The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Cognitive Passwords: These are security questions used to authenticate a user's identity based on personal knowledge. They can be less secure than other forms of authentication due to the possibility of answers being easily guessed or researched. It's important to select questions with answers that are not publicly available to increase security.

Cohesion: In software design, cohesion refers to the degree to which the elements inside a module belong together. High cohesion is desirable as it enhances maintainability and reliability. This concept is important in secure software design, as low cohesion can lead to vulnerabilities due to poorly defined module boundaries.

Cold Rollover: A process of switching to a secondary system or network during a planned or unplanned outage, where the secondary system is initially inactive. This transition often involves manual intervention to restore services and data from backups, resulting in longer recovery times compared to hot or warm rollovers.

Cold Site: A backup location that is kept on standby for use if the primary business location becomes unavailable due to a disaster or other disruptive event. Unlike a hot site, a cold site doesn't have pre-installed hardware and software ready to take over operations. Instead, it provides the necessary space and infrastructure for setting up a temporary operational environment, but setting it up could take several days or even weeks.

Cold Start: In computing, a cold start refers to powering up a device or system from a completely off state, as opposed to a warm start or reboot, which involves restarting the system without interruption to power. In the context of cloud services or big data, it can also refer to the challenge of making accurate recommendations or decisions when there is insufficient data about users or items, commonly faced by recommendation systems.

Collaborative Computing: The use of interconnected computer systems and software to allow users to work together, often in real-time, toward a shared goal. This could include tools like shared documents, chat programs, or video conferencing. As collaboration often happens over networks, secure practices are crucial to prevent unauthorized access, data leakage, and other security threats.