McAfee MIS09EMB3RAA User Guide - Page 243

Glossary 241 cookie A small text file used by many websites to store information about pages visited, stored on the computer of a person browsing the web. It might contain login or registration information, shopping cart information, or user preferences. Cookies are primarily used by websites to identify users who have previously registered on or visited the website; however, they can also be a source of information for hackers. D DAT Detection definition files, also called signature files, containing the definitions that identify, detect, and repair viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and other potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). denial-of-service (DOS) attack A type of attack against a computer, server or network that slows or halts traffic on a network. It occurs when a network is flooded with so many additional requests that regular traffic is slowed or completely interrupted. A denial-of-service attack overwhelms its target with false connection requests, so that the target ignores legitimate requests. dialers Software that redirects Internet connections to a party other than the user's default ISP (Internet service provider) to run up additional connection charges for a content provider, vendor, or other third party. dictionary attack A type of brute-force attack that uses common words to try to discover a password. DNS Domain Name System. A database system that translates an IP address, such as 11.2.3.44, into a domain name, such as www.mcafee.com. domain A local subnetwork or a descriptor for sites on the Internet. On a local area network (LAN), a domain is a subnetwork made up of client and server computers controlled by one security database. On the Internet, a domain is part of every web address. For example, in www.mcafee.com, mcafee is the domain. E email Electronic mail. Messages sent and received electronically, across a computer network. See also webmail (page 250). email client A program that you run on your computer to send and receive email (for example, Microsoft Outlook).