Common Cyber Terms
The terms in this section are commonly used in cyber intelligence, investigations, operations, security, and general technology discussions. These terms will probably be encountered in finished intelligence and reporting on election issues.
Attribution
A determination of the perpetrators and/or sponsors of a cyber operation.
Availability
A guarantee of reliable access to the information by authorized people.
Beaconing
A process through which a system or program sends a message announcing its presence
online. This term is typically used in a cyber threat context to indicate a compromised
system communicating with an actor’s command-and-control infrastructure to indicate its
availability.
Confidentiality
A set of rules that limits access to information.