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Wrap-up; Terms and definitions from Course 5, Week 2







TermsGlossary and definitionsterms from Course 5, Weekweek 2

Access controls: Security controls that manage access, authorization, and accountability of information

Algorithm: A set of rules used to solve a problem

Application programming interface (API) token: A small block of encrypted code that contains information about a user

Asymmetric encryption: The use of a public and private key pair for encryption and decryption of data   

Basic auth: The technology used to establish a user’s request to access a server

Bit: The smallest unit of data measurement on a computer

Brute force attack: The trial and error process of discovering private information

Cipher: An algorithm that encrypts information

Cryptographic key: A mechanism that decrypts ciphertext

Cryptography: The process of transforming information into a form that unintended readers can’t understand

Data custodian: Anyone or anything that’s responsible for the safe handling, transport, and storage of information

Data owner: The person that decides who can access, edit, use, or destroy their information

Digital certificate: A file that verifies the identity of a public key holder

Encryption: The process of converting data from a readable format to an encoded format

Hash collision: An instance when different inputs produce the same hash value

Hash function: An algorithm that produces a code that can’t be decrypted

Hash table: A data structure that's used to store and reference hash values

Identity and access management (IAM): A collection of processes and technologies that helps organizations manage digital identities in their environment 

Information privacy: The protection of unauthorized access and distribution of data

Multi-factor authentication (MFA): A security measure that requires a user to verify their identity in two or more ways to access a system or network

Non-repudiation: The concept that the authenticity of information can’t be denied

OAuth: An open-standard authorization protocol that shares designated access between applications

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS): A set of security standards formed by major organizations in the financial industry

Personally identifiable information (PII): Any information used to infer an individual's identity

Principle of least privilege: The concept of granting only the minimal access and authorization required to complete a task or function

Protected health information (PHI): Information that relates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual

Public key infrastructure (PKI): An encryption framework that secures the exchange of online information

Rainbow table: A file of pre-generated hash values and their associated plaintext

Salting: An additional safeguard that’s used to strengthen hash functions

Security assessment: A check to determine how resilient current security implementations against threats

Security audit: A review of an organization's security controls, policies, and procedures against a set of expectations

Security controls: Safeguards designed to reduce specific security risks 

Separation of duties: The principle that users should not be given levels of authorization that would allow them to misuse a system

Session: A sequence of network HTTP basic auth requests and responses associated with the same user

Session cookie: A token that websites use to validate a session and determine how long that session should last

Session hijacking: An event when attackers obtain a legitimate user’s session ID

Session ID: A unique token that identifies a user and their device while accessing a system 

Single Sign-On (SSO): A technology that combines several different logins into one

Symmetric encryption: The use of a single secret key to exchange information

User provisioning: The process of creating and maintaining a user's digital identity