No matter how many firewall or Anti-virus software you have installed in your computer, still your computer can be attacked. Talking about computer security, there are many terms that are used quite often. You hear about them often or read about them but still if you are not very sure about their meanings then you have come to the right page. Here we will see the definitions and meanings of these terms.

  1. Anti-virus: Anti-virus is a software application. It will scan the computer and tell us if the computer is infected by a trojon, virus or worm. If the Anti-virus software is running then it will protect the computer and inform whenever a virus tries to enter the computer. But these Anti-virus software has to be updated very often. Only then they will be equipped with the power to identify and clean the new viruses.
  2. Attack: Attack refers to the state where your computer’s control is taken over by a hacker. This may happen due to many reasons. It may be just for a joke. It may be to steal your personal particulars.
  3. Backdoor: This is also referred to as Trapdoor. When a software is programmed the programmer will leave a backdoor entry. This is usually to rectify errors and problems remotely after the program is installed. But if this information is known to others then it is dangerous. The hackers may use this backdoor entry to enter into the program.
  4. Hijacking: When someone is working on a computer if some other person captures this computer and uses as per his wish then this is called hijacking. When someone leaves his computer unattended and somebody else start using this computer without the owner’s permission then this is also called hijacking. Taking control of a computer through internet is also hijacking. In this way the hijacker can be located anywhere in the world.
  5. Hole: A hole is a bug inside the program. This bug may be exploited by others to enter the program. When Microsoft announces that it has released some security Patch files in its website and asks you to download and update your OS, it means that there is a HOLE in Windows that this patch file is going to fix.
  6. HTTPS: HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTP is the normal protocol for most of the websites. More secure sites uses HTTPS instead of HTTP. Usually the login pages use https for authentication.
  7. KEY: In windows registry these keys are used to store information about the hardware and software installed in the computer. Whenever you install a software or uninstall a software these keys are updated. If any virus changes or modifies these keys then your computer may not function properly.
  8. Key Loggers: This method is used to capture personal details such as login name, password, credit card details etc, by hackers.
  9. @mm : This is usually a suffix to a virus name. If a virus has this extension then it means that this virus sends multiple mails. MM stands for Mass Mailer. If the suffix just has a single M then that virus is a Mailer. Which means it will not send emails but will be attached to mails as an attachment in the mails a person sends.