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» New Report! How Human Behavior and Decision Making Expose Users to Phishing Attacks

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Adware: A computer program used to track users' online activities and deliver targeted pop-up ads to users. Bitcoins: Uninsured digital currency, also known as "cryptocurrency," which operates independently of central banks. It is used for peer-to-peer electronic transactions and transfers. Botnet: A collection of private computers that have been infected with malware and are being controlled by a cyber criminal without the owner being aware. Criminals will likely use botnets to send out spam messages, spread viruses, and commit fraud. Computer Worm: A malware that replicates itself over a computer network and usually performs malicious actions such as damaging data, or using up the computer's resources and possibly shutting the computer down. Denial-of-service (DoS): An attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services. Typically, a network server is bombarded with authentication requests; the attack overwhelms the resources of the target computers, causing them to deny server access to other computers making legitimate requests. Encryption: The process of encoding data or confidential information so that it is not easily understood by those who are not permitted access to it. Firewall: A computer security program that blocks incoming network traffic and screens for hackers, viruses and worms that try to reach your computer over the Internet. Users should make sure that firewalls are enabled on all their network devices. Keylogger: A type of spyware that records every keystroke of the user and reports this information back to its source. Malware: Short for "malicious software." It consists of viruses, worms, spyware, Trojan horses and botnets that become installed on computers, Internet of Things or mobile devices without consent. Malware is often used to steal private information, send spam messages, and commit online fraud. Phishing: A type of cybercrime in which individuals deceive others by posing as legitimately established enterprises (your bank, government agencies, the FBI, employer) as to steal users' valuable personal information, such as account data and credit card information. Proxy Server: A proxy server is an intermediary between your PC or device and the Internet. This server makes requests to websites, servers and services on the Internet for you. Cyber criminals use proxies to route their communications through several different locations or even countries. Because of this, it can be quite an exhausting challenge to track down cyber criminals. Ransomware: A type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system. This type of malware forces its victims to pay the ransom through certain online payment methods in order to grant access to their systems, or to get their data back. Spyware: A type of malware that is self-installed on a computer and can be used to collect personal information about users without their knowledge.