A digital fingerprint of some data. Used to verify that files haven’t been tampered with.

Adding random data to a hash to make it harder to crack. A pinch of salt keeps your hash secure!

A Distributed Denial of Service attack. When botnets flood a target system to overwhelm and crash it.

A vulnerability that’s exploited before the software maker knows about it and can fix it.

Exploiting human psychology rather than technical vulnerabilities. Phishing is a prime example.

Malware that bombards you with unwanted ads. More annoying than dangerous, but still a pain.

Malware that burrows deep into your system to hide itself. Notoriously hard to detect and remove.

Automated malware that lets hackers remotely control your computer.

Malware that spreads by copying itself, like a biological virus. Evolved into more advanced forms:

A self-replicating virus that spreads over networks without needing to piggyback on another program.