The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Compromising Emanations: These are unintended signals or 'leakage' that provide information about the data being processed in a system. These emanations could be electrical, thermal, mechanical, or acoustical signals that can be captured and interpreted by unauthorized individuals to extract sensitive data. These can be mitigated by using emission security (EMSEC) measures.

Computer Abuse: Any action that misuses computing resources or uses them in ways that are unethical, illegal, or in violation of an agreement. This can include a broad range of activities, such as unauthorized access, the creation or distribution of malicious software, identity theft, spamming, violation of privacy, and intellectual property theft.

Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT): A group of experts that responds to security incidents, especially those involving the Internet. They handle breaches, viruses, and other potential catastrophic incidents in an attempt to minimize damage and recovery time. Their roles may also extend to educating users about potential threats, reporting vulnerabilities, and providing guidance on how to safeguard data and systems.

Computer Forensics: The application of investigation and analysis techniques to gather and preserve evidence from a particular computing device in a way that is suitable for presentation in a court of law. The goal of computer forensics is to perform a structured investigation while maintaining a documented chain of evidence to find out exactly what happened on a computing device and who was responsible.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA): The CFAA is a US statute that criminalizes unauthorized and improper access to computers and networks. It addresses a range of computer-related offenses, including hacking, unauthorized access to obtain information, causing damage, trafficking in passwords, and more.

Computer Security Act (CSA) of 1987: A United States federal law enacted to improve the security and privacy of sensitive information in federal computer systems and to establish minimum acceptable security practices for such systems. The CSA mandated the establishment of standards and guidelines for federal computer systems and tasked the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) with their development and the training of federal computer system users.