Glossary

The policies, risk management processes, roles, responsibilities and security culture that underpin the cyber security program.

A software project that is developed from scratch rather than built from an existing program.

A hacker or computer security expert who may sometimes violate laws or typical ethical standards, but may not have the malicious intent typical of a black hat hacker. See also ‘white hat’ and ‘black hat’.

An impartial publication by the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) which will help you to identify your options, provide direction and narrow down your choices, and may include instructions relating to specific products. The ASD's ACSC makes every undertaking to ensure the accuracy and quality of the information it provides but is not accountable for any decision made based on it.

The unauthorised exploitation of weaknesses in a computer system or network.

A computer expert that can gain unauthorised access to computer systems. Hacker is an agnostic term and a hacker does not necessarily have malicious intent. See also ‘black hat’, ‘grey hat’, and ‘white hat’.

A hacker whose motivation is political, religious or ideological, as opposed to criminal.

A generic term for IT equipment and OT equipment.

A physical computing device that safeguards cryptographic keys and provides cryptographic processing. A hardware security module is or contains a cryptographic module. Hardware security modules are commonly deployed in Public Key Infrastructure, digital identity solutions and payment systems.

An exploitable weakness in a computer system that enables attacks through remote or physical access to system hardware.