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Computer Security Definitions

Adware - A software application that displays advertising banners.

Botnet - A large number of computers that, without the owner's knowledge, is set up to forward transmissions to other computers on the Internet.  These computers are known as robots, or "bots."  They are also called zombies, and the collection of computers acting as zombies is known as a zombie army.

Crimeware - A program or set of programs specifically designed to facilitate illegal online activity.

Key logger - A hardware device or small program that monitors each keystroke a user types on a specific computer's keyboard.  A software key logger does not need physical access to the user's computer to do its damage.  It is installed by some other method, such as a Trojan, records all keystrokes (including passwords), and sends them to a third party.

Malware - Short for malicious software, malware is an umbrella term that includes any software program deliberately created to perform an unauthorized and harmful action.

Phishing - Phishing is an attempt to get unsuspecting users to provide personal information, usually financial information.  it typically comes as an e-mail and will ask you to confirm your username and password for your bank account or other financial institution.

Rootkit - A means of maintaining root-level access to a compromised computer system.

Scareware - A type of malware designed to trick victims into purchasing and downloading useless and potentially dangerous software.  (whatis.techtarget.com)

Spam - The equivalent of physical junk mail and unsolicited telemarketing phone calls.  Spam is more of an annoyance than a real problem.

Spyware - Any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge.

Trojan - Also known as a Trojan horse, a Trojan is a seemingly harmless program containing malicious or harmful code that gains control of a computer and does its damage, such as ruining the file allocation table or your hard disk.

Virus - Programming code that replicates itself to another program, computer boot sector, or document.

Worm - A self-replicating virus that does not alter files but resides in active memory and duplicates itself.