It’s no coincidence that National Cybersecurity Awareness Month falls in the same month as our scariest national holiday. Chucky, Pennywise, Freddy Krueger and other ghoulish creatures, can be seen out and about on Halloween night. But, while we celebrate Halloween with these fictional characters from our nightmares, perhaps the most frightening things are real and lurk beneath the surface — malware, data breaches, and phishing.

The topic of cybersecurity is sweeping the world by storm with some of the largest and most advanced companies in the world falling victim to cyber-attacks in just the last five years. As long as computers exist, we are at risk of having our digital data compromised and manipulated. However, living in the digital age is not all that scary — especially if you know what you’re doing.

Understanding how your devices work is not as hard as it sounds. If you could nail long division in the 4th grade, then you can learn cyber basics that will get you pretty far in your own personal security as well as your company’s.

We’d like to make this learning curve easier for you by providing a list of the 16 most important cybersecurity terminology that you should know:

1. Cloud
   A technology that allows us to access our files and/or services through the internet from anywhere in the world. Technically speaking, it’s a collection of computers with large storage capabilities that remotely serve requests.
   
   
2. Software
   A set of programs that tell a computer to perform a task. These instructions are compiled into a package that users can install and use. For example, Microsoft Office is an application software.
   
   
3. Domain
   A group of computers, printers and devices that are interconnected and governed as a whole. For example, your computer is usually part of a domain at your workplace.
   
   
4. Virtual Private Network (VPN)
   A tool that allows the user to remain anonymous while using the internet by masking the location and encrypting traffic.
   
   
5. IP Address
   An internet version of a home address for your computer, which is identified when it communicates over a network; For example, connecting to the internet (a network of networks).
   
   
6. Exploit
   A malicious application or script that can be used to take advantage of a computer’s vulnerability.
   
   
7. Breach
   The moment a hacker successfully exploits a vulnerability in a computer or device, and gains access to its files and network.
   
   
8. Firewall
   A defensive technology designed to keep the bad guys out. Firewalls can be hardware or software-based.
   
   
9. Malware “the bad guy”
   An umbrella term that describes all forms of malicious software designed to wreak havoc on a computer. Common forms include: viruses, trojans, worms and ransomware.
   
   
10. Virus
    A type of malware aimed to corrupt, erase or modify information on a computer before spreading to others.
    
    
11. Ransomware
    A form of malware that deliberately prevents you from accessing files on your computer — holding your data hostage. It will typically encrypt files and request that a ransom be paid in order to have them decrypted or recovered.
    
    
12. Trojan horse
    A piece of malware that often allows a hacker to gain remote access to a computer through a “back door.”
    
    
13. Worm
    A piece of malware that can replicate itself in order to spread the infection to other connected computers.
    
    
14. Bot/Botnet
    A type of software application or script that performs tasks on command, allowing an attacker to take complete control remotely of an affected computer. A collection of these infected computers is known as a “botnet” and is controlled by the hacker or “bot-herder.”
    
    
15. DDoS
    An acronym that stands for distributed denial of service — a form of cyber attack. This attack aims to make a service such as a website unusable by “flooding” it with malicious traffic or data from multiple sources (often botnets).
    
    
16. Phishing or Spear Phishing
    A technique used by hackers to obtain sensitive information. For example, using hand-crafted email messages designed to trick people into divulging personal or confidential data such as passwords and bank account information.
    
    

We’ve only covered the tip of the iceberg as far as cybersecurity terms, but this will get you started. Take the steps now to ensure that you and your business are protected — knowledge is power!