| Term |
Definition |
| ASCII |
(American Standard Code For Information Interchange) = character set consisting in the association of codes to every important character (eg : A = 97, A = 65,...) |
| Buffer Overflow |
A flaw which consists in making the memory overflow for code exploitation. |
| CGI |
(Common Gateway Interface) = an interface which allows a user to run a particular program on a server. |
| Chroot |
A control allowing to create a closed environnement around a process. In case the process is pirated, the hacker cannot get to the server root. |
| Cookies |
Small data file put on your computer by a website in order to identify you whenever you log on that website. They are used by the site to store information about you (eg : articles in your cart in the case of an on-line sales website). |
| Cryptography |
The science of coding data by using mathematical procedures. |
| Daemon |
Name taken from the UNIX system and designating a process (service). |
| DNS |
(Domain Name Service) = transforms servers names like « www.server.fr » into an IP address 123.456.789.012 |
| DOS |
(Denial of Service) = an attack allowing to saturate a service with false queries. |
| Exploit |
A technique allowing to exploit a security flaw. |
| Finger |
A program of the UNIX system allowing to get information about a user. |
| Firewall |
A system that allows to protect a computer from pirates by filtering connections to that computer. |
| IP |
(Internet Protocole) = an address which allows to clearly identify a computer on the Internet under the form 123.456.789.012. |
| Patch |
An application that allows to correct a flaw in a program. |
| Proxy |
A server which is used as an intermediate between the browser of an Internet user and the web server he/she wants to visit. It can be used to hide one's connection. |
| Root |
The administrator (account) of a UNIX system. |
| Router |
A system allowing to redirect data in a network |
| Shell |
A software that manages command lines (eg : the DOS console under Windows or sh under Unix). |
| Sniffer |
A monitoring program that intercepts the data sent in a network. |
| Social Engineering |
(or Social hacking) = a method based on people's naïvety and which aim is to get information from them. |
| Socket |
A communication standard which allows an application to interact with a protocol. |
| SQL injection |
A flaw that, using a script, allows to insert code in an SQL database without having access to it. |
| Telnet |
A program that allows to use an application on a remote computer. |
| Traceroute |
A program that determines the distance covered by your data when sent to a machine. |
| Trojan |
see trojan horse. |
| Trojan Horse |
(or Trojan) = an apparently harmless program which allows to infect or take over a computer. |
| XSS |
(Cross Site Scripting) = an attack exploiting the weakness of the validation of a website's entries. |