Glossário

A

Active Directory: A central component of the Microsoft Windows platform designed for distributed networking environments. It provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments.

ActiveX: Programs designed to be executed by Internet clients containing support for ActiveX, usually Internet Explorer and Outlook.
Alert: Automatic notification of a particular event when it occurs, such as a virus detection.

Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A process that can be set-up to allow any user on the network to remotely access computer files and databases using the account named "anonymous".

Attack: A set of events (one or more) that has security consequences. It is a mechanism to fulfill an intruder's objective. From the perspective of a neutral observer, the attack can either be successful (an intrusion) or unsuccessful (an attempted or failed intrusion).

B

Back Door: A way into a network that a hacker plants to circumvent a network's security policy. For example, a modem connection that is not secure can serve as a back door.

Bandwidth: The amount of information that can be passed through a communications channel in a given amount of time, usually expressed in 'bits per second'.
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C

Communication port: The logical address for channeling communication using a specific protocol. Each communication port is associated with a protocol and a physical port.

Domain: A group of computers and devices on a network that are administered as a unit with common rules and procedures. Within the Internet, domains are defined by the IP address. All devices sharing a common part of the IP address are said to be in the same domain.

Domain Name Service (DNS): One of three network-based systems for translating hostnames into Internet addresses. The other two are NIS (Sun Microsystems) and NetInfo (NeXT, Inc.). Of the three, DNS is a true distributed name resolving program that can access information at remote sites. DNS provides more functions than either NIS or NetInfo. DNS is principally used for the lookup of IP addresses based on hostnames.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP): A protocol for assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network. With dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP address every time it connects to the network. In some systems, the device's IP address can even change while it is still connected. DHCP also supports a mix of static and dynamic IP addresses.

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E

Encryption: The transformation of a message into another type of message, using a mathematical function and an encryption password, called a key. The purpose of encryption is to make information indecipherable to protect it from unauthorized viewing or use, especially during transmission or when it is stored on a transportable magnetic medium.

Event ID: An Id used by a program to detect an action or occurrence. Events can be user actions (e.g., clicking a mouse button or pressing a key; system occurrences such as running out of memory). Most modern applications are designed to respond to events (event-driven).
Exchange Server: Also known popularly as the Microsoft Exchange Server. This server allows exchange of information or resources with servers that belong to different networks.

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F

File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A protocol that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another. FTP is also the verb used to describe the act of transferring
files from one computer to another.

Firewall: A software or hardware solution to protect a single computer or a computer network from attacks by malicious users. Some firewalls can stop both outside attacks and malicious programs trying to send unauthorized transmissions to outside parties.

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H

Host: A computer system that is accessed by a user working at a remote location. Typically, the term is used when there are two computer systems connected by modems and telephone lines. The system that contains the data is called the host, while the computer at which the user sits is called the remote terminal.

Host-based firewall: A firewall where the security is implemented in software running on a general-purpose computer of some sort. Security in host-based firewalls is generally at the application level, rather than at a network level.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): A protocol used to link and transfer hypertext documents.

Hub and Spoke Architecture: A traditional Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) architecture where a single integration server, the hub (central servers), handles the information exchange and transformation for many applications or data stores, the spokes (regional servers).

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I

Intrasite: Literally, the term would mean “within site.” It refers to mails that are exchanged between domains of an organization.

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L

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): A software protocol for enabling anyone to locate organizations, individuals and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the public Internet or on a corporate intranet.

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M

Mailbox: A repository that supports and manages e-mail service. It is used to send, receive and store mails.

Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI): A system built into Microsoft Windows that enables different e-mail applications to work together to distribute e-mail. Messages can be shared as long as both applications are MAPI-enabled.

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N

Network Forensics: The capture, recording and analysis of network events in order to discover the source of security attacks or other problem incidents.

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P

Proxy Server: A server associated with or part of a gateway server that separates the enterprise network from the outside network and a firewall server that protects the enterprise network from outside intrusion. To the user, the proxy server is invisible; all requests and returned responses appear to be directly with the addressed Internet server.

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S

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): A protocol used for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems use SMTP to send messages from one server to another.

Single Sign-On: A session/user authentication process in a client/server relationship that permits a user to enter one name and password in order to access multiple applications.

System Forensics: Provides the ability to capture, record and analyze huge current and historical log data as well as helps detect the origin of an attack and assists in ad-hoc audit verification by observing the chronological order of pertinent events (log data) recorded by network nodes.
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T

Topology: A schematic description of the arrangement of a network, including its nodes and connecting lines.

Tracepath: A utility which records the path (the specific gateway computers at each hop) through the Internet between computers.

Traffic: The load on a communications device or system.

Transaction: The process of transfer or exchange of data between any two computer programs or processes.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): A suite of applications and transport protocols that runs over IP. These protocols include FTP, Telnet, SMTP and UDP (a transport layer protocol).

Tunneling: The transmission of data intended for use only within a private, usually corporate network through a public network in such a way that the routing nodes in the public network are unaware that the transmission is part of a private network. Tunneling, also known as “port forwarding”, allows the use of the Internet, which is a public network, to convey data on behalf of a private network.
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U

UDP: A non-sequenced and unreliable network protocol that sends and receives datagrams. UDP is at the same layer as TCP, but it does not acknowledge transmissions, and therefore, is considered unreliable.

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V

Virtual Private Network (VPN): A private network that is configured within a public network. Authentication and encryption are used to protect data integrity and confidentiality over the VPN. It is far less expensive to create and maintain a VPN than a dedicated private network.

Virus: A program that attaches itself to an executable program file. Viruses actively copy themselves, infecting computers or the network in the same way that a biological virus infects the human body. Most viruses merely take up disk space and cause programs to act in unexpected ways. However, some viruses can infect and seriously damage the files needed to start and load the operating system.
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W

Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS): A system that determines the IP address associated with a particular network computer. This is called name resolution. WINS supports network client and server computers running Windows and can provide name resolution for other computers with special arrangements. Determining the IP address for a computer is a complex process when DHCP servers assign IP addresses dynamically.

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