The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Trojan horse: A type of malicious program that disguises itself as legitimate and often desirable software to deceive users into downloading and installing it. Once inside the system, it can execute harmful tasks such as stealing data, compromising system integrity, or creating backdoors for unauthorized access.

True negative: A term used in statistics and diagnostic testing to represent cases where the system correctly identified the absence of a condition. In a security context, it refers to instances where a system correctly identifies an activity as non-threatening or non-malicious, thus avoiding false alarms.

True positive: Instances where the system accurately identifies a condition's presence. In security terms, it refers to situations where a system correctly flags an activity as threatening or malicious, indicating that the security measures in place are working as intended to identify real threats.

Trust anchor: A source of verification for a chain of trust in digital systems. It is typically an authoritative entity, like a Certificate Authority, for which a degree of trust is assumed and not derived from a higher entity. Its role is to vouch for the identity of entities in the network and the credibility of their certificates and keys.

Trust but verify: A principle that emphasizes the importance of establishing confidence in entities while also validating their actions. It suggests that while one may trust an entity, their actions and activities should be independently checked for accuracy, reliability, and integrity, maintaining a balance between trust and security control.

Trusted channel: A trusted channel is a secure communication pathway that ensures data is transmitted confidentially and securely between parties, preventing unauthorized access and ensuring that the data has not been altered or intercepted during transit.