IR hardening acsc-glossary
3-2-1 backups
Three copies, two media, one off-site. Immutable or offline beats a snapshot the ransomware also encrypted.
Knowledge
AllIRacsc-glossaryau-compliancecloudconceptscryptodetectiondnsframeworkshardeningidentityloggingmalwarenetworkpractitionerprivacythreat-intelvulnerability
30 entries
crypto concepts hardening
AES
NIST block cipher. 128-bit blocks, keys of 128, 192, or 256 bits. The algorithm is solved. Mode and key handling are the work.
crypto concepts hardening
AES-GCM
AES in Galois/Counter Mode. Confidentiality plus an integrity tag. This is the AES you actually want.
network hardening acsc-glossary
Air gap
Physically isolated. No cable, no Wi-Fi, no 'just this jump host' to the internet. Removable media is still a path if you let it be.
detection hardening acsc-glossary
Antivirus
Software that looks for known-bad and obvious malice, then tries to stop and clean it. Necessary. Not sufficient.
concepts hardening acsc-glossary
Attack surface
Everything a hostile party can reach: apps, IT, OT, services. Bigger surface, more raffle tickets.
IR hardening acsc-glossary
Backup
A copy stored somewhere else so you can restore after loss. If ransomware can reach it with the same credentials, it is not a backup.
network hardening identity
Bastion host
Jump host. The one box allowed to administer the rest. Harden it like it holds the keys.
network dns hardening
CAA record
Which certificate authorities may issue for this domain. A DNS policy, not a certificate.
identity hardening acsc-glossary
DMARC, DKIM, and SPF
Three DNS records. Receivers use them together so your domain is harder to wear.
network dns hardening
DNSSEC
Signatures on DNS data. Authenticity and integrity of answers. Not a VPN. Not HTTPS.
detection hardening
Data loss prevention
DLP. Stop or log sensitive data leaving through the paths you actually instrumented. Policy plus telemetry, not a magic classifier.
identity hardening acsc-glossary
Default passwords
The password the vendor shipped. Fine for unboxing. Malpractice if it is still there at go-live.
hardening concepts acsc-glossary
Defence in depth
Stacked controls so one failure is not game over. Redundancy, not twelve dashboards of the same alert.
frameworks au-compliance hardening
Essential Eight
ASD's baseline of eight mitigation strategies. Maturity 0 to 3. The work is picking a level you can actually hold.
practitioner au-compliance hardening frameworks
Essential Eight evidence
How to show you actually did the Essential Eight. Scope, artefact, date, owner. Overall maturity is the weakest strategy, not the average.
network hardening acsc-glossary
Firewall
A filter on the way in and out, driven by rules. Default allow is a very expensive switch.
network hardening concepts
HTTP Strict Transport Security
A header that tells the browser: this host is HTTPS only, for a while. Preload is a one-way door.
identity hardening acsc-glossary
Least privilege
Only the access required, only for as long as required. Standing admin is standing blast radius.
crypto network identity hardening
Mutual TLS (mTLS)
TLS where both sides present a certificate. The server is not the only one who has to prove who they are.
identity hardening acsc-glossary
Need-to-know
Access only to the data the role actually requires. Broad file shares are a rumour mill with NTFS.
network hardening acsc-glossary
Network segmentation
Cut the network into smaller pieces. Segregation is the rule set between them. Flat is a gift.
identity acsc-glossary hardening
Password manager
Generates unique secrets and stores them in a vault. One strong unlock. Not a spreadsheet called passwords_final.
vulnerability hardening acsc-glossary
Patch
A vendor fix for a hole or a defect. Installing it is patching. Explaining why you did not is an exception with an expiry date.
identity hardening
Privileged access management
PAM the program: vault the admin passwords, broker the sessions, record them. Not the same as Linux PAM, the Unix login modules. People say both.
identity hardening acsc-glossary
Privileged user
Someone who can change or sidestep security controls. Developers who can bypass a guardrail count.
hardening detection acsc-glossary
Sandbox
A paddock for untrusted code. If it explodes, the paddock takes it. Production is not a paddock.
practitioner au-compliance hardening
Third-party and supply chain
You can outsource the work. You cannot outsource the risk. Cloud shared responsibility, IRAP evidence, and ISM procurement sit on the same desk as the incident.
vulnerability hardening acsc-glossary
Vulnerability management
Find, rank, fix, check. Known-exploited and exposure beat a 400-page scanner PDF.
network hardening detection
Web application firewall
WAF. A reverse proxy that tries to stop common web attacks before the app. Rules, not a rewrite of the application.
Definitions informed by ASD's ACSC glossary. cyber.gov.au glossary