The FREE Cybersecurity Glossary by Thor Pedersen!

War chalking: The practice of marking physical locations with symbols to indicate the presence of wireless networks, particularly those that are open for public use. This practice has been largely obsolete with the widespread use of mobile internet and security improvements in wireless technology.

Watering hole attack: An attack where attackers seek to compromise a specific group of individuals by infecting websites that members of the group are known to visit. The goal is to infect a targeted user's computer and gain access to the network at the targeted user's place of employment.

Wave-Division Multiplexing (WDM): A technique in fiber optics that combines multiple optical signals so they can be transmitted simultaneously over a single fiber. The signals are separated by using different wavelengths (colors) of light, which helps increase the overall capacity and speed of data transmission.

Web hosting: A service that enables organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, provides the technologies and services necessary for the website or webpage to be viewed on the internet.

Workstation: A computer that is connected to a network and is used for tasks like data processing, data analysis, and other professional applications. Workstations can be individually targeted in network attacks due to their access to valuable data or network resources. Thus, security measures such as antivirus software, firewalls, and user access controls are crucial to protect the data and network resources accessible from a workstation.

Worm: A type of malware that self-replicates to spread to other computers. Unlike viruses, worms do not need to attach themselves to a host program. They often exploit network vulnerabilities to infect systems and can cause widespread damage without user intervention.