The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Protected Health Information (PHI): Any individually identifiable health information that is collected, used, or disclosed in the course of providing healthcare services. It is used in the healthcare industry to ensure that patient's personal and medical information is kept confidential and secure and to comply with HIPAA regulations. Examples of PHI include medical records, diagnoses, and treatment plans.

Protection domain: A security concept in which resources like files and memory are grouped within defined boundaries, each with specific access permissions. Protection domains ensure that processes and users can only access the resources for which they are authorized.

Protection philosophy: A set of principles and guidelines that determine how security measures should be implemented and maintained in an organization. This is often used to guide the development of security policies and procedures. Examples include the CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, availability) and the principle of least privilege.

Protection Profile: A Protection Profile is a document used in the Common Criteria certification process that defines a standard set of security requirements for a specific category of products or systems. It provides a benchmark against which products can be evaluated to ensure they meet a certain level of security performance. Examples include protection profiles for network firewalls, smart cards, and operating systems.

Protection ring: A security mechanism that divides a system into different levels of security, with each level providing different levels of access to system resources. This is commonly used in operating systems to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and system resources. Examples include the rings in the Intel x86 architecture and the Kernel Mode in Windows.

Protection vs. Security: Protection refers to the specific safeguards and mechanisms implemented to defend a system or data against unauthorized access, damage, or theft. Security is a broader concept encompassing the state of being free from danger or threat, which includes protection as well as other aspects such as detection, response, and recovery.