The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Network hardware: The physical devices that make up a network, including routers, switches, hubs, and other devices that enable data transfer and communication between devices on the network. Network hardware is used to create a network infrastructure and support the functions of the network. Examples include routers, switches, hubs, and access points.

Network Hop: A network hop occurs when a packet is forwarded from one network device, such as a router or gateway, to another device along the path from its source to its destination. Each hop represents one portion of the path that a data packet takes as it traverses a network. The number of hops can affect the latency and speed of data transmission.

Network Interface Card (NIC): A hardware component, usually in the form of a card or chip, which enables a computer to connect to a network. It provides a dedicated channel for data exchange between devices within a network, translating the data into a format that can be transmitted over the local network or the Internet.

Network Interface Layer: The Network Interface Layer, in the context of the TCP/IP model, is responsible for the physical transmission of data over network hardware and media. It corresponds to the combination of the Physical Layer and the Data-Link Layer of the OSI model and handles aspects such as framing, addressing, and the physical network topology.

Network Layer: The third level of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Model, tasked with managing data routing, packet forwarding, and addressing across a network. This layer ensures data gets from its source to its destination efficiently and accurately, even when that requires moving across multiple networks or network segments.

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP): A protocol designed for the distribution, inquiry, retrieval, and posting of news articles or Usenet newsgroups using a TCP/IP network. Primarily used in Internet discussion forums, NNTP provides rules for efficient distribution and updating of articles across a wide network of servers, reducing redundancy and ensuring users have access to the discussions relevant to them.