Cybersecurity terms and concepts explained

A holistic cybersecurity strategy to protect Active Directory (AD), a Microsoft Windows directory service. Active Directory Security focuses on securing user credentials, access to company systems, sensitive data, software applications, and more from unauthorized access.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way IT security professionals address cybersecurity. Through our AI research and development of AI-powered cybersecurity tools and systems we now have the ability to enhance data protection against threats by quickly recognizing behavior patterns, automating processes, and detecting anomalies. Download our AI for cybersecurity toolkit.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated cyberattack where criminals trick employees into transferring funds or revealing confidential information by impersonating trusted executives, colleagues, or vendors. Unlike traditional hacks, it rarely relies on malicious links or malware, using social engineering and text-based deception instead. It's one of the most financially devastating vectors facing modern organizations. Read more >>

Cyber insurance is a specialized risk management service that protects organizations from the financial and operational consequences of cyberattacks and data breaches. It doesn't prevent cybercrime from occurring, but it helps mitigate the heavy costs associated with recovery, legal fees, and business downtime. This coverage has become an essential safety net for businesses navigating today's hostile digital landscape. Read more >>

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a cybersecurity strategy and set of technologies that identify, monitor, and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, exposure, or theft so that confidential information stays within your organization and is used only in approved ways. DLP helps prevent data breaches and exfiltration, enforce data-handling policies, support regulatory compliance, reduce insider risk, and maintain customer confidence.

Discover DNS security's role in protecting networks from cyberthreats. Learn about DNS encryption, filtering, and securing DNS requests.

Endpoint management focuses on managing the security posture of all connected end-user devices or endpoints within an organization's network. Endpoints are the devices that connect to a network and include desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, servers, and other devices.

A firewall is a network security device that monitors and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic based on an organization's previously established security rules. At its most basic, a firewall essentially functions as a barrier between a trusted internal network and an untrusted external network, such as the internet. Read more >>

An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is a security application that monitors network traffic or device activity for suspicious behavior and known policy violations. It acts like a digital security camera, constantly watching data packets to flag potential threats. When it spots an anomaly, it immediately logs the event and alerts your administrative team so they can investigate further. Read more >>

A Local Area Network is one of the seven types of networks and offers a fast, reliable method of connecting a group of devices, such as an office, school campus, hospital, or even a home office.

Cybersecurity for manufacturing is a toolset of technology solutions, human expertise, threat intelligence, and business best practices customized to the technology-heavy manufacturing industry, which is particularly vulnerable to compromises in IP and operational and supply chain data.

A network switch is a networking device used to connect devices together within a local area network (LAN).

A network detection and response solution uses AI, Machine Learning, and other non-signature-based analytical techniques to identify and respond to suspicious network activity.

Network security includes any solutions that your organization utilizes to protect its network applications, devices, and users. Network security as a service gives organizations the option to outsource their data protection to a team of IT security professionals.

Next-generation antivirus (NGAV) solutions protect your business against known and unknown cyberthreats. The solution looks at your files, processes, applications, and network connections and the relationships between them. This helps you identify malicious intent, behaviors, and activities — and block them.

In response to the increased threat of cyberattacks and the associated need to increase defences, the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Parliament adopted the Network and Information Security 2.0 Directive (NIS2) in December 2022.

There is no stopping ransomware attacks. However, businesses can use tried-and-true ransomware mitigation technologies and techniques to address these attacks before they get out of hand.

Remote ransomware is when adversaries compromise an unmanaged device and then use it to remotely encrypt protected devices on the same network. Most other endpoint solutions fall short in this scenario - meaning a single unmanaged/unprotected device can result in the entire estate being encrypted, even if the computers are running up-to-date protection.

Managed risk in cybersecurity is the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating possible cybersecurity threats to an organization’s information technology (IT) systems, networks, applications, and data.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a cloud-based security framework that merges network connectivity with comprehensive cybersecurity functions. Instead of routing traffic through a physical data center to secure it, SASE delivers protection directly to the user or device at the edge of the network. This approach allows organizations to secure remote workers and cloud applications seamlessly. Read more >>

The server hardening process reduces your business' attack surface and helps you guard against ransomware, malware, and other cyberthreats. You can follow this process to protect all points of entry against cyberattacks, address cybersecurity weaknesses, and optimize your security posture.

Security as a service (SECaaS) is a form of outsourced security. With SECaaS, you receive cybersecurity services delivered through the cloud.

Sophos provides global cybersecurity solutions that defend organizations of all sizes against the latest cyberthreats. Among its many offerings are managed security as a service and endpoint, antivirus, firewall, and advanced threat prevention products.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) refers to a system commonly used by natural gas companies and other utility providers.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that creates a secure, encrypted connection between a user's device and the internet. By routing web traffic through an isolated digital tunnel, it hides the user's actual IP address and protects their data from unauthorized interception. This ensures privacy and data security when accessing corporate networks or utilizing public internet connections. Read more >>

Zero Trust Security is a modern cybersecurity framework built on a simple premise: never trust, always verify. It removes the old assumption that users and devices inside an organization's network perimeter are automatically safe. Instead, this model requires continuous authentication, authorization, and validation for every single connection attempt before granting access to corporate data and applications. Read more >>