Key Terms and Definitions

• Attack - The process of trying to circumvent security controls or mechanisms. The degree of effectiveness is relative to the level of vulnerability.

• Compromise - An infraction or violation of a security policy such that data confidentiality has been lost.

• Confidentiality - The notion of restricting data's accessibility to only those who are authorized.

• Countermeasure - Any action that has the effect of addressing a known vulnerability.

• Encryption - The transformation of data (plain text) into unintelligible data (cipher text) for the purpose of confidentiality.