The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Software: A pre-packaged software that is readily available for purchase and use by organizations. It is used in businesses and government agencies to reduce the cost and time of software development. Examples include Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

Common Access Card (CAC): A type of identification card used by the US government and military to grant access to secure facilities and networks. The card contains a microprocessor chip that can store and transmit digital information, such as biometric data and security credentials. For example, military personnel may use their CAC card to enter a secure base or to log in to a classified network.

Common Criteria (CC): An international set of guidelines and specifications developed for evaluating information security products, specifically to ensure they meet an agreed-upon security standard for government deployments. It provides a broad range of evaluation criteria for various types of products and systems, and its use can help to ensure a consistent and reliable level of security.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI): A standard that enables web servers to execute an external program, often a script, to generate dynamic web content. It acts as the interface between the web server and the program that generates the web page content. While CGI scripts can provide powerful functionality, they can also introduce security risks if not properly designed or isolated from sensitive system operations.

Community Cloud: A shared cloud computing environment where resources are accessible by a specific group of organizations or individuals with shared concerns or objectives. This setup allows for a higher level of privacy, security, or policy compliance than a public cloud while also offering cost savings and resource-sharing advantages of the cloud technology.

Companion Virus: A type of malware that attaches itself to valid executable files on a system. Instead of modifying the original file, it creates a new program with the same name in a different directory. When the user attempts to run the original program, the virus program executes instead, often running the original program afterward to avoid detection.