searching, analyzing and visualizing machine-generated data. Splunk helps organizations gain valuable insights from their data to improve security, IT operations and business decision-making. Trifork Security has worked with Splunk for more than 15 years and is a Splunk Elite partner. Read more about our Splunk offerings here:
Log management
Observability
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malicious software that is covertly installed on a victim’s computer or device to monitor their activities without their knowledge or consent. Once installed, spyware can track browsing habits, log keystrokes, capture login credentials and even record personal communications, all with the intent of collecting sensitive information for malicious purposes.
Spyware can be introduced via infected websites, email attachments, or as part of larger malware packages. It’s often difficult for users to detect, making it a significant threat to privacy and data security.
SQL code
SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used to interact with and manage data stored in relational databases. It is used for tasks such as querying, updating, inserting, and deleting data in databases.
In the context of cybersecurity, SQL code is significant because it’s often used as a vector for SQL Injection attacks. These attacks occur when an attacker manipulates SQL queries by injecting malicious code into an input field, such as a login or search form, on a website or application.
T
Tenable
Tenable is a cybersecurity company known for its vulnerability management solutions. Their flagship product, Tenable.io, helps organizations continuously assess, monitor, and manage security vulnerabilities across their IT environments.
By identifying security weaknesses before they can be exploited by cybercriminals, Tenable allows organizations to reduce their attack surface and prioritize fixes based on risk level. Their offerings enable proactive risk management, improving an organization’s overall security posture.
Threat intelligence
Threat intelligence refers to the organization and analysis of data regarding cyber attacks to collect information about existing or emerging threats that target a particular organization. By understanding these threats, organizations can predict, prepare for and defend against attacks.
Threat intelligence helps shift security from a reactive to a proactive approach, allowing security teams to implement appropriate defenses, understand adversary behavior and mitigate potential risks before they escalate. This information can come from various sources, including government agencies, private threat intelligence firms, and internal security data.
Trojan horse
A trojan horse (or simply trojan) is a type of malicious software (malware) that masquerades as a legitimate application or file. Typically, a trojan is delivered through a seemingly harmless email attachment, file, or program that users are encouraged to open or download. Once activated, the trojan can perform a variety of malicious actions such as stealing sensitive data, enabling remote access for cybercriminals, or spreading other types of malware.
Unlike viruses or worms, trojans do not self-replicate but rely on users to inadvertently install them, making them particularly dangerous as they exploit human trust or curiosity.
U
URL interpretation
URL interpretation refers to how web browsers and other tools interpret and display a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Attackers can manipulate URL interpretation to trick users into visiting fake or malicious websites. One common technique is typosquatting, where an attacker registers a domain name that is a slight variation of a legitimate website’s address—such as replacing a letter or adding an extra character—to deceive users into mistyping or misclicking the URL.
By exploiting human error or lack of attention to detail, attackers can direct users to phishing sites, malware-laden sites, or sites that steal sensitive information.
User awareness training
User Awareness Training is a proactive approach to educating employees and end-users about the latest cybersecurity threats, how to recognize them, and how to avoid falling victim to them. The goal of this training is to build a culture of security awareness within an organization by teaching users the importance of cybersecurity best practices. Typical training covers topics such as:
- Safe internet usage: Promoting safe browsing habits and avoiding unsafe websites or networks.
Effective User Awareness Training helps reduce the risk of cyberattacks, especially social engineering attacks like phishing, by empowering employees to recognize threats and respond appropriately. - Password security: Teaching users to create strong, unique passwords and avoid reusing passwords across platforms.
- Phishing: Helping users recognize fraudulent emails, suspicious links, and malicious attachments.
- Malware: Educating users on how to avoid downloading or executing potentially harmful software.
V
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) establishes a secure and encrypted connection over an otherwise insecure network, such as the internet. VPNs mask the user’s IP address, making online activities more private and secure by routing traffic through a remote server.
This can help prevent hackers from intercepting sensitive data, especially on unsecured networks like public Wi-Fi. Additionally, VPNs are commonly used by businesses to ensure remote workers can securely access company resources and data.
Vulnerability
In cybersecurity, a vulnerability refers to a weakness or flaw in a system, software, or hardware that can be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of data.
Attackers may exploit these weaknesses to launch attacks, such as data breaches, denial-of-service attacks or malware infections. Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities is a critical part of maintaining a secure IT environment, which is why regular vulnerability scanning and patching are essential practices. Read more about how we can help with vulnerability management
W
Web attack
Web attacks target vulnerabilities within web-based applications and websites. These attacks exploit weaknesses in the software, often in the code or configuration of the website, to gain unauthorized access to data or disrupt services. Some common types of web attacks include:
- SQL injection: Where attackers manipulate a website’s database query to gain access to sensitive information by injecting malicious SQL code.
- Cross-site scripting (XSS): Involves injecting malicious scripts into a website that, when executed in a user’s browser, can steal data, hijack sessions, or deface the site.
Web attacks are a major security concern as they can have widespread consequences, including data breaches and system downtime.
Whale Phishing
Whale phishing, or whaling, is a targeted type of phishing attack that focuses on high-profile individuals within an organization, typically the executives, C-suite members, or other high-ranking employees. The attackers craft highly personalized and often very convincing messages to trick these targets into revealing sensitive information or performing actions that could compromise the organization’s security, such as transferring funds or disclosing confidential data.
Whaling is more sophisticated than traditional phishing because it uses insider knowledge and tailored approaches to deceive high-value targets.
Worm
A worm is a type of malicious software that replicates itself and spreads across networks without requiring a host file or user intervention. Unlike a virus, which needs a file or program to attach itself to, worms can propagate autonomously through a network, exploiting security vulnerabilities to infect other systems.
Worms can cause massive disruptions by overloading networks, consuming bandwidth or crashing systems. They are often used as vehicles for other types of malware, such as ransomware or spyware.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is a comprehensive cybersecurity approach that integrates and correlates data from multiple sources, such as endpoints, networks and cloud environments, to offer a unified view of potential threats. XDR enhances traditional security tools by providing broader visibility into an organization’s IT landscape, allowing for faster detection of advanced threats.
With automated response capabilities, XDR enables organizations to respond to attacks in real-time, reducing the time between detection and mitigation and improving overall security effectiveness.
XSS attacks (cross-site scripting)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks occur when an attacker injects malicious scripts into content that is sent to a user’s browser. These scripts are often embedded in clickable links or embedded into web forms, and when executed, can steal sensitive information such as cookies, login credentials or session tokens. XSS attacks can lead to account hijacking, data theft and the delivery of malware.
Y
YARA
YARA is an open-source tool used by cybersecurity professionals to detect and classify malware based on pattern matching. It works by allowing analysts to create custom rules that define patterns found in the malware’s binary or textual characteristics. These rules can then be used to scan files and identify malware samples that match those patterns. YARA is commonly used for malware identification, forensic analysis and incident response due to its ability to identify complex malware families and variants.
Yielding attack
A yielding attack refers to a strategy where attackers deliberately slow down or manipulate system responses to evade detection. This can include tactics such as low-and-slow DDoS attacks, gradual credential stuffing or stealthy malware propagation to avoid triggering security alerts.
Z
Zero-day vulnerability
A zero-day vulnerability is a security flaw in software or hardware that is unknown to the developer or vendor. Because the vulnerability is undiscovered, there is no patch available to fix it, leaving systems vulnerable to exploitation. The term zero-day refers to the fact that developers have, literally, zero days to address the flaw before attackers exploit it.
Zero-day vulnerabilities are highly valuable to cybercriminals and can be used in advanced cyberattacks, as there are typically no defenses in place to protect against them until a patch is released.
Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a cybersecurity framework based on the principle of never trust, always verify. In a Zero Trust model, every user, device, or system – whether inside or outside the organization’s network – must be authenticated and authorized before accessing any resources.
The Zero Trust approach assumes that no user or device is trusted by default, even if they are within the organization’s internal network. Access is granted on a least-privilege basis, meaning users only have access to the specific resources necessary for their tasks. This model is becoming more critical as organizations embrace remote work, cloud computing and mobile devices.