Cybersecurity can be confusing. Over the years, countless terms have emerged regarding cybersecurity. While some of these terms are self-explanatory, others are not. For a better understanding of cybersecurity, you should familiarize yourself with the following terms and their respective definitions.


A vulnerability is a weakness in an information technology (IT) infrastructure, such as a network, that makes it susceptible to cyber attacks. Most cyber attacks begin with a vulnerability. Hackers use vulnerabilities to conduct cyber attacks by exploiting them.


There are also threats in cybersecurity. A threat is a specific type of cyber attack. It’s essentially a malicious act that’s designed to cause harm, in some way, to a victim or his or her computer. Malware, for instance, is a cyber threat. It’s arguably the most common type of cyber threat facing consumers and businesses alike.


Malware is intrinsically connected to cybersecurity. Malware consists of software that’s used for malicious purposes. Research shows that over 30,000 new types of malware are detected each day.


A virus is specific type of malware that’s defined by its ability to self-replicate. Other types of malware must be manually copied. Viruses are different in the sense that they can replicate on their own. After being deployed on a computer, a virus may spread to other parts of the same computer, or it may spread to other computers connected to the same network.


Phishing is a type of cyber threat that uses social engineering to trick victims into divulging sensitive information. Phishing requires the use of a vector, such as email, to acquire information from a victim. There are phishing emails that look legitimate, but if you respond to them, you could be providing a hacker with sensitive information that allows him or her to access your data.


In cybersecurity, a backdoor is a type of vulnerability that allows an unauthorized individual to access an otherwise protected part of an IT infrastructure. Hackers use backdoors to bypass traditional cybersecurity measures. If there’s a backdoor present, a hacker may use to infiltrate your business’s network and steal your data.


A firewall is an essential tool used to defend against cyber threats. Available as either hardware or software, firewalls are designed to filter network traffic based on a set of rules. A firewall will scan your network’s traffic while checking to see if it meets the criteria of your specified rules. If it doesn’t, the firewall will reject the traffic packet.

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