🔐 Cybersecurity Glossary

Data that is stored in databases, file systems, or other storage systems and is not actively being transmitted or processed.

The mandatory process of informing affected individuals, regulatory authorities, and other relevant parties about a security incident that resulted in unauthorized access, disclosure, or loss of personal data. Notification requirements include specific timeframes, content details, and communication methods as defined by applicable data protection regulations.

The entity that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data.

Data that is actively moving from one location to another, such as across the internet or through a private network.

A policy-based approach to managing the flow of data through its lifecycle from creation and storage to deletion.

The process of hiding specific data within a database to ensure that sensitive data is not exposed to unauthorized personnel.

A privacy principle requiring organizations to collect and process only the minimum amount of personal data necessary to achieve specific, legitimate purposes, reducing privacy risks and compliance obligations.

The right of data subjects to receive their personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

The right of individuals to control how their personal information is collected, used, stored, and shared by organizations, ensuring that data handling practices comply with legal and regulatory requirements while protecting individual privacy rights.

A systematic process to identify and minimize privacy risks associated with processing personal data, particularly when implementing new technologies or systems. This assessment evaluates potential impacts on individuals' privacy rights and determines appropriate safeguards and mitigation measures.

An entity that processes personal data on behalf of the data controller.

A process to identify and minimize the data protection risks of a project or system.

A designated person responsible for overseeing data protection strategy and compliance within an organization.

The concept that data is subject to the laws and governance structures within the nation where it is collected or processed.

Rights granted to individuals under PDPL including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict processing, data portability, and object to processing of their personal data, which organizations must facilitate and respond to within specified timeframes.

AI-generated synthetic media used to impersonate individuals through manipulated audio, video, or images.

A cybersecurity strategy that uses multiple layers of security controls to protect information assets, so if one layer fails, another is in place.

A perimeter network segment that sits between the internal network and the external network to provide an additional layer of security.

The process of collecting, preserving, and analyzing electronic evidence for investigating cybersecurity incidents.

The systematic collection, preservation, analysis, and documentation of digital evidence from security incidents to determine the root cause, scope of compromise, attack vectors, and support legal proceedings or regulatory reporting.

The combined practice of collecting, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence from cybersecurity incidents while simultaneously containing and remediating the threat. It ensures evidence integrity for potential legal proceedings while enabling rapid recovery and lessons learned documentation.

A mathematical scheme for verifying the authenticity and integrity of digital messages or documents.

A centralized database that stores and manages user identities, credentials, and access permissions (e.g., Active Directory, LDAP).

A documented process focused specifically on restoring IT systems, applications, data, and technology infrastructure following a catastrophic event or major disruption. The DRP is a subset of the broader Business Continuity Plan and details technical recovery procedures, backup strategies, system restoration sequences, and roles and responsibilities for IT recovery teams to minimize downtime and data loss.

A secondary physical or cloud-based facility equipped with necessary infrastructure, systems, and data backups that enables an organization to resume critical IT operations and business functions following a major disruption, cyber attack, or disaster at the primary site.

A suite of extensions to DNS that adds security by enabling DNS responses to be validated as authentic.

An email authentication protocol that builds on SPF and DKIM to provide domain owners with protection against unauthorized use of their domain in email attacks. DMARC enables senders to specify how receiving mail servers should handle messages that fail authentication checks and provides reporting mechanisms for monitoring.

The practice of performing adequate research and assessment before making decisions about security investments, partnerships, or vendor engagements.

A security testing method that tests an application in its running state to find vulnerabilities from an external perspective.