Glossary
Note: This glossary is still in development and is being continually added to. If you notice a term missing here, please refer to the excellent online encyclopedia Wikipedia. If you are looking for translations of terms, we recommend the Online dictionary of the TU Chemnitz.A B C D E F H I J M N O P R S T U V W
A
Adware
This term is a fusion of the words advertising and software and is used to designate programs that display advertising. These programs normally cannot be deactivated and generally only disappear if the program with which the adware was loaded is closed or deleted.
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B
Backdoor
Backdoor is the term for a hidden or undocumented program function which allows unauthorized users to access a person’s computer system or the data saved on it.
See also: Trojans
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Blacklist
A blacklist is a list of addresses that a system recognizes as being sources of spam, viruses, Trojans or other such nasty bugs.
Blacklists are used by e-mail and virus filters to block the forwarding of harmful e-mails.
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Botnet
A network of computers infected with viruses and/or Trojans that can be controlled remotely is called a botnet. In such cases it does not necessarily mean that damage has occurred to these computers. It’s often the case that infected systems are being used to send spam without the user even noticing.
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C
Computer virus
See virus.
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Computer worm
See worm.
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D
Denial of Service (DoS)
A Denial of Service attack is an attack on a server with the aim of making one or several of its services inoperable.
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DKIM
DKIM is the abbreviation for Domain Keys Identified Mail and is used to denote a procedure for authenticating the senders of e-mail that was developed by Yahoo! and has been in testing since the end of 2004. It was conceived with the aim of containing undesired e-mails containing spam or attempting phishing.
A comprehensive overview can be found on the Yahoo! website.
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DoS
See Denial of Service.
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E
E-mail program
An e-mail program is used to send and receive e-mails.
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E-mail worm
See worm.
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F
Fraud
Fraud is common on the World Wide Web. Fraud is used to designate any form of Internet abuse where fake e-mails attempt to get money from potential victims (phishing, Nigerian e-mails, etc.)
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H
Hoax
Hoax is a collective term for e-mail hoaxes. The term comes from the Latin "hocus" (=joke). Hoaxes are used to make people unsure and to provide disinformation. They also cause damage by wasting bandwidth and computing power.
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I
IETF
IETF is the abbreviation of Internet Engineering Task Force. This is an open, international voluntary organization of network technicians, manufacturers and users who are responsible for proposing Internet standards. The home page of this organization can be found by clicking on the following link.
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Internet worm
See worm.
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ISP
The abbreviation ISP stands for Internet Service Provider (dial-up, ADSL). Nowadays ISPs generally offer a whole range of additional services to complement their Internet access offering. One of the more well known ones is e-mail.
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J
Joe Job
Joe Job is a special type of spam. The sender address of such spam mails actually refers to an existing person who has nothing to do with sending the spam. Counter measures therefore also affect people who are not involved, which is the aim of Joe Jobs.
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M
Mail server
Mail servers are systems responsible for forwarding e-mails between senders and recipients. Here there are two forms of delivery:
| • | Indirect delivery: The sender’s mail program configuration contains an outgoing mail server that forwards the e-mails to the respective recipient. This method is the most common. If the sender and recipient have e-mail addresses with different Internet providers four points are involved in sending the e-mail (e-mail program of the sender -> mail server of the sender -> mail server of the recipient -> e-mail program of the recipient). If both addresses are with the same provider, the number of points involved in sending the e-mail is reduced to three (e-mail program of the sender -> mail server of the sender = mail server of the recipient -> e-mail program of the recipient). |
| • | Direct delivery: The sender sends the e-mail directly to the recipient’s mail server. |
Systems that can be easily abused to send spam because of their erroneous configuration are called Open Relay.
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MSA
The term MSA is the abbreviation for Mail Submission Agent and is used to describe a server service that forwards e-mail between an e-mail program and a mail server. The MSA functionality is generally integrated into the mail server.
The technical contexts are described in RFC 2476.
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MTA
MTA is the abbreviation of Mail Transfer Agent and is used to describe a mail server.
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MUA
MUA is the abbreviation of Mail User Agent and is used to describe an e-mail program.
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N
Network worm
See worm.
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Nigerian spam
E-mail-based fraud whereby the recipient is promised a large amount of money if he/she makes advance payments (used to pay for “fees/charges” etc.).
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O
Open Relay
Open Relay is a mail server that receives e-mails from any system and forwards it to any other system, even though it is not responsible for the sender or the recipient. . In contrast with this, a correctly configured mail server only accepts e-mails if it is responsible for the sender (outgoing mail server, as defined in the e-mail program configuration) or the recipient (mail server to the Internet domain shown in the recipient’s e-mail address).
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P
Phishing
Phishing is a coinage from the words password fishing. It is used to describe an attempt to get people’s personal data (e.g. access data for online banking accounts) through fraudulent e-mails.
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R
RBL
RBL stands for Real-time Blacklist, see Blacklist.
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RFC
RFCs (requests for comment) are a series of technical and organizational documents about the Internet that were started on April 7, 1969. When they are first published (in the original sense of the word) for discussion, RFCs retain their name even if they develop into a standard through general acceptance and use.
RFCs can be found on the IETF website.
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S
Scam
A scam e-mail is an e-mail that represents an attempt to defraud, such as a phishing e-mail or Nigerian spam.
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Spam
Spam is actually the name of a product: spam = spiced ham. The English comedian group Monty Python took up this food’s cause in one of their sketches: The setting is a restaurant where all of the dishes are made with spam.
Based on this sketch the name also came to be known as a term for unwanted mass e-mails (also: UBE = Unsolicited Bulk Email).
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Spyware
Spyware is software that sends a user’s personal data without his/her knowledge or even permission to the manufacturer of the software (so-called Call Home) or to third parties.
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T
Trojans
Trojans are a special kind of computer virus.
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U
UBE
See Unsolicited Bulk Email.
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Unsolicited Bulk Email
Unsolicited Bulk Email is an alternative term for spam.
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V
Virus
A computer virus is a manual program routine that reproduces itself by connecting to other computer programs or areas of the operating system and, once it has started, it starts to manipulate things over which the user has no control.
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W
Wurm
A worm is a harmful program that spreads across computer networks of its own accord by seeking security loopholes.
A worm program doesn’t necessarily have to contain a special damage routine. But as the worm program can bind up computer resources with spreading itself both on the infected systems and on the systems that it is trying to infect, this alone can cause huge economic damage.
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