The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

Passive Attack: A type of network attack where the attacker intercepts and reads information transmitted over a network without altering the data or affecting the system's operation. The intent is usually to gather information, often confidential, without detection. Examples include eavesdropping, traffic analysis, and sniffing, where the attacker's main goal is to obtain unauthorized access to the data.

Passive Detection: A security method that identifies threats and vulnerabilities by monitoring systems for suspicious activities without altering data or interacting with it. This technique is employed to detect potential attacks early and mitigate them effectively. Examples include intrusion detection systems and network security monitoring tools.

Passive Response: A method of dealing with potential threats by logging them and possibly issuing alerts but not taking direct action to interrupt or mitigate the threat. These responses are often employed when the cost or potential disruption of active response exceeds the perceived risk of the threat. The goal is to gather information about the threat for later analysis and possible action.

Pass-the-hash: A type of exploit where an attacker uses a hashed form of a user's password instead of the actual password to authenticate against a network service. This kind of attack bypasses the need to decrypt or crack the password and takes advantage of the fact that many systems authenticate users by comparing the hash of the provided password with the stored hash.

Password: A password is a sequence of characters used as a security credential to authenticate users and protect access to computer systems and online accounts. Good password practices include using length and complexity to resist password-cracking attempts. Examples provided should reflect strong passwords rather than weak, commonly used ones.

Password Authentication Protocol (PAP): Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) is an authentication protocol that sends usernames and passwords as plaintext and is therefore considered insecure by modern standards. PAP is susceptible to eavesdropping and interception, as the credentials are not encrypted. It's typically used in legacy or less secure environments where more secure authentication methods are not feasible.