MSc CYBER SECURITY AND DIGITAL FORENSICS GLOSSARY

Cyber Security and Digital Forensics Glossary

If you’re unfamiliar with an industry-related word or phrase in our MSc Cyber Security and Digital Forensics course page, look through our glossary for a straightforward definition.

Cyber security - The practice of protecting networks, software codes, and data from digital attacks or unauthorised access.

Cybercrime - Illegal or otherwise harmful behaviour that involves or targets a digital technology.

Cyber attacks - A deliberate attempt to unlawfully access the data or information system of an individual or organisation.

Digital forensics - The process of applying scientific techniques to investigate, collect, preserve, and analyse digital evidence, to be presented in a court of law.

Digital assets - Any digital material that is owned by an individual or organisation.

Cybercriminal - An individual who engages in cybercrime, such as cyber attacks against an organisation.

Digital evidence - Information stored on or transmitted via a digital technology that may be relied on in a court case.

Data hacking - An attempt to exploit a security weakness in a computer, network, or application to access its data.

Ethical hacking - An authorised attempt to hack a computer, network, or application to identify potential threads and its security weaknesses.

Data breach - An incident that results in the unintentional release of sensitive or protected data to an unauthorised individual.

Security breach - An incident that results in an unauthorised individual or organisation gaining access to sensitive or protected data.

Cryptography - A method of protecting information by using codes that make it unreadable to unauthorised individuals.

Cryptanalysis - The process of analysing cyptographic systems to identify weaknesses that could result in leaked information.

Steganography - A method of hiding information within ordinary, non-secret messages, files, or other objects.

Steganalysis - The process of identifying messages hidden using steganography.

Computer network - Two or more devices (such as servers, laptops, or smartphones) that are connected with one another to communicate data.

Learn how to investigate cyber attacks and boost your organisation’s security with the University of Portsmouth’s part-time, online MSc Cyber Security and Digital Forensics: