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Cyberwarfare: A Glossary of Useful Terms

Editor's Note: This is part of an ongoing series of analyses on the emergence of cyberspace as battlespace.

Altruism: a very broad and indistinct category of hacker motivations characterized by a subjective conception of “doing good.”

Backdoor: within a computer system, a program that allows for the bypassing of user authentication as well as remote access and control of a computer or system without the permission or knowledge of the system’s owner.

Black Hat: a malicious or criminal hacker; also known as a “dark side” hacker.

Bot: a computer or server connected to the Internet that has been hijacked by a hacker and configured or infected to be controlled remotely or to automatically run basic tasks. Individual bots can be building blocks for powerful conglomerations of bots known as botnets (also called bot armies).

Bot Herder/Bot Wrangler: a program designed to autonomously produce bots, a tedious and time-consuming process for a human hacker. A bot herder may replicate itself and create additional bot herders as well as bots.

Botnet/Bot Army: Once many bots and bot herders have been amassed, they are consolidated into a collective computing network called a botnet. This allows a single hacker to wield the computing power of many thousands of machines simultaneously.

Coder/Writer: the primary creator of viruses and worms. The ability to write code is a handy skill for any hacker to have, but it is not absolutely essential.

Cracker: a user who attempts to bypass copyright protections on software and digital media, thus making programs and applications more accessible in the hacker community as a whole.

Cybermercenary: a special group of hackers (often of the black hat class) who are sufficiently skilled to rent out their services, most often for malicious purposes.

Cyberterrorist: one who uses hacker skills and techniques for goals consistent with terrorist organizations.

Denial of Service (DoS): a concerted malevolent effort to deny access to any electronic device, computer, server, network or Internet resource by its intended users.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): a DoS attack accomplished through the utilization of botnets or bot armies to direct large numbers of signals or requests to a target or group of targets. This class of attack, which can be conducted by a single hacker, is particularly powerful due to the sheer amount of resources required to accomplish its goals.

Domain Name: a name that identifies computers or devices on the Internet or on a network.

Domain Name System (DNS): a DNS acts as an Internet phone book translating domain names or hostnames into IP addresses that computer networks need in order to relay information.

Exploit: a flaw or bug in a program, piece of software, command sequence or code that allows a user to use programs, computers or systems in unexpected or unauthorized ways.

Exploration: One of the first ideologies many burgeoning hackers adopt, exploration is simply the motivation to do just that -- explore every nook and cranny of the Internet, bypassing any security along the way, just for the fun of it or to improve one's skills.

Fire Sale: a type of cyberattack that aims to systematically disassemble any part of a nation’s infrastructure that is highly or partially dependent on the Internet and electronic communications for its daily operations. A complete fire sale -- one that sequentially shuts down or takes control of a target nation's critical infrastructure -- is a purely theoretical concept.

Forum: a type of virtual messaging board or discussion room where users sharing a common interest can gather and exchange information, data, thoughts and personal opinions.

GNU Project: a computing project started by Richard Stallman to develop free software for public use. GNU stands for “Gnus Not Unix.”

Grey Hat: a hybrid between a black hat and a white hat; the grey hat can be especially skilled because of his or her experience with offensive and defensive operations.

Hacker: an individual who possesses an intimate working knowledge of computers, electronic systems and the Internet that he or she uses to bypass the security of a given system and explore its functions and limitations. Hacking is almost universally illegal.

Hacker Ethic: The fundamental ideology of the hacker community, the Hacker Ethic basically holds that information should be free, authority is not to be trusted, decentralization is to be embraced and computers and cyberspace are of enormous benefit to mankind.

Hacktivism: when hackers use legal or illegal means to accomplish political goals or advance political ideologies.

Handle: an alias or nickname that hackers use to safeguard their real identities while maintaining virtual identities. These nicknames are most often chosen by hackers early in their careers, although it is not uncommon for the community to provide handles to hackers commensurate with their actions and skill sets. Some hackers use multiple handles in order to ensure greater personal security.

Information Operations (IO): the second largest class of cyberattacks behind software infusion and propagation. A large number of cyberattacks can be classified as IOs, but all usually fall into three subcategories:

Vandalism/Defacement: attacks directed mostly against Web sites (any type of Internet Web page, including forums, bulletin boards and data archives). This type of attack aims to redirect people from a Web page to a different but real (perhaps inappropriate) site or a fake site that mocks the original destination.

Data/Information Farming: By far the largest subclass of IO attacks, data and information farming is a primary hacker tactic and those who are good at it wield considerable power in the community. Targets can range from a single user’s personal information (perhaps for the purpose of identity theft or character assassination) to the archives of a multinational corporation.

Disinformation: This method is favored by hacktivists and nationalistic hackers and can include posting misleading and inaccurate information on Web sites to create public dissent, panic or political instability.

Informationism: One of the most widely held ideological bents of the hacker community, informationism holds that all information should be allowed to flow freely through the Internet and throughout all human societies.

Internet Exchange Point (IXP): a piece of physical infrastructure that connects the networks of different Internet service providers and allows data to flow among them and on to other networks.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address: a unique numeric address that is used to both identify and communicate with computers and electronic devices within a given network.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): A business or organization that offers consumers and other businesses access to the Internet and related services.

Nationalism: a rare patriotic ideology among hackers, this ideology can temporarily unite hackers behind the cause of national interest.

Network: a collection of terminals, computers and servers that are interconnected to allow data to easily flow among them.

Operating System: software that manages the operations of a computer or a computer system. It allocates memory, manages system requests, controls input and output devices, manages files, and allows a user to control the various other functions of their system.

Phishing: an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card details and other personal data by masquerading as a trustworthy entity such as a bank, computer support technician or medical official. This is typically carried out through email and instant messaging but it has been known to occur through phony Web sites, phone conversations and data-interception programs.

Ping: an action that tests the amount of time a particular server or computer takes to respond to a request from a computer within a given network.

Program: a piece of computer software that independently performs a specific function or action for a user.

Rally Around the Flag: Similar to nationalism, the Rally Around the Flag effect can emerge when a sufficiently unifying cause other than national interest (one that is controversial, substantial and out of the ordinary) arises to suddenly and temporarily unify substantial numbers of hackers.

Request: a signal from one computer to another or to a server asking for a specific piece of information or data.

Script: A type of programming language that directs how a piece of software, an application or a program is to perform and be processed by the computer that is running it.

Script Kiddies: an intermediate class between everyday computer/Internet user and hacker. Script kiddies lack the refined knowledge and expertise of the true hacker and are considerably less dangerous.

Server: A server is a computer, a collection of computers or a system that provides and directs users to information that they have requested within a network.

Server Ping: an action that tests the amount of time that a particular server or computer takes to respond to a request from a computer within a given network.

Social Engineering: Techniques used to trick people into revealing confidential information or performing certain actions. They most often rely on societal norms, traditions or customs familiar to a target to induce the desired affect of a hacker or computer program.

Software Infusion and Propagation: This is by far the largest class of cyberattacks. Some of the software forms included in this category are viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, advertising-supported software and key stroke trackers. This software can act in multiple ways, depending on how it has been programmed to function, including data interception, system/network control, software installation and propagation, bot and botnet creation, network/traffic disruption, data destruction and functionality limitation or elimination.

Trojan: Also known as a Trojan horse, a Trojan is a type of malicious (and occasionally non-malicious) software that appears to perform a specific function but is secretly performing other operations without the permission or knowledge of the user. This class of program is best known for its activities relating to the installation of backdoor programs. Its ability to reproduce is heavily dependent on end-user interaction.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): Originally used to create a uniform syntax to identify and reference materials and locations within the Internet by function and purpose. Today the URL usually refers to the address of a Web site or an FTP site.

Virus: a type of computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or the knowledge of the user. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the infected computer or server via the Internet, a network or direct infection with portal media devices such as floppy disks, CDs, USB drives and DVDs.

White Hat: Also known as “ethicals” or “sneakers,” white hat hackers are ethically opposed to the malicious use of the internet.

Worm: a self-replicating computer program that uses a network of the Internet to send copies of itself to other computers and servers without assistance or intervention. Unlike a virus, a worm does not need to attach itself to a specific program or function in order to operate. Worms are often much more harmful than virus because they can spread on their own and, while they may not damage their targets, they can also cause complications for the broader network or Internet by consuming bandwidth and processing power.

Cyberwarfare 101

Cyberwarfare 201

Cyberwarfare 301

Cyberwarfare 401

Cyberwarfare 501

Cyberwarfare 601

Other cyberwarfare pieces previously published on the site

Cyberwarfare special topic page

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