Information governance

Choreography of all stakeholders involved in the processing of personal data: technical solutions, privacy compliance, security measures.

Information Security

The protection of information for the purposes of preventing loss, unauthorized access and/or misuse. It is also the process of assessing threats and risks to information and the procedures and controls to preserve confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.

Acronym(s): IS

Security Policy

Encompasses internal security measures such as the prevention of unauthorized or unnecessary access to corporate data or resources. Includes intellectual property, financial data and personal information. Physical security measures, such as locks, safes, cameras and fences are security measures that protect against both internal and external threats.

Information Privacy

One of the four classes of privacy, along with territorial privacy, bodily privacy, and communications privacy. The claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.

Layered Security Policy

A layered approach defines three levels of security policies. The top layer is a high-level document containing the controller’s policy statement. The next layer is a more detailed document that sets out the controls that will be implemented to achieve the policy statements. The third layer is the most detailed and contains the operating procedures, which explain how the policy statements will be achieved in practice.

Communications Privacy

One of the four classes of privacy, along with information privacy, bodily privacy and territorial privacy. It encompasses protection of the means of correspondence, including postal mail, telephone conversations, electronic e-mail and other forms of communicative behavior and apparatus.

Privacy Officer

A general term in many organizations for the head of privacy compliance and operations. In the United States federal government, however, it is a more specific term for the official responsible for the coordination and implementation of all privacy and confidentiality efforts within a department or component. This official may be statutorily mandated as a political appointment, as in the Department of Homeland Security, or a career professional.

Privacy Technologist

A term used to reference the many technology professionals that play a role in protecting privacy in or with technology. Includes but is not limited to: audit, risk and compliance managers; data professionals; data architects; data scientists, system designers and developers; software engineers, privacy engineers.

Privacy Policy

An internal statement that governs an organization or entity’s handling of personal information. It is directed at those members of the organization who might handle or make decisions regarding the personal information, instructing them on the collection, use, storage and destruction of the data, as well as any specific rights the data subjects may have. May also be referred to as a data protection policy.

Privacy Standard

The minimum level at which privacy should be protected in all new projects, applications and services. This includes the expectations of privacy in the new programs and guidelines for adherence to those standards. The standard is set based on both internal organizational policy and external regulations etc.

Associated term(s): Privacy by Design, Privacy Review, Privacy Policy, Privacy Risk

Privacy Review

An analysis of all new projects for their compliance with the privacy standard and privacy policy of an organization. Reviews should be performed multiple times beginning at the early stages of new project development to minimize potential privacy risks.

Associated term(s): Privacy Standard, Privacy Policy, Privacy by Design, Privacy Risk

Privacy Risk

A formula to calculate the impact of a new project on the privacy of the consumer base that will use the new systems. To evaluate the risk, one must consider the likelihood of the threat occurring, multiplied by the potential impact if the threat occurs. It may be difficult to quantify, so a comparison between projects may be the best way to understand privacy risks.

Associated term(s): Privacy Standard, Privacy Policy, Privacy by Design, Privacy Review

Contextual Integrity

A concept developed by Helen Nissenbaum, contextual integrity is a way to think about and quantify potential privacy risks in software systems and products. Contextual Integrity focuses on what consumer expectations are in a given situation and how the product or system differs from that expectation. The more a product or system deviates from those expectations, the more likely a consumer will perceive a privacy harm.

Associated term(s): Privacy Risk

Value-Sensitive Design

A design approach that accounts for moral and ethical values. Values include privacy, trust, fairness, informed consent, courtesy or freedom from bias. Assess the values in relation to specific technologies and stakeholders.

Design Thinking Process

Used in combination with value-sensitive design. The design thinking process has five phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.

____Harm

Harm Dimensions

University of Washington associate professor of law, Ryan Calo, identified two dimensions of privacy harms: objective and subjective. The perception of harm is just as likely to have a significantly negative impact on individual privacy as experienced harms.

Objective Harm

Measurable and observable, wherein a person's privacy has been violated and a direct harm is known to exist.

Subjective Harm

Exists without an observable or measurable harm, but where an expectation of harm exists.

Surveillance

The observation and/or capturing of an individual's activities.

Secondary use

Using an individual's information without consent for purposes unrelated to the original reasons

for which it was collected.

Dark patterns

Recurring solutions that are used to manipulate individuals into giving up personal information.

Insecurity

Results from failure to properly protect individuals' information.

Appropriation

Using someone's identity for another person's purposes.

Cyberbullying

Exposing a person's private details or re-characterizing the person beyond the person's control via technology.

Blackmail

The threat to disclose an individual's information against his or her will.Trojan Horse

A form of malware in which bad software masquerades as beneficial software.

Associated term(s): Malware

Automated decision making

The process of making a decision without human involvement.

Breach of confidentiality

Revealing an individual's personal information, despite a promise not to do so.

Link to: Cylab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory

Associated term(s): Privacy Policy

Distortion

Spreading false and inaccurate information about an individual.

Exposure

The revelation of information that we normally conceal from most others, including private physical details about our bodies.

Electronic Surveillance

Monitoring through electronic means; i.e., video surveillance, intercepting communications, stored communications or location based services.

Associated law(s): Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Stored Communications Act, Wiretap Act

___ OECD and FIPPS

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

An international organization that promotes policies designed to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth, employment and a rising standard of living in both member and non-member countries, while contributing to the world economy.

Link to: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Acronym(s): OECD

OECD Guidelines

First released in 1980, and then updated in 2013, these guidelines represent perhaps the most widely accepted and circulated set of internationally agreed upon privacy principles along with guidance for countries as they develop regulations surrounding cross-border data flows and law-enforcement access to personal data. The principles, widely emulated in national privacy laws, include Collection Limitation, Data Quality, Purpose Specification, Use Limitation, Security Safeguards, Openness, Individual Participation, and Accountability (see entries for each principle under their own listing elsewhere in the glossary).

Link to text of: OECD Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Data Flows of Personal Data

Global Privacy Enforcement Network

Organized following an OECD recommendation for cooperation among member countries on enforcement of privacy laws, GPEN is a collection of data protection authorities dedicated to discussing aspects of privacy law enforcement cooperation, the sharing of best practices, development of shared enforcement priorities, and the support of joint enforcement initiatives and awareness campaigns. As of 2018, GPEN counted 50 member countries.

Acronym(s): GPEN

Privacy Notice

A statement made to a data subject that describes how an organization collects, uses, retains and discloses personal information. A privacy notice may be referred to as a privacy statement, a fair processing statement or, sometimes, a privacy policy. Numerous global privacy and data protection laws require privacy notices.

Just-in-Time Notification

Disclosure of specific information practices posted, usually accompanied by a consent request, at the point of information collection.

Acronym(s): JIT Notice

Privacy Nutrition Label

A standard form label intended to make privacy policies easily and quickly understandable. Privacy Nutrition Labels where developed by the Cylab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) at Carnegie Mellon University.

Terms of Service

The set of rules which govern the use of a service and must be agreed to, either implicitly through the use of that service or explicitly, in order to make use of that service.

Associated term(s): EULA

End-User License Agreement

A contract between the owner of the software application and the user. The user agrees to pay for the use of the software and promises to comply with certain restrictions on that use.

Acronym(s): EULA

Associated term(s): Terms of Service

Consent

This privacy requirement is one of the fair information practices. Individuals must be able to prevent the collection of their personal data, unless the disclosure is required by law. If an individual has choice about the use or disclosure of his or her information, consent is the individual's way of giving permission for the use or disclosure. Consent may be affirmative; i.e., opt-in; or implied; i.e., the individual didn’t opt out.

(1) Affirmative/Explicit Consent: A requirement that an individual "signifies" his or her agreement with a data controller by some active communication between the parties.

(2) Implicit Consent: Implied consent arises where consent may reasonably be inferred from the action or inaction of the individual.

Choice

In the context of consent, choice refers to the idea that consent must be freely given and that data subjects must have a genuine choice as to whether to provide personal data or not. If there is no true choice it is unlikely the consent will be deemed valid under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Opt-In

One of two central concepts of choice. It means an individual makes an active affirmative indication of choice; i.e., checking a box signaling a desire to share his or her information with third parties.

Associated term(s): Choice; Consent; Opt-Out

Opt-Out

One of two central concepts of choice. It means an individual’s lack of action implies that a choice has been made; i.e., unless an individual checks or unchecks a box, their information will be shared with third parties.

Associated term(s): Choice; Consent; Opt-In

Collection Limitation

A fair information practices principle, it is the principle stating there should be limits to the collection of personal data, that any such data should be obtained by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent of the data subject.

Use Limitation

See "Purpose Limitation."

Link to text of memo: Fair Information Practice Principles

Associated term(s): Fair Information Practices

Data Minimization Principle

The idea that one should only collect and retain that personal data which is necessary.

Link to text of law: Directive 95/46/EC

Link to text of law: Regulation EC (No) 45/2001

Security Safeguards

A fair information practices principle, it is the principle that personal data should be protected by reasonable security safeguards against such risks as loss or unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure of data.

Data Quality

A fair information practices principle, it is the principle that personal data should be relevant to the purposes for which it is to be used, and, to the extent necessary for those purposes, should be accurate, complete and kept up-to-date. The quality of data is judged by four criteria: Does it meet the business needs?; Is it accurate?; Is it complete?, and is it recent? Data is of an appropriate quality if these criteria are satisfied for a particular application.

Customer Access

A customer’s ability to access the personal information collected on them as well as review, correct or delete any incorrect information.

Right of Access

An individual’s right to request and receive their personal data from a business or other organization.

Exclusion

Denies an individual knowledge of and/or participation in what is being done with their information.

Breach Disclosure

The requirement that an organization notify regulators and/or victims of incidents affecting the confidentiality and security of personal data. The requirements in this arena vary wildly by jurisdiction. It is a transparency mechanism that highlights operational failures, which helps mitigate damage and aids in the understanding of causes of failure.

Associated law(s): FCRA, GLBA, HIPAA, various U.S. state laws

Associated term(s): Breach notification

Accountability

The implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure and be able to demonstrate that the handling of personal data is performed in accordance with relevant law, an idea codified in the EU General Data Protection Regulation and other frameworks, including APEC's Cross Border Privacy Rules. Traditionally, accountability has been a fair information practices principle, that due diligence and reasonable steps will be undertaken to ensure that personal information will be protected and handled consistently with relevant law and other fair use principles.

____LAW

Omnibus Laws

Used to distinguish from sectorial laws (see Sectorial Laws), to mean laws that cover a broad spectrum of organizations or natural persons, rather than simply a certain market sector or population.

EU Data Protection Directive

The EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018. The Directive was adopted in 1995, became effective in 1998 and was the first EU-wide legislation that protected individuals’ privacy and personal data use.

Associated term(s): Data Protection Directive

Confidentiality

Data is "confidential" if it is protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing. The General Data Protection Regulation requires that an organization be able to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of processing systems and services as part of its requirements for appropriate security. In addition, the GDPR requires that persons authorised to process the personal data have committed themselves to confidentiality or are under an appropriate statutory obligation of confidentiali

Data Protection Authority

Independent public authorities that supervise the application of data protection laws in the EU. DPAs provide advice on data protection issues and field complaints from individuals alleging violations of the General Data Protection Regulation. Each EU member state has its own DPA. Under GDPR, DPAs have extensive enforcement powers, including the ability to impose fines that total 4% of a company’s global annual revenue.

Acronym(s): DPA

Layered Notice

A privacy notice designed to respond to problems with excessively long notices. A short notice — the top layer — provides a user with the key elements of the privacy notice. The full notice — the bottom layer — covers all the intricacies in full. In its guidance on complying with the General Data Protection Regulation, the Article 29 Working Party, which has now been replaced by the European Data Protection Board, recommended a layered notice in order to meet requirements of the GDPR that privacy notices be easily accessible and easy to understand, and that clear and plain language be used.

California Online Privacy Protection Act

Requires that all websites catering to California citizens provide a privacy statement to visitors and a easy-to-find link to it on their web pages. Websites that carry personal data on children less than 18 years of age must permit those children to delete data collected about them. Websites also must inform visitors of the type of Do Not Track mechanisms they support or if they do not support any at all.

Link to text of law: California Online Privacy Protection Act

Acronym(s): CalOPPA

Associated term(s): Do Not Track

Anti-discrimination Laws

Anti-discrimination laws are indications of special classes of personal data. If there exists law protecting against discrimination based on a class or status, it is likely personal information relating to that class or status is subject to more stringent data protection regulation, under the GDPR or otherwise.

Do Not Track

A proposed regulatory policy, similar to the existing Do-Not-Call Registry in the United States, which would allow consumers to opt out of web-usage tracking.

Acronym(s): DNT

Adverse Action

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the term “adverse action” is defined very broadly to include all business, credit and employment actions affecting consumers that can be considered to have a negative impact, such as denying or canceling credit or insurance, or denying employment or promotion. No adverse action occurs in a credit transaction where the creditor makes a counteroffer that is accepted by the consumer. Such an action requires that the decision maker furnish the recipient of the adverse action with a copy of the credit report leading to the adverse action.

Associated law(s): FCRA

Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications Act 2002/58EC

A continuation of policy directives for the European Union Member States as set forth in the Data Protection Directive. It has been amended by the Cookie Directive 2009/136EC, which added a requirement that all websites using tracking cookies obtain user consent unless the cookie is “strictly necessary for the delivery of a service requested by the use.” This policy recognizes the importance of cookies for the functioning of modern websites while still making users aware of any tracking the user may not want to participate in.

Link to text of law: Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications Act 2002/58EC

Acronyms: ePrivacy Directive, Cookie Directive

Associated term(s): Data Protection Directive

Adequate Level of Protection

A transfer of personal data from the European Union to a third country or an international organization may take place where the European Commission has decided that the third country, a territory or one or more specified sectors within that third country, or the international organization in question, ensures an adequate level of protection by taking into account the following elements:

(a) the rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, both general and sectoral legislation, data protection rules, professional rules and security measures, effective and enforceable data subject rights and effective administrative and judicial redress for the data subjects whose personal data is being transferred;

(b) the existence and effective functioning of independent supervisory authorities with responsibility for ensuring and enforcing compliance with the data protection rules;

(c) the international commitments the third country or international organization concerned has entered into in relation to the protection of personal data

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998

A U.S. federal law that applies to the operators of commercial websites and online services that are directed to children under the age of 13. It also applies to general audience websites and online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. COPPA requires these website operators: to post a privacy notice on the homepage of the website; provide notice about collection practices to parents; obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children; give parents a choice as to whether their child’s personal information will be disclosed to third parties; provide parents access and the opportunity to delete the child’s personal information and opt out of future collection or use of the information, and maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of personal information collected from children.

Acronym(s): COPPA

Link to text of law: 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6508

Protected Health Information

Any individually identifiable health information transmitted or maintained in any form or medium that is held by an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or its business associate; identifies the individual or offers a reasonable basis for identification; is created or received by a covered entity or an employer; and relates to a past, present or future physical or mental condition, provision of healthcare or payment for healthcare to that individual.

Acronym(s): PHI

Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act

Criminalizes cyber bullying and loosens restraints on police to obtain warrants for telecommunications and internet data, as well as allows police to compel the preservation of electronic evidence.

Link to text of law: Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act

Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan

Japanese legislation aimed at the financial services sector that established cross-sectional legislative framework for investor protections, enhanced disclosure requirements, provided guidelines for the management of self-regulatory operations by financial exchanges, and implemented strict countermeasures against unfair trading.

Link to text of law: Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan

Basel III

A comprehensive set of reform measures, developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector.Factors Analysis in Information Risk (FAIR) model

FAIR constructs a framework that breaks risk into the frequency of action and magnitude of the violations.

ISO 27002

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 27002 standard is a code of practice for information security with hundreds of potential controls and control mechanisms. The standard is intended to provide a guide for the development of "organizational security standards and effective security management practices and to help build confidence in inter-organizational activities". It can be considered a guide to implementing ISO 27001 (see ISO 27001).

Link to text of: ISO 27002

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education's Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NICE)

The NICE framework establishes common terminology to describe cybersecurity work and is intended to be applied in all sectors: public, private and academic.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework

NIST is a voluntary risk management tool alongside the NIST Cyber-security Framework. It provides standard, guidelines and best practices for managing cybersecurity-related risks and is intended to assist organizations in communicating and organizing privacy risk as well as rationalizing privacy to build or evaluate a privacy governance program.

PCI Security Standards Council

The PCI Security Standards Council is a council that is responsible for the development and management of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards, most notably the PCI Data Security Standard. The council is made up of American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. and other affiliate members.

Link to: PCI Security Standards Council

Associated term(s): PCI DSS

Platform for Privacy Preferences Project

A project with the goal of designing web protocols with user privacy in mind. Several protocols have been developed out of this project including the most successful, XACML.

Link to: Platform for Privacy Preferences Project

Acronym: P3P

Seal Programs

Programs that require participants to abide by codes of information practices and submit to monitoring to ensure compliance. In return, companies that abide by the terms of the seal program are allowed to display the programs seal on their website.

Associated term(s): Self-regulatory Model, WebTrust

___DATA

Personal Information

A synonym for "personal data." It is a term with particular meaning under the California Consumer Privacy Act, which defines it as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer.

Acronym(s): PI

Associated term(s): Personal Data; Personally Identifying Information; Personally Identifiable Information

Network Centricity

The extent to which personal information remains local to the client.

Public Records

Information collected and maintained by a government entity and available to the general public.

Interrogation

When the line of questioning or probing individuals for personal information is not aligned with the context of the situation and a person feels compelled to answer, social norms are breached and individual privacy is at risk.

Active Data Collection

When an end user deliberately provides information, typically through the use of web forms, text boxes, check boxes or radio buttons.

Declared Data

Personal information that is directly given to a social network or other website by a user.

Associated term(s): Consent

Passive Collection

Collecting data from a data subject that is unaware of such collection.

Surveillance Collection

Collection by way of observing the data stream produced by a given data subject without interference in the data subject’s activity.

First-Party Collection

A data subject provides personal data to the collector directly, through a form or survey that is sent to the collector upon the data subject submitting the information

Third-Party Collection

Data acquired from a source other than directly from the subject of the data.

Data Subject

An identified or identifiable natural person.

Customer Data Integration

The consolidation and managing of customer information in all forms and from all sources allowable. CDI is a vital component of customer relationship management.

Acronyms: CDI

Associated term(s): Customer Relationship Management

Customer Information

In contrast to employee information, customer information includes data relating to the clients of private-sector organizations, patients within the healthcare sector and the general public within the context of public-sector agencies that provide services.

Data Elements

A unit of data that cannot be broken down further or has a distinct meaning. This may be a date of birth, a numerical identifier, or location coordinates. In the context of data protection, it is important to understand that data elements in isolation may not be personal data but, when combined, become personally identifiable and therefore personal data.

Information Life Cycle

The information life cycle recognizes that data has different value, and requires approaches, as it moves through an organization from collection to deletion. The stages are generally considered to be: Collection, processing, use, disclosure, retention, and destruction.

Data Controller

The natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by EU or member state law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by EU or member state law.

Associated term(s): Data Processor

Data Processing

Any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Associated term(s): Data Processor, Processing, Processor

Data Processor

A natural or legal person (other than an employee of the controller), public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller. An organization can be both a controller and a processor at the same time, depending on the function the organization is performing.

Associated term(s): Data Controller, Processor

Transfer

The movement of personal data from one organization to another.

Data Recipient

A natural or legal person, public authority, agency or another body, to which personal data is disclosed, whether a third party or not. Public authorities that receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with EU or member state law shall not be regarded as recipients, however. The processing of that data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing.

Biometrics

Data concerning the intrinsic physical or behavioral characteristics of an individual. Examples include DNA, fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voice, face, handwriting, keystroke technique and gait. The General Data Protection Regulation, in Article 9, lists biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person as a special category of data for which processing is not allowed other than in specific circumstances.

Associated term(s): Personal Information

Identifiability

The degree to which a user is identified by an authentication system. The more unique (identifiable), the easier that user is tracked or targeted. The less identifiable, the easier it is to falsely authorize a non-user.

Identifiers

Codes or strings used to represent an individual, device or browser.

Repurposing

Taking information collected for one purpose and using it for another purpose later on.

Retention

Within the information life cycle, the concept that organizations should retain personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the stated purpose.

Linkability

The degree to which identifiers used to track an individual user can be paired with outside information to identify that individual. For example, public record can be paired with date of birth, gender and zip code to identify an individual.

Associated term(s): Anonymous Information, Pseudonymous Data, De-Identification, Identifiability, Re-Identification, Identifiers, GUID

Dissociability

Minimization of connections between data and individuals to the extent compatible with system operational requirements.

Data Aggregation

Taking Individual data sets and combining them to statistically analyze data trends while protecting individual privacy by using groups of individuals with similar characteristics rather than isolating one individual at a time. To effectively aggregate data so that it cannot be re-identified (or at least make it difficult to do so) the data set should: (1) have a large population of individuals, (2) Categorized to create broad sets of individuals, and; (3) not include data that would be unique to a single individual in a data set.

Associated term(s): De-identification, Re-identification, Pseudonymous Data, Anonymous Information, Identifiability, Identifiers.

Geo-social patterns

Data from smartphones and other devices that provide information regarding mobility and social patterns and behaviors. Individuals share information such as emotions, opinions, experiences and locations; generating data about human activity via artificial intelligence and machine learning which allows for meaningful patterns and trends to be surmised.

Pseudonymous Data

Data points which are not directly associated with a specific individual. The identity of the person is not known but multiple appearances of that person can be linked together. Uses an ID rather than PII to identify data as coming from the same source. IP address, GUID and ticket numbers are forms of pseudonymous values.

Associated term(s): Identifiability, Identifiers, GUID, Authentication, De-Identification, Re-Identification.

Browser Fingerprinting

As technology has advanced, it has become easier to differentiate between users just based on the given instance of the browser they are using. Each browser keeps some information about the elements it encounters on a given webpage. For instance, a browser will keep information on a text font so that the next time that font is encountered on a webpage, the information can be reproduced more easily. Because each of these saved elements have been accessed at different times and in different orders, each instance of a browser is to some extent unique. Tracking users using this kind of technology continues to become more prevalent.

Digital Fingerprinting

The use of log files to identify a website visitor. It is often used for security and system maintenance purposes. Log files generally include: the IP address of the visitor; a time stamp; the URL of the requested page or file; a referrer URL, and the visitor’s web browser, operating system and font preferences. In some cases, combining this information can be used to “fingerprint” a device. This more detailed information varies enough among computing devices that two devices are unlikely to be the same. It is used as a security technique by financial institutions and others initiating additional security assurances before allowing users to log on from a new device. Some privacy enforcement agencies; however, have questioned what would constitute sufficient notice and consent for digital fingerprinting techniques to be used for targeted advertising.

Differential identifiability

Setting parameters that limits the confidence that any particular individual has contributed to an aggregated value.

t-closeness

Extends l-diversity by reducing the granularity of data in a data set.

k-anonymity

Relies on the creation of generalized, truncated or redacted quasi-identifiers as replacements for direct identifiers.

l-diversity

Builds on k-anonymity by requiring at least "l" distinct values in each group of k records for sensitive attributes.Data Loss Prevention

Term used to describe both the strategy for ensuring end users do not disseminate sensitive information, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to outside ineligible sources and the software products that aid network administrators in controlling what data end users can transfer.

Acronym: DLP

Frequency data

The number of times a data value occurs.

Metadata

Data that describes other data. “Meta” is a prefix meaning “an underlying description” in information technology usage.

Magnitude data

Refers to the size of the data. A table showing average income by age is magnitude data.

Manageability

The ability to granularly administer personal information, including modification, disclosure and deletion.

Data Masking

The process of de-identifying, anonymizing, or otherwise obscuring data so that the structure remains the same but the content is no longer sensitive in order to generate a data set that is useful for training or software testing purposes.

Associated term(s): Obfuscation

Data Matching

An activity that involves comparing personal data obtained from a variety of sources, including personal information banks, for the purpose of making decisions about the individuals to whom the data pertains.

Hide

Personal information is made un-connectable or un-observable to others.

Information hiding

Identifies data that has been assigned to specific levels of classification and restrict access to that data via limited class functions.

Anonymization

The process in which individually identifiable data is altered in such a way that it no longer can be related back to a given individual. Among many techniques, there are three primary ways that data is anonymized. Suppression is the most basic version of anonymization and it simply removes some identifying values from data to reduce its identifiability. Generalization takes specific identifying values and makes them broader, such as changing a specific age (18) to an age range (18-24). Noise addition takes identifying values from a given data set and switches them with identifying values from another individual in that data set. Note that all of these processes will not guarantee that data is no longer identifiable and have to be performed in such a way that does not harm the usability of the data.

Associated law(s):Anonymous Data, De-Identification, Mircodata Sets, Re-identification

Anonymous Information

In contrast to personal data, anonymous information or data is not related to an identified or an identifiable natural person and cannot be combined with other information to re-identify individuals. It has been rendered unidentifiable and, as such, is not protected by the GDPR.

Associated term(s): Pseudonymous Data, De-Identification, Re-Identification

Microdata Sets

Groups of information on individuals that have been altered or suppressed in some way to anonymize the data, protecting individuals from being identified.

Associated term(s):Anonymous Information, De-Identification

Hashing Functions

Or “hashing” is taking user identifications and converting them into an ordered system to track the user’s activities without directly using personally identifiable information (PII). Hashing can be used to encrypt or map data; in the context of privacy, hashing is used in cryptographic hash functions and have many information security applications.

Associated term(s): Anonymous Information, Pseudonymous Data, De-Identification, Re-Identification

Abstract:

Limit the amount of detail in which personal information is processed.

Tokenization

A system of de-identifying data which uses random tokens as stand-ins for meaningful data.

Separate

Separating personal data during processing to prevent correlating information that may lead to the identification of the individual. This is done via processing data in physically separate locations (distribute) or isolating the data by processing personal data that is used for different purposes in separate databases.

Noise addition

Blurring data to ensuer that aggregated data is useful, yet nonspecific enough to avoid revealing identifiers.

Obfuscation

To make (something) more difficult to understand; to hide the true meaning. For Data Obfuscation see Data Masking.

Associated term(s): Data Masking

_____WWW

Federated identity

A model in which a person's identity is authenticated in a trusted centralized service.

Single-Sign-On (SSO)

An authentication process that allows the user to enter a single set of credentials to access multiple applications.

Uniform Resource Locator

The address of content located on a web server. Specifically, it is the letter and number coordinates that an end user submits to the web browser to instruct it to connect with the desired website. An example of a URL is “https://iapp.org.”

Acronym(s): URL

POST Method

The GET and POST HTML method attributes specify how form data is sent to a web page. The POST method is more secure than GET as the GET method appends the form data to the URL allowing passwords and other sensitive information collected in a form to be visible in the browser’s address bar.

Associated term(s): GET Method

GET Method

The GET and POST HTML method attributes specify how form data is sent to a web page. The GET method appends the form data to the URL in name/value pairs allowing passwords and other sensitive information collected in a form to be visible in the browser’s address bar, and is thus less secure than the POST method.

Associated term(s): POST Method

Super Cookie

A tracking mechanism that persists even after all cookies have been deleted, usually using several varying types of storage to remain within a device.

Associated term(s): Cookie

Cookie

A small text file stored on a client machine that may later be retrieved by a web server from the machine. Cookies allow web servers to keep track of the end user’s browser activities, and connect individual web requests into a session. Cookies can also be used to prevent users from having to be authorized for every password protected page they access during a session by recording that they have successfully supplied their username and password already. Cookies may be referred to as "first-party" (if they are placed by the website that is visited) or "third-party" (if they are placed by a party other than the visited website). Additionally, they may be referred to as "session cookies" if they are deleted when a session ends, or "persistent cookies" if they remain longer. Notably, the General Data Protection Regulation lists this latter category, so-called "cookie identifiers," as an example of personal information. The use of cookies is regulated both by the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive (see Cookie Directive).

Associated term(s): First-Party Cookie, Persistent Cookie, Third-Party Cookie, Tracking Cookie, Web Cookie

Transient Storage

Short lifespan data storage such as a session cookie stored on a browser that is purged from the system when the browser is closed.

Associated term(s): Persistent Storage, Cookies

Persistent Storage

The storage of data in a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard drive. In the absence of persistent data storage, data would only be stored in RAM (random access memory) and would be lost whenever the device lost power.

Associated term(s): Transient Storage

Local Shared Objects

Data files created on a computer’s hard drive by a domain to track user preferences and used by all versions of Adobe Flash Player. They are often called flash cookies. LSOs differ from HTTP cookies in that they are saved to a computer’s hard drive rather than the web browser.

Acronym(s): LSOs

Associated term(s): Cookies

Hyperlink

Linked graphic or text that is used to connect an end user to other websites, parts of websites or web-enabled services. The URL of a web location is embedded in the HTML code, so that when certain words or images are selected through the web browser, the end user is transported to the destination website or page.

Flash

Software that is used to add animation and other visual effects to web-based content.

Javascript

A computer scripting language used to produce interactive and dynamic web content.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

A content authoring language used to create web pages. Web browsers use HTML to interpret and render visible and audible content from the web pages. Document “tags” can be used to format and lay out web page content and to “hyperlink”—connect dynamically—to other web content. Forms, links, pictures and text may all be added with minimal commands. Headings are also embedded into the text and are used by web servers to process commands and return data with each request.

Acronym(s): HTML

Associated term(s): HTTP, HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

A networking language that manages data packets over the Internet. It defines how messages are formatted and transmitted over a TCP/IP network for websites. Further, it defines what actions Web servers and web browsers take in response to various commands.

Acronym(s): HTTP

Associated term(s): HTML, HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

A secure network communication method, technically not a protocol in itself, HTTPS is the result of layering the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) on top of the SSL/TLS protocol, thus adding the security capabilities of SSL/TLS to standard HTTP communications.

Acronym(s): HTTPS

Associated term(s): HTTP, SSL/TLS

Extensible Markup Language

A markup language that facilitates the transport, creation, retrieval and storage of documents. Similar to HTML, XML uses tags to describe the contents of a web page or file. XML describes content of a web page in terms of the data that is being produced, potentially creating automatic processing of data in ways that may require attention for privacy issues, unlike HTML, which describes the content of a web page in terms of how it should be displayed.

Acronym(s): XML

____SDLC

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

A conceptual model used to describe the stages in an information system development project.

Associated term(s): Privacy by Design, Privacy Standard, Privacy Review

Predictability

Characterizes reliable assumptions about a system particularly its data and the processing of that data by all stakeholders.

Quality Attributes

Concerns in software development that cannot be alleviated with a single design element or function. Privacy is an example of a quality attribute that can be divided up into further quality attributes (think about the Fair Information Practices). Using Privacy by Design in all software development allows these quality attributes to be accounted for in all system functions as they are being developed.

Associated term(s): Privacy by Design, Fair Information Practices

Privacy engineering

Encompasses how privacy values and principles are applied in technology systems and programs while recognizing and maintaining security levels to mitigate risk. It brings the complementary perspectives and practices of software engineers and privacy professionals together.

Privacy by Design

Generally regarded as a synonym for Data Protection by Design (see Data Protection by Design). However, Privacy by Design as a specific term was first outlined in a framework in the mid-1990s by then-Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada, Ann Cavoukian, with seven foundational principles.

Acronym(s): PbD

Completeness Arguments

Used as a means of assuring compliance with privacy rules and policies in the design of new software systems. Completeness arguments take privacy rules and compare them to the system requirements that have been used to design a new software system. By pairing privacy rules with specific system requirements, necessary technical safeguards can be accounted for, preventing the software from being designed in such a way that would violate privacy policies and regulations.

Associated term(s): SRS, User Stories, Plan-driven Development Model, Agile Development Model

Functional System Requirements

Specific details about how a system should work, what inputs create what outputs, and design elements to be implemented. For example, “A system shall do processing of personal information to create user profiles.”

Associated term(s): Plan-driven Development Model, Agile Development Model, SRS, User Stories, Non-functional System Requirements

Non-Functional System Requirements

Abstracted concepts of the operation of a new software system or product being developed that inform functional requirements. These requirements describe how a system should work rather than specific technical processes the system completes. For example “the system shall be able to create user profiles for individuals using the system.”

Associated term(s): Plan-driven Development Model, Agile Development Model, Functional System Requirements, SRS

Software Requirements Specification

A formal documentation of a software system or product to be developed that includes both functional and nonfunctional requirements. These are used so that the individual tasked with creating the system or product is aware of the needs of the individual seeking the creation.

Acronym: SRS

Associated term(s): Functional Requirements, Non-functional requirements, Plan-driven Development Model, Agile Development Model

High level design

How the system's part, both front end and back end work together to implement the behaviors that a system should exhibit.

Low level design

The details of a high-level design system.

Privacy Patterns

Based on the concept of “Design Patterns” developed by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides, Privacy Patterns are a set of solutions to common privacy problems in designing software. Each Privacy Pattern describes a privacy concern that occurs when developing software and a uniform way to alleviate that concern.

Associated term(s): UML, Plan-driven Development Model, Agile Development Model

Design patterns

Describes shared solutions to recurring problems. Design patterns serve to improve program code maintenance by providing developers with a common mental module when approaching a recurring problem.

Plan-Driven Development Model

A strategy used when creating new software products and systems. Plan-driven models focus on designing the entirety of the system and system functions before actual creation of the system, as opposed to the Agile Development Model. An example of a plan-driven model is the Spiral model.

Associated term(s): Agile Development Model, CONOPS

Concept of Operations

Used in Plan-driven Development Models, a Concept of Operations is a detailed outline of how a software product or system will work once it is fully operational. This is used to shape how a product or system will be designed and implemented.

Acronym: CONOPS

Associated term(s): Plan-driven Development Model, SRS

Agile Development Model

A process of software system and product design that incorporates new system requirements during the actual creation of the system, as opposed to the Plan-Driven Development Model. Agile development takes a given project and focuses on specific portions to develop one at a time. An example of Agile development is the Scrum Model.

Associated term(s): Plan-Driven Development Model, User Stories, SRS

User Stories

Requirements of new software systems or products as they are implemented in an Agile Development Model. Usually they consist of a few sentences that describe how a consumer would interact with the system or product and what the ideal functionality would look like. These are used to inform the developers of how a system or product should work while they are designing a given portion of the system.

Associated term(s): Agile Development Model, SRS

Unified Modeling Language

A notation language that is used to describe system design elements in software development.

Acronyms: UML

Associated term(s): Plan-driven Design Model, Agile Design Model

Coupling

The interdependence between objects within a technology ecosystem and controls the flow of information within a design. Tightening the coupling, allows objects to depend on the inner working of other objects. Loosening the coupling reduces object's dependency on other objects. Loosening isolates information processing to a select group of approved classes and reduces the chance of unintentionally re-purposing data.

Data schema

Used to separate customer information. Data schema formulates all the constraints to be applied on the data, defines its entities and relationships among them.

Data Flow Diagrams

A graphical representation of the flow of data in an information system thus allowing the visualization of how the system operates to accomplish its purpose. DFDs are used both by systems analysts to design information systems and by management to model the flow of data within organizations.

Acronym(s): DFD

Structured Query Language

A special-purpose programming language that allows for the creation of interactive forms which users can insert, alter and delete data they have input, and the system administrators can easily transfer information into usable data banks of user information. Originally developed by IBM, SQL has become an international standard for data collection and use.

Acronym: SQL

Associated term(s): SQL Injection

Code audits

Provide analysis of source code that detect defects, security breaches or violations within a technology ecosystem.

Code reviews

Generally in-person meeting organized by developers who authored the code. The review may consist of a reader, moderator and privacy specialist.

Online Data Storage

Refers to the storage of data by a third-party vendor made accessible through the Internet.(Hosted storage, Internet storage, cloud storage) This is a common data storage alternative to local storage, such as on a hard drive, and portable storage, such as a flash drive.

Associated term(s): Cloud Computing

Open-source vs. closed-source

Easily viewed, shared and modified software is considered open-source. Closed-source software must be fixed and updated by the vendor.

____Access Control

AutheNtication

The process by which an entity (such as a person or computer system) determines whether another entity is who it claims to be.

Globally Unique Identifier

An identifier that is one of a kind to a specific user. For example, biometric data or a loginID for a social network.

Acronym(s): GUID

Single-Factor Authentication

The standard authentication mechanism that requires a user name and password for access.

Multi-Factor Authentication

An authentication process that requires more than one verification method (see Authentication), such as a password and biometric identifier, or log-in credentials and a code sent to an email address or phone number supplied by a data subject.

Associated term(s): Two-Factor Authentication; Two-Step Authentication

Radio-Frequency Identification

Technologies that use radio waves to identify people or objects carrying encoded microchips.

Acronym(s): RFID

AuthoriZation

In the context of information security, it is process of determining if the end user is permitted to have access to the desired resource such as the information asset or the information system containing the asset. Authorization criteria may be based upon a variety of factors such as organizational role, level of security clearance, applicable law or a combination of factors. When effective, authentication validates that the entity requesting access is who or what it claims to be.

Least Privilege

A security control where access is granted at the lowest possible level required to perform the function.

Mandatory Access Control

An access control system by which access to data, by the owner or user, is constrained by the operating system itself.

Acronym(s): MAC

Discretionary Access Control

A type of access control that allows an owner of an object, within a given computer-based information system, to grant or deny access.

Acronym(s): DAC

Acronym(s): ABAC

User-based access controls

Rely on the identity of the user to determine whether to grant or deny access to a desired resource.

Role-Based Access Controls

Access policies that espouse the view that no employee should have greater information access than is necessary to capably perform his or her job function.

Attribute-Based Access Control

An authorization model that provides dynamic access control by assigning attributes to the users, the data, and the context in which the user requests access (also referred to as environmental factors) and analyzes these attributes together to determine access.

Context of authority

Control over the access to resources on a network is based on the context in which the employee is connected to the network.

Access Control Entry (ACE)

An element in an access control list (ACL). Each ACE controls, monitors, or records access to an object by a specified user.

Access Control List (ACL)

A list of access control entries (ACE) that apply to an object. Each ACE controls or monitors access to an object by a specified user.

In a discretionary access control list (DACL), the ACL controls access;

in a system access control list (SACL) the ACL monitors access in a security event log which can comprise part of an audit trail.

____ Architecture

IT Architecture

Also known as Enterprise Architecture (EA) is the set of policies (standards and guidelines), principles, services, and products used by IT providers.

Associated term(s): Enterprise Architecture (EA)

IT Department

The division or component of an organization responsible for all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange and use information in its various forms.

Enterprise Architecture

A conceptual outline, blueprint, or diagram that defines the structure and the operation of an organization, normally in the context of developing a strategy for the realization of current and future goals or objectives.

Acronym(s): EA

Associated term(s): IT Architecture

Electronic Communications Data

Consists of three main categories of personal data, as defined in the European Union under the ePrivacy Directive: the content of a communication, traffic data, and location data.

Electronic Communications Network

Transmission systems, and, where applicable, switching or routing equipment and other resources that permit the conveyance of signals by wire, radio, optical or other electromagnetic means, including satellite networks; fixed and mobile terrestrial networks; electricity cable systems, to the extent that they are used for the purpose of transmitting signals; networks used for radio and television broadcasting, and cable television networks, irrespective of the type of information conveyed. In the discussions surrounding the update of the ePrivacy Directive to the ePrivacy Regulation, so-called "over the top" providers, like app-based messaging services, are beginning to be considered as part of the electronic communications network.

Acronym(s): ECN

Electronic Communications Service

Any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.

Acronym(s): ECS

Internet Service Provider

A company that provides Internet access to homes and businesses through modem dial-up, DSL, cable modem broadband, dedicated T1/T3 lines or wireless connections.

Acronym(s): ISP

Value-Added Services

A telecommunications industry term for non-core services; i.e., services beyond voice calls and fax transmissions. More broadly, the term is used in the service sector to refer to services, which are available at little or no cost, and promote their primary business. For mobile phones, while technologies like SMS, MMS and GPRS are usually considered value-added services, a distinction may also be made between standard (peer-to-peer) content and premium-charged content. These are called mobile value-added services (MVAS), which are often simply referred to as VAS. Value-added services are supplied either in-house by the mobile network operator themselves or by a third-party value-added service provider (VASP), also known as a content provider (CP) such as Headline News or Reuters. VASPs typically connect to the operator using protocols like short message peer-to-peer protocol (SMPP), connecting either directly to the short message service centre (SMSC) or, increasingly, to a messaging gateway that gives the operator better control of the content.

Associated term(s): MVAS, VASP

Location-Based Service

Services that utilize information about location to deliver, in various contexts, a wide array of applications and services, including social networking, gaming and entertainment. Such services typically rely upon GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, or similar technologies in which geolocation is used to identify the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a mobile device or an internet-connected computer terminal.-

Acronym(s): LBS

Associated term(s): Geolocation; GPS; Global Positioning System; RFID

CCTV

Originally an acronym for "closed circuit television," CCTV has come to be shorthand for any video surveillance system. Originally, such systems relied on coaxial cable and was truly only accessible on premise. Today, most surveillance systems are hosted via TCP/IP networks and can be accessed remotely, and the footage much more easily shared, eliciting new and different privacy concerns.

Associated term(s): Video Surveillance

Big Data

A term used to describe the large data sets which exponential growth in the amount and availability of data have allowed organizations to collect. Big data has been articulated as “the three V’s: volume (the amount of data), velocity (the speed at which data may now be collected and analyzed), and variety (the format, structured or unstructured, and type of data, e.g. transactional or behavioral).

Associated term(s): Metadata

Deep learning

A subset of artificial intelligence and machine learning. It learns by performing a tasks repeatedly and adding layers of data to improve the outcome.

Cloud Computing

The provision of information technology services over the Internet. These services may be provided by a company for its internal users in a "private cloud" or by third-party suppliers. The services can include software, infrastructure (i.e., servers), hosting and platforms (i.e., operating systems). Cloud computing has numerous applications, from personal webmail to corporate data storage, and can be subdivided into different types of service models.

Content Delivery Network

The servers that contain most or all of the visible elements of a web page and that are contacted to provide those elements. In the realm of advertising, a general ad server is contacted after a webpage is requested, that ad server looks up any known information on the user requesting to access the webpage.

Internet of Things

A term used to describe the many devices that are connected to the internet. Any device that is built with a network interface can be assigned an IP ress to allow for automation and remote access.

Ubiquitous computing

The processing of information is linked with the activity or object it encounters.

Natural language generation

Information is transformed into content, enabling such functions as text-to speech, automation of reports and the production of content for awe or mobile applications.

Natural language understanding

Utilizes machine reading comprehension through algorithms to identify and extract natural language that the computer can understand.

Anthropomorphism

Attributing human characteristics or behaviors to non-human objects.

Speech recognition

Voice command technology that allows users to interact with and control technologies by speaking to them.

Chat bots

Computerized intelligence that simulates human interactions and may be used to handle basic customer requests and interactions.

Mobility

The extent to which a system moves from one location to another, as in laptop and mobile phone capabilities.

Internet Protocol Address

A unique string of numbers that identifies a computer on the Internet or other TCP/IP network. The IP address is expressed in four groups of up to three numbers, separated by periods. For example: 123.123.23.2. An address may be "dynamic," meaning that it is assigned temporarily whenever a device logs on to a network or an Internet service provider and consequently may be different each time a device connects. Alternatively, an address may be "static," meaning that it is assigned to a particular device and does not change, but remains assigned to one computer or device.

Acronym(s): IP Address

Data Centers

Facilities that store, manage and disseminate data and house a network’s most critical systems. Data centers can serve either as a centralized facility for a single organization’s data management functions or as a third-party provider for organization’s data management needs.

Network Devices

The components used to link computers and other devices so they may share files and utilize other electronic resources, e.g. printers and fax machines. The most common network devices are those used to create Local Area Networks (LAN), which require a hub, router, cable or radio connection devices, network cards, and (for access to the internet) a modem.

Network Encryption

A type of network security that protects data traffic by providing encryption at the network transfer layer. This form of encryption operates independently of other security measures and is invisible to the end user as data is only encrypted while in transit.

Caching

The saving of local copies of downloaded content, reducing the need to repeatedly download content. To protect privacy, pages that display personal information should be set to prohibit caching.

E-Commerce Websites

Websites with online ordering capabilities have special privacy advantages and risks. Unlike other web advertisers, E-Commerce websites have direct access to information regarding user purchases and payment information. While creating a great opportunity for targeted advertising, it also puts extra onus on these websites to protect user information.

Local Area Network

Networks that exist within an operational facility. They are considered within local operational control and are relatively easy to manage.

Acronym(s): LAN

Associated term(s): WAN

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Network

A firewall configuration for securing local area networks (LANs). In a DMZ configuration, there are a set of computers that act as a broker for traffic between the LAN and an outside network allowing the majority of computers to run safely behind a firewall. Thus these computers act as a broker similar to a joint security area in a political demilitarized zone.

Perimeter Controls

Technologies and processes that are designed to secure an entire network environment by preventing penetration from the outside.

Associated term(s): Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Extranet

A network system formed through the connection of two or more corporate intranets. These external networks create inherent security risks, while often also meeting important organizational goals. An extranet opens a backdoor into the internal network and provides a third party with a level of trust. While these risks cannot be eliminated, they can be assessed, managed and mitigated. The foundation of this management is a thorough and detailed e-business contract that specifies who may access data, what data will be accessed and what security controls the partner has in place. It should also detail how shared devices will be managed, procedures for cooperating with technical staff in the event of problems and escalation procedures for resolving difficult technical problems.

Wide Area Network

A non-localized telecommunications network that can be used to transmit data across large regions.

Acronym(s): WAN

Associated term(s): LAN; Local Area Network

Transmission Control Protocol

A protocol which enables two devices to establish a connection and exchange data. A combination of TCP and IP is used to send data over the Internet. Data are sent in the form of a packet, which is a portion of a message sent over the TCP/IP network. It contains content and a heading that specifies the destination.

Acronym(s): TCP; TCP/IP

Voice Over Internet Protocol

A technology that allows telephone calls to be made over a LAN or the Internet itself. Skype is a well-known example. VoIP poses the same risk as network-connected PBX systems but also poses the additional risk of data interception when such data travel over an unsecured connection. VoIP functionality should be encrypted where possible and equipment monitored with intrusion-detection systems.

Acronym(s): VoIP

Bring Your Own Device

Use of employees’ own personal computing devices for work purposes.

Acronym(s): BYOD

Associated term(s): Consumerization of information technology (COIT)

Context aware computing

When a technological device adapts itself to the environment. This includes characteristics as location, video, audio, brightness.

Write Once Read Many

A data storage device in which information, once written, cannot be modified. This protection offers assurance that the data originally written to the device has not been tampered with. The only way to remove data written to a WORM device is to physically destroy the device.

Acronym(s): WORM

______________________________ INFOSEC

Application-Layer Attacks

Attacks that exploit flaws in the network applications installed on network servers. Such weaknesses exist in web browsers, e-mail server software, network routing software and other standard enterprise applications. Regularly applying patches and updates to applications may help prevent such attacks.

Network-Layer Attacks

Attacks that exploit the basic network protocol in order to gain any available advantage. These attacks generally involve “spoofing” a network address so that a computer sends data to an intruder rather than their proper recipient or destination. Other attacks can involve service disruptions through a denial of service (DOS) attack—a brute force method that overloads the capacity of a website’s domain to respond to incoming requests such that it renders the server inoperable.

Vulnerability management

Assessing and developing plans for the capability and probability that a threat actor's acts will succeed.

Patches

Changes to a program that aim to fix, update or improve a system.

Cross-site Scripting

Code injected by malicious web users into web pages viewed by other users.

Acronym(s): XSS

SQL Injection

Taking advantage of SQL forms by inserting commands in information entry boxes. SQL is transferred in such a way that commands placed in forms can be seen as valid commands and affect the system in whatever way that command operates. Hackers can use SQL Injections to erase data banks, over load servers, etc. if the SQL isn’t properly set up to avoid such attacks.

Associated term(s): SQL

Pharming

Redirecting a valid internet request to a malicious website by modifying a Hosts file or corrupting a network router domain name system.

Associated term(s): Phishing, Spear Phishing, Whaling

Social Engineering

A general term for how attackers can try to persuade a user to provide information or create some other sort of security vulnerability.

Associated term(s): Phishing

Phishing

E-mails or other communications that are designed to trick a user into believing that he or she should provide a password, account number or other information. The user then typically provides that information to a website controlled by the attacker. “Spear phishing” is a phishing attack that is tailored to the individual user, such as when an e-mail appears to be from the user’s boss, instructing the user to provide information.

Associated term(s): Spear Phishing; Social Engineering

SPAM

Unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Associated law(s): CASL; CAN-SPAM Act

Spear Phishing

Phishing targeted at a particular group of people with a known affiliation to some organization.

Associated term(s): Phishing, Whaling, Pharming

Syndicated Content

Content that is not actually created by the host site, but is developed, purchased or licensed from a third party. A concern associated with this content is that it can contain malicious code that is then unwittingly incorporated into the organization’s own website source code. For example, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks attempt to take advantage of the trust that users have for a given site.

Associated term(s): XSS

Whaling

Phishing targeted at a specific individual or individuals known to be wealthy.

Associated term(s): Spear Phishing, Phishing, Pharming

Worm

A computer program or algorithm that replicates itself over a computer network, usually performing malicious actions.

Data Breach

The unauthorized acquisition of computerized data that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information maintained by a data collector. Breaches do not include good faith acquisitions of personal information by an employee or agent of the data collector for a legitimate purpose of the data collector—provided the personal information is not used for a purpose unrelated to the data collector's business or subject to further unauthorized disclosure.

Associated term(s): Breach, Privacy Breach (Canadian)

Audit Trail

A chain of electronic activity or sequence of paperwork used to monitor, track, record, or validate an activity. The term originates in accounting as a reference to the chain of paperwork used to validate or invalidate accounting entries. It has since been adapted for more general use in e-commerce, to track customer’s activity, or cyber-security, to investigate cybercrimes.

Logs

A record of both normal and suspect events by a computer system (typically an operating system). The application log contains events logged by applications or programs. For example, a database program might record a file error in the application log. The program developer decides which events to record. The system log contains events logged by the operating system components; for example, the failure of a driver or other system component to load during startup is recorded in the system log. The event types logged by system components are predetermined for the operating system. The security log can record security events, such as valid and invalid log-in attempts as well as events related to resource use, such as creating, opening, or deleting files. An administrator can specify what events are recorded in the security log. For example, if you have enabled log-in auditing, attempts to log in to the system are recorded in the security log.

Run time behavior monitoring

Monitoring and analyzing usage and data collected from a running system.

Intrusion reports

Monitoring a system for threats to security of a network.

Computer Forensics

The discipline of assessing and examining an information system for relevant clues even after it has been compromised by an exploit.

____________________ Encryption

Algorithms

Mathematical applications applied to a block of data.

Homomorphic

Allows encrypted information to be manipulated without first being decrypted.

Polymorphic

The algorithm is mutated with each copy of the code, while the outcome of the encryption remains the same for any given key.

Quantum encryption

Uses the principles of quantum mechanics to encrypt messages in a way that prevents anyone other than the intended recipient from reading them.

Cryptography

The science or practice of hiding information, usually through its transformation. Common cryptographic functions include: encryption, decryption, digital signature and non-repudiation.

Associated term(s): Digital signature, encryption, non-repudiation, PKI

Cryptosystem

The materials necessary to encrypt and decrypt a given message, usually consisting of the encryption algorithm and the security key.

Associated term(s): Encryption

Encryption

The process of obscuring information, often through the use of a cryptographic scheme in order to make the information unreadable without special knowledge; i.e., the use of code keys. Encryption is mentioned in the General Data Protection Regulation as a potential way to mitigate risk, and certain breach notification requirements may be mitigated by the use of encryption as it reduces the risks to the rights and freedoms of data subjects should data be improperly disclosed.

Encryption Key

A cryptographic algorithm applied to unencrypted text to disguise its value or used to decrypt encrypted text.

Secret Key

“A cryptographic key used with a secret key cryptographic algorithm, uniquely associated with one or more entities and which shall not be made public. The use of the term "secret" in this context does not imply a classification level, rather the term implies the need to protect the key from disclosure or substitution.” (Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 140-1, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules)

Symmetric Key Encryption

Also known as Secret Key Encryption is a form of encryption using a single secret key to both encrypt and decrypt data.

Asymmetric Encryption

A form of data encryption that uses two separate but related keys to encrypt data. The system uses a public key, made available to other parties, and a private key, which is kept by the first party. Decryption of data encrypted by the public key requires the use of the private key; decryption of the data encrypted by the private key requires the public key.

RSA Encryption

RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) is the most common internet encryption and authentication system. The system used an algorithm that involves multiplying two large prime numbers to generate a public key, used to encrypt data and decrypt an authentication, and a private key, used to decrypt the data and encrypt an authentication.

Advanced Encryption Standard

An encryption algorithm for security sensitive non-classified material by the U.S. Government. This algorithm was selected in 2001 to replace the previous algorithm, the Data Encryption Standard (DES), by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a unit of the U.S. Commerce Department, through an open competition. The winning algorithm (RijnDael, pronounced rain-dahl), was developed by two Belgian cryptographers, Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen.

Public Key Infrastructure

A system of digital certificates, authorities and other registration entities that verifies the authenticity of each party involved in an electronic transaction through the use of cryptography.

Acronym(s): PKI

Ciphertext

Encrypted (enciphered) data.

Associated term(s): NIST SP 800-21

Application or field encryption

Ability to encrypt specific fields of data; specifically sensitive data such as credit cards numbers or health-related information.

Transport Layer Security

A protocol that ensures privacy between client-server applications and Internet users of the applications. When a server and client communicate, TLS secures the connection to ensure that no third party can eavesdrop on or corrupt the message. TLS is a successor to SSL.

Acronym(s): TLS

Associated term(s): Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Virtual Private Network

A network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users an access to a central organizational network. VPNs typically require remote users of the network to be authenticated and often secure data with encryption technologies to prevent disclosure of private information to unauthorized parties.

Acronym(s): VPN

Associated term(s): Remote Access Connectivity

Digital Signature

A means for ensuring the authenticity of an electronic document, such as an e-mail, text file, spreadsheet or image file. If anything is changed in the electronic document after the digital signature is attached, the signature is rendered invalid.

Digital Rights Management

The management of access to and use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is often associated with the set of access control (denial) technologies. These technologies are utilized under the premise of defending copyrights and intellectual property but are considered controversial because they may often restrict users from utilizing digital content or devices in a manner allowable by law.

Acronym(s): DRM

________________________ Advertising

Information Utility

The culture and desire of a business that seeks to use information collected by a company in every way possible to improve services and products. This needs to be balanced with privacy considerations.

Digital Advertising Alliance

A non-profit organization that sets standards for consumer privacy, transparency and control in online advertising. Over 100 advertising companies participate in and comply with their standards. The DAA has an agreement with both the Council on Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association to enforce the self-regulatory standards set down by the Digital Advertising Alliance including AdChoices, a programming offering user control over behavioral advertising.

Acronym: DAA

Associated term(s): AdChoices

Contextual Advertising

The most used form of targeted advertising on the internet. The content of the ad relies on the content of the webpage or the query entered by a user.

Associated term(s): Behavioral Advertising, Demographic Advertising, Premium Advertising, Psychographic Advertising, Remnant Advertising.

Demographic Advertising

Web advertising based on information about an individual such as age, height, weight, geographic location or gender.

Associated term(s): Behavioral Advertising, Contextual Advertising, Premium Advertising, Psychographic Advertising, Remnant Advertising.

Interactive Advertising Bureau

A trade association representing advertising businesses. The IAB develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry.

Link to: Interactive Advertising Bureau

Acronym(s): IAB

Premium Advertising

The most expensive and most visible type of web advertising, typically on the homepage of a website and priced so that only big name companies/products use them.

Associated term(s): Behavioral Advertising, Contextual Advertising, Demographic Advertising, Psychographic Advertising, Remnant Advertising

Behavioral Advertising

Advertising that is targeted at individuals based on the observation of their behaviour over time. Most often done via automated processing of personal data, or profiling, the General Data Protection Regulation requires that data subjects be able to opt-out of any automated processing, to be informed of the logic involved in any automatic personal data processing and, at least when based on profiling, be informed of the consequences of such processing. If cookies are used to store or access information for the purposes of behavioral advertising, the ePrivacy Directive requires that data subjects provide consent for the placement of such cookies, after having been provided with clear and comprehensive information.

Acronym(s): OBA

Associated term(s): Online Behavioral Advertising, Behavioral Targeting, Contextual Advertising, Demographic Advertising, Premium Advertising, Psychographic Advertising, Remnant Advertising

AdChoices

A program run by the Digital Advertising Alliance to promote awareness and choice in advertising for internet users. Websites with ads from participating DAA members will have an AdChoices icon near advertisements or at the bottom of their pages. By clicking on the Adchoices icon, users may set preferences for behavioral advertising on that website or with DAA members generally across the web.

Psychographic Advertising

Based on a user’s interest as accounted for by their preferences online. Different from behavioral because it simply accounts for known preferences rather than taking into account different interactions with web pages and advertisements.

Associated term(s): Behavioral Advertising, Contextual Advertising, Demographic Advertising, Premium Advertising, Remnant Advertising

Remnant Advertising

The most basic, stripped down form of web advertising that occurs when no data about the user or webpage is available. Advertising of this sort has no personalization.

Associated term(s): Behavioral Advertising, Contextual Advertising, Demographic Advertising, Psychographic Advertising, Premium Advertising

Web Beacon

Also known as a web bug, pixel tag or clear GIF, a web beacon is a clear graphic image (typically one pixel in size) that is delivered through a web browser or HTML e-mail. The web beacon operates as a tag that records an end user’s visit to a particular web page or viewing of a particular email. It is also often used in conjunction with a web cookie and provided as part of a third-party tracking service. Web beacons provide an ability to produce specific profiles of user behavior in combination with web server logs. Common usage scenarios for web beacons include online ad impression counting, file download monitoring, and ad campaign performance management. Web beacons also can report to the sender about which e-mails are read by recipients. Privacy considerations for web beacons are similar to those for cookies. Some sort of notice is important because the clear pixel of a web beacon is quite literally invisible to the end user.

Associated term(s): Web Bug, Pixel Tag, Tracking Bug, Clear GIF