P equals NP
Polynomial (P) equals nondeterministic polynomial(NP) question asks: if positive solutions to a YES/NO problem can be verified quickly, can the answers also be computed quickly? In information security, an "P and NP" problem defies any brute-force approach at solution, because finding the correct solution would take trillions of years or longer even if all the supercomputers in the world were put to the task. Some mathematicians believe that this obstacle can be surmounted by building a computer capable of trying every possible solution to a problem simultaneously. This hypothesis is called P equals NP, in information security.

P versus NP
P versus NP (polynomial versus nondeterministic polynomial) refers to a theoretical question presented in 1971 by Leonid Levin and Stephen Cook, concerning mathematical problems that are easy to solve (P type) as opposed to problems that are difficult to solve (NP type).

P3P: Platform for Privacy Preferences Project
The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) is an industry standard that enables web sites to express their privacy practices in a standardized format that can be automatically retrieved and interpreted by user agents. With P3P, users need not read the privacy policies at every site they visit; instead, key information about what data is collected by a web site can be automatically conveyed to a user, and discrepencies between a site's practices and the user's preferences can be automatically flagged.

Packet Filtering
Packet Filtering is the process a piece of software or device takes to selectively control the flow of data to and from a network. Packet filters allow or block packets, usually while routing them from one network to another. Packet filtering is one technique, among many, for implementing security firewalls.

Packet Monkey
On the Internet, a packet monkey is someone (see cracker, hacker, and script kiddy) who intentionally inundates a Web site or network with data packets, resulting in a denial-of-service situation for users of the attacked site or network. Packet monkeys typically use tools created and made available on the Internet by hackers.

Packet Sniffing
Packet sniffing is a form of wiretap applied to computer networks instead of phone networks. It came into vogue with Ethernet, which is known as a "shared medium" network. This means that traffic on a segment passes by all hosts attached to that segment. Ethernet cards have a filter that prevents the host machine from seeing traffic addressed to other stations. Sniffing programs turn off the filter, and thus see everyone's traffic.

Packet modification
Packet modification refers to modifying information stored in network packets.

Packet replay
Packet replay refers to capturing and then resending packets on a network, with or wihout packet modification.

Padding
Padding is a technique used in cryptography for simplifying the operation of encryption algorithms.

PAE: Port Access Entity
A port access entity (PAE), also known as a LAN port, is a logical entity that supports the IEEE 802.1X protocol. A LAN port can adopt the role of authenticator, supplicant, or both.

Palladium
Palladium is a plan from Intel, AMD, and Microsoft to build security into personal computers and servers at the microprocessor level. Assuming that enough users buy computers with Palladium capabilities, each user may now, for the first time, be able to effectively filter out spam, ensure that only authorized programs can ever be run by the computer, and encrypt the data in your computer so that it can't be meaningfully read or altered by anyone else.

PAM: Pluggable authentication module
Pluggable authentication module(PAM) is a UNIX programming model for extensible authentication architecture.

PAP: Password Authentication Protocol
The Password Authentication Protocol (PAP), a Link Control Protocol in the PPP suite, provides a simple method for the peer to establish its identity using a 2-way handshake. This is done only upon initial link establishment. Unlike CHAP, PAP passes the password and the host name or username in the clear (unencrypted). PAP does not itself prevent unauthorized access but merely identifies the remote end. The router or access server then determines whether that user is allowed access.

Parking lot attack
Parking lot attack, also known as wardriving, is a technique for finding poorly secured wireless networks to launch attacks.

Paros Proxy
Paros Proxy is a free tool in Java to evaluate the security of web applications. Through Paros's proxy nature, all HTTP and HTTPS data between server and client, including cookies and form fields, can be intercepted and modified.

Pass Phrase or Passphrase
A passphrase is a string of characters longer than the usual password that is used in creating a digital signature or in an encryption or a decryption of a message. The passphrase represents a long, but easy to remember password. Some WiFi home networking equipment utilizes passphrases to generate static WEP keys. Rather than create the long hexadecimal numbers WEP requires, an administrator may instead enter a passphrase into the setup screens of wireless routers and network adapters. That setup software then automatically sets the appropriate WEP key based on the passphrase provided.

Passfilt.dll
Passfilt.dll is a library used for enhancing password security on systems running on the Microsoft Windows NT platform.

Passive attack
Passive attack refers to any form of attack that does not modify network traffic.

Passive FTP
Passive FTP is a more secure form of data transfer in which the flow of data is set up and initiated by the File Transfer Program (FTP) client rather than by the FTP server program. Separate FTP client programs, such as WS_FTP Pro, usually allow the user to select passive FTP.

Password
A password is an unspaced sequence of characters used to determine that a computer user requesting access to a computer system is really that particular user.

Password Aging
Password aging is the process of forcing a user to change his or her password after, or for, a specified period of time.

Password Attack
A password attack is indicated by a series of failed logins within a short period of time by an attacker. Typically a user will get a note on screen regarding how many failed attempts have been at your account: If there is a series of failed attempts that you do not remember then it is quite probable that the attacker successfully reached your account. In the event of this happening, you should immediately change your password.

Password Chaos
Password chaos, also called identity chaos, refers to a situation in which users have multiple identities and passwords across a variety of networks, applications, computers and/or computing devices. To further complicate matters, each of the user's passwords may be subject to different rules, allow access at different security levels, and expire on different dates. Such a situation can lead to security risks.

Password Cracker
A password cracker is an application program that is used to identify an unknown or forgotten password to a computer or network resources. It can also be used to help a human cracker obtain unauthorized access to resources.

Password Cracking
Password cracking is the process of attempting to guess passwords, given the password file information.

Password Sniffing
Password Sniffing refers to gather passwords and user information using sniffing tools.

Password Synchronization
Password synchronization is an authentication process that coordinates user passwords across various computers and computing devices so a user only has to remember a single password instead of multiple passwords for different machines or devices. Some versions of password synchronization, such as single signon, also enable password coordination across applications.

Password grinding
Password grinding refers to manually trying to guess passwords for an application, system, or network.

Password hash
Password hash indicates to store passwords in encrypted form.

Password policy
Password policy is a policy enforced by an operating system regarding attributes of passwords for user accounts. For example, the passwords must be a combination of numerical numbers and letters with a minimum length of 8 digits.

Password recovery
Password recovery, also known as password cracking, refers to guessing the password for an application or system until the right one is found. The phrase is usually used in the context of legitimate activity.

Password shadowing
Password shadowing is a technique used on UNIX platforms for hiding the location of passwords.

Password-Based Crystography Standard
Password-based crystography standard is a Public-Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS) that defines a method for encrypting a string with a secret key that is derived from a passowrd.

PASV FTP: Passive FTP
PASV FTP, also called Passive FTP, is a more secure form of data transfer in which the flow of data is set up and initiated by the File Transfer Program (FTP) client rather than by the FTP server program. Separate FTP client programs, such as WS_FTP Pro, usually allow the user to select passive FTP.

Patch
A patch, so called a service patch or software pacth, refers to a fix to a program bug. A patch is an actual piece of object code that is inserted into (patched into) an executable program. Patches typically are available as downloads over the Internet.

Patching
Patching is the process of updating software to a different version.

Path Discovery
For a digital certificate, path discovery is the process of finding a set of public-key certificates that comprise a certification path from a trusted key to that specific certificate.

Path Validation
Path Validation is the process of validating: (a) all the digital certificates in a certification path and (b) the required relationships between those certificates, thus validating the contents of the last certificate on the path.

PBE: Password-based encryption
Password-based encryption(PBE) is a method for generating a cryptographic key from a password.

PCBC: Plaintext cipher block chaining
Plaintext cipher block chaining (PCBC) is a block cipher used in Kerberos authentication.

PCT: Private Communication Technology
Private Communication Technology (PCT) is a security protocol developed by Microsoft for private communications over the Internet.

PEAP: Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol(PEAP), a protocol developed by Microsoft, Cisco and RSA Security as an open standard, is used to authenticate wireless LAN clients without requiring them to have certificates. PEAP is a method to securely transmit authentication information, including passwords, over wireless networks. PEAP utilizes Transport Layer Security (TLS) to set up an end-to-end tunnel to transfer the user's credentials without having to use a certificate on the client. PEAP uses only server-side public key certificates to authenticate clients by creating an encrypted SSL/TLS tunnel between the client and the authentication server, which protects the ensuing exchange of authentication information from casual inspection.

Peer
In the context of Ipsec, a Peer is a network endpoint device such as a PC or a router that participates as an endpoint in IPSec and IKE.

PEM: Privacy Enhanced Mail
Privacy enhanced mail(PEM) is the Internet e-mail that provides confidentiality, authentication, and message integrity using various encryption methods, and is not widely deployed in the Internet.

Penet remailer
Penet remailer (anon.penet.fi) was a pseudonymous remailer (type 0) operated by Johan "Julf" Helsingius of Finland from 1993 to 1996. Its initial creation was stemmed from an argument in a Finnish newsgroup over whether people should be required to tie their real name to their online communications.

Penetration
Penetration indicates gaining unauthorized logical access to sensitive data by circumventing a system's protections.

Penetration Testing
A penetration test is the process of actively evaluating your information security measures. There are a number of ways that this can be undertaken, but the most common procedure is that the security measures are actively analysed for design weaknesses, technical flaws and vulnerabilities; the results are then delivered comprehensively in a report, to Executive, Management and Technical audiences.

Perimeter network
Perimeter network, also known as demilitarized zone (DMZ), refers to an isolated network segment at the point where a corporate network meets the Internet.

Permissions
Permissions in a computer or network system refer to the rules governing how objects such as files and systems can be accessed.

Perl: Practical Extraction and Reporting Language
Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language) is a script programming language that is similar in syntax to the C language and that includes a number of popular Unix facilities such as sed, awk, and tr.

Permutation
Permutation keeps the same letters but changes the position within a text to scramble the message.

Personal Firewalls
Personal Firewalls are those firewalls that are installed and run on individual PCs. A personal firewall differs from a conventional firewall in that there is no hardware separation between the firewall software on the user's PC and the user's application software. A personal firewall will not usually protect any more than the PC it is connected to, unless other PCs are sharing Internet connectivity via the protected PC.

Personal data
Personal data, also called personally identifiable information (PII) or personal profile or personal information, refers to information regarding the identity of a person.

Personal information
Personal information, also called personally identifiable information (PII) or personal profile or personal data, refers to information regarding the identity of a person.

PFS: Perfect Forward Secrecy or Public-Key Forward Secrecy
In an authenticated key agreement protocol that uses public key cryptography, perfect forward secrecy (or PFS), also known as Public-Key Forward Secrecy, is the property that disclosure of the long-term secret keying material that is used to derive an agreed ephemeral key does not compromise the secrecy of agreed keys from earlier runs.

PGP: Pretty Good Privacy
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is a computer program (and related protocols), published and supported by PGP Corporation, that uses cryptography to provide data security for electronic mail and other applications on the Internet.

Phisher
Phishers use any number of different social engineering and e-mail spoofing ploys to try to trick their victims.

Phishing
Phishing, also called carding or brand spoofing or fishing, is a scam where the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking e-mails appearing to come from some of the Web's biggest sites, in an effort to phish for personal and financial information from the recipient.

Phrack
Phrack, one of the oldest online hacking magazines, address topics of security, hacking, phreaking, anarchism, cryptography, spying, radio broadcasting, coding, conspiracy, and world news.

Phreak
A phreak is someone who breaks into the telephone network illegally, typically to make free long-distance phone calls or to tap phone lines. The term is now sometimes used to include anyone who breaks or tries to break the security of any network.

Phreaking
Phreaking, a portmanteau of the words "phone" and "freak", refers to the attacking and cracking of telephone and telecommunications networks. It may also refer to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system.

Phrozen Crew
The Phrozen Crew is a group of computer software crackers, which was founded in 1993 by a member using the pseudonym Aphex Twin. Along the way, Aphex recruited a hacker by the name of The Keyboard Caper (tKC), later responsible for PC's infamy. PC came across a situation familiar to most software hacking groups — numbers dwindling as members left the group. tKC decided it would be worthwhile revinvigorating the group, creating the modern Phrozen Crew.

Physical security
Physical security describes measures that prevent or deter attackers from accessing a facility, resource, or information stored on physical media by physically isolating and protecting them. It can be as simple as a locked door or as elaborate as multiple layers of armed guardposts.

PIC: Pre-IKE Credential Provisioning Protocol
Pre-IKE Credential (PIC) Provisioning Protocol is a proposed replacement for the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol. PIC presents a method to bootstrap IPSec authentication via an "Authentication Server" (AS) and legacy user authentication (e.g., RADIUS). The client machine communicates with the AS using a key exchange protocol where only the server is authenticated, and the derived keys are used to protect the legacy user authentication. Once the user is authenticated, the client machine obtains credentials from the AS that can be later used to authenticate the client in a standard IKE exchange with an IPSec-enabled security gateway. The later stage does not require user intervention. The proposed server-authenticated key exchange uses an ISAKMP-based protocol, similar to a simplified IKE exchange, and arbitrary legacy authentication is supported via the use of the EAP protocol.

PID: Personal identification device
Personal identification device (PID) is a device used to establish a person’s identity.

PIESS: Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard
Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard is a Public-Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS) that specifies a portable format for storing or transporting a user's private keys and certificates. Portable formats include diskettes, smart cards and PCMCIA cards.

Piggyback Attack
Piggyback Attack, sometimes called a "between-the-lines" attack, is a form of active wiretapping in which the attacker gains access to a system via intervals of inactivity in another user's legitimate communication connection.

PII: Personally identifiable information
Personally identifiable information (PII), also called personal information or personal profile or personal data, refers to information regarding the identity of a person.

Pilfering
Pilfering refers to the situation of grabbing as much information as possible after compromising a system or network.

PIN: Personal identification number
Personal identification number (PIN) is a unique identifier used together with a personal identification device (PID).

Ping Flood
Ping flood is that a broadcast storm of pings overwhelms the target system so it can't respond to legitimate traffic.

Ping of Death
Ping of Death is an attack that sends an improperly large ICMP echo request packet (a "ping") with the intent of overflowing the input buffers of the destination machine and causing it to crash. Technically speaking, the Ping of Death attack involves sending IP packets of a size greater than 65,535 bytes to the target computer. IP packets of this size are illegal, but applications can be built that are capable of creating them. Carefully programmed operating systems could detect and safely handle illegal IP packets, but some fail to do this. ICMP ping utilities often include large-packet capability and become the namesake of the problem, although UDP and other IP-based protocols also could transport Ping of Death.

Ping Scan
A ping scan looks for machines that are responding to ICMP Echo Requests.

Ping Sweep
Ping Sweep, also known as ICMP sweep, is an attack that sends ICMP echo requests ("pings") to a range of IP addresses, with the goal of finding hosts that can be probed for vulnerabilities.

PING: Packet Internet Gopher
Packet Internet Gopher (PING) is a TCP/IP utility that is used to test the 'reachability' of destinations by sending them an ICMP echo request (PING) and waiting for a reply (PONG). To 'ping' a website is to use the utility to see whether that site is currently up; that is, connected to the Internet.

Piracy
Software piracy refers to the illegal copying, distribution, or use of software.

PKCS #7
PKCS #7 is a specification for cryptographic message syntax. PKCS #7 is used to sign and/or encrypt messages under a PKI. It is also used for certificate dissemination (for instance as a response to a PKCS#10 message). PKCS #7 formed the basis for S/MIME, an updated Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard (CMS).

PKCS: Public-Key Cryptography Standards
The Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) are specifications produced by RSA Laboratories in cooperation with secure systems developers worldwide. The PKCS documents have been widely implemented and contributions from the PKCS series have become part of many formal and de facto standards, including ANSI X9 documents, PKIX, SET, S/MIME, and SSL.

PKI: Public Key Infrastructure
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a system based on the Public Key Cryptography concepts to provide public key creation and management for users to encrypt data and exchange keys effectively. PKI architecture is defined by the Internet standard groups and US National Institute of Standards (NIST). PKI enables users of a basically unsecure public network such as the Internet to securely and privately exchange data and money through the use of a public and a private cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted authority.

PKINIT
PKINIT is an extension to Kerberos that adds public key cryptography.

PKISS: Private-key Information Syntax Standard
PKISS (Private-key Information Syntax Standard) is a Public-Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS) that describes a method of communication for private-key information that includes the use of public-key algorithms and aditional attributes, which can be a distinguished name or a root CA's public key.

PKIX: Public-Key Infrastructure X.509 Group
Public-Key Infrastructure X.509 group (PKIX) is an IETF working group that is specifying an architecture and set of protocols needed to support an X.509-based PKI for the Internet. PKIX is charted to creating RFCs and other standards documentations on issues related to public key infrastructure (PKI) based on X.509 certificates.

Plaintext (Plain text)
Plaintext, also called cleartext, is the ordinary readable text before being encrypted into ciphertext or after being decrypted.

Playback
Playback, also known as packet replay, refers to capturing and resending packets on a network.

Poison Reverse
Split horizon with poisoned reverse (more simply, poison reverse) does include such routes in updates, but sets their metrics to infinity. In effect, advertising the fact that there routes are not reachable.

Policy-Based Management
Policy-based management is an administrative approach that is used to simplify the management of a given endeavor by establishing policies to deal with situations that are likely to occur. Policies are operating rules that can be referred to as a means of maintaining order, security, consistency, or other ways of successfully furthering a goal or mission. For example, a town council might have in place a policy against hiring the relatives of council members for civic positions.

Polyinstantiation
Polyinstantiation is the ability of a database to maintain multiple records with the same key. It is used to prevent inference attacks.

Polymorphic Virus
A polymorphic virus attempts to evade all but the most advanced scanners by changing itself each time it creates a new copy. It does this by using different machine code commands which accomplish the same thing, or by re-arranging the order of the commands.

Polymorphism
Polymorphism is the process by which malicious software changes its underlying code to avoid detection.

Port Based Access Control
Port based access control is a type of authentication technology that verifies port of devices instead of user information to grant permit for access. 802.11x used in LAN and WLAN is a port based network access control technology.

Port Mirroring
Port mirroring, also known as port spanning or port monitoring function, is a function in many managed switches that is used on a network switch to send a copy of all network packets seen on one switch port to a monitoring network connection on another switch port. This is commonly used for network appliances that require monitoring of network traffic, such as an intrusion-detection system. A network administrator uses port mirroring as a diagnostic tool or debugging feature, especially when fending off an attack.

Port Scan
A port scan is a series of messages sent by someone attempting to break into a computer to learn which computer network services, each associated with a "well-known" port number, the computer provides. Port scanning, a favorite approach of computer cracker, gives the assailant an idea where to probe for weaknesses. Essentially, a port scan consists of sending a message to each port, one at a time. The kind of response received indicates whether the port is used and can therefore be probed for weakness.

Port Scan Attack
Port Scan attack refers to scan TCP/UDP ports to discover services they can break into. All machines connected to a LAN or connected to Internet via a modem run many services that listen at well-known and not so well-known ports. By port scanning the attacker finds which ports are available (i.e., being listened to by a service). Essentially, a port scan consists of sending a message to each port, one at a time. The kind of response received indicates whether the port is used and can therefore be probed further for weakness.

Port Scanner
A port scanner is a piece of software designed to search a network host for open ports. This is often used by administrators to check the security of their networks and by hackers to compromise it.

Port flooding
Port flooding refers to sending large numbers of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets to a particular port, which may cause denial of service (DoS) for this port and the whole switch/router.

Port forwarding
Port forwarding, sometimes referred to as tunneling, is a method used by Secure Shell (SSH) for secure communications over the network. Port forwarding is the act of forwarding a network port from one network node to another, which enables an external user to reach a port on a private IP address (inside a LAN) from the outside via a NAT-enabled router.

Port redirection
Port redirection is a feature in many firewalls in order to allow outside users to connect to a particular IP address/port and have the firewall redirect the traffic to the appropriate inside server/port. Port redirection could be a method used by attackers for circumventing firewall security.

Port scanning
Port scanning refers to a method for determining which TCP/UDP ports are “listening” (open) on a target system or network. Port scanning tools simply send out a request to connect to the target computer on each port sequentially and makes a note of which ports responded or seem open to more in-depth probing. Port scanning maybe done with malicious intent by an intruder and attacker.

PPTP: Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), defined originally by Microsoft, is a protocol that allows corporations to extend their corporate network through private "tunnels" over the public Internet. This technology, known as a virtual private network (VPN), enables a company not to lease private lines but to use the public networks for wide-area communication securely. PPTP is replaced by an IETF standard called Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP).

Preshared Key
Preshared Key is the shared secret key that is used during IKE authentication.

Preamble
A preamble is a signal used in network communications to synchronize the transmission timing between two or more systems. Proper timing ensures that all systems are interpreting the start of the information transfer correctly. A preamble defines a specific series of transmission pulses that is understood by communicating systems to mean "someone is about to transmit data".

Presence Technology
Presence technology is a type of application that makes it possible to locate and identify a computing device (including, for example, handheld computers as well as desktop models) wherever it might be, as soon as the user connects to the network. One application of presence technology, instant messaging (IM), is already very popular. Presence technology is expected to be an integral part of third generation (3G) wireless networks, and is likely to be employed across a wide variety of communication devices, including cellphones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), television sets, and pagers.

Privacy of Information or Data
Privacy of information can be divided into these area: what personal information can be shared with whom; whether messages can be exchanged without anyone else seeing them ;whether and how one can send messages anonymously.

Privacy
Privacy of information can be divided into these area: what personal information can be shared with whom; whether messages can be exchanged without anyone else seeing them ;whether and how one can send messages anonymously.

Privacy policy
Privacy policy, or information privacy policy, is a policy that outlines the requirements an organization follows for complying with privacy regulations and directives.

Privacy statement
Privacy statement refers to a document summarizing the privacy policy of an organization that is published in a format and location that allows users to access it easily.

Private IP Address
Private IP addresses, also often called RFC1918 addresses, are the IP addresses set aside by IANA according to IETF RFC 1918 for private use by companies and organizations in their private network. Private IP Addresses cannot be used to connect directly to the Internet because they are non-routable. On the other hand, the public IP addresses are typically owned, either by very large corporations or by ISPs for public to use for routing across any public network such as the Internet. When a user contracts for service from an ISP, the user is allocated to some number of legitimate IP Addresses out of that ISPs pool of public IP addresses. IANA has set aside three address ranges for use by private or non-Internet connected networks. This is referred to as Private Address Space with the reserved address blocks as: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix) 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix) 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix).

Private Addressing
Private Address refers to th IP address that set aside by IANA for private use. IANA has set aside three address ranges for use by private or non-Internet connected networks. This is referred to as Private Address Space with the reserved address blocks are: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix) 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix) 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

Private Key
In cryptography, a private or secret key is an encryption/decryption key known only to the party or parties that exchange secret messages. In the secret key cryptography, a key would be shared by the communicators so that each could encrypt and decrypt messages. The risk in this system is that if either party loses the key or it is stolen, the system is broken.

Private key encryption
Private key encryption is a term sometimes used to represent symmetric (or secret) key encryption, although this is actually a misnomer since private keys are part of public key cryptography systems.

Privilege of User
In the administration of a multi-user computer system, a privilege or user privilege is an identified right that a particular user has to a particular system resource, such as a file folder, the use of certain system commands, or an amount of storage. Generally, a system administrator or, in the case of network resources such as access to a particular device, a network administrator assigns privileges to users. System software then automatically enforces these privileges.

Privilege escalation
Privilege escalation, also known as elevation of privileges (EoP), is a method used by attackers to gain control of a system or network. Privilege escalation is the act of exploiting a bug in an application to gain access to resources which normally would have been protected from an application or user. The result is that the application performs actions with a higher security context than intended by the application developer or system administrator.

Privileges
Privileges refer to a set of rules and rights governing what tasks a user can perform on a system.

PRN: Pseudo Random Number
Pseudo Random Number (PRN) is a number which appears to be truly random but is not due to the means used to generate the number. Pseudorandom sequences typically exhibit statistical randomness while being generated by an entirely deterministic computational process. The random number generation functions provided in many software packages are typically pseudorandom.

PRNG: Pseudo Random Number Generator
Pseudo Random Number Generator(PRNG) is a software that generates a so called Random Number based on some algorithm. Actually it is not a real random number but a Pseudo Random Number. Ultimately Pseudo Random Number remains predictable to one degree or another. And the random number generator is a pseudo random number generator.

Probe
Probe in network security is an intrusive analysis technique that uses the information obtained during scanning to more fully interrogate each network device. The probe uses well known exploitation techniques to fully confirm each suspected vulnerability as well as to detect any vulnerabilities that cannot be found using non-intrusive techniques.

Process table attack
Process table attack is a type of denial of service (DoS) attack against UNIX systems. The attack is launched against network services which fork or otherwise allocate a new process for each incoming TCP/IP connection. Although the standard UNIX operating system places limits on the number of processes that any user may launch, there are no limits on the number of processes that the superuser can create other than the hard limits imposed by the operating system. Since incoming TCP/IP connections are usually handled by servers that run as root, it is possible to completely fill a target machine's process table with multiple instantiations of network servers. Properly executed, this attack prevents any other command from being executed on the target machine.

Profile of User
In a Windows environment, a user profile is a record of user-specific data that defines the user's working environment. The record can include display settings, application settings, and network connections. What the user sees on his or her computer screen, as well as what files, applications and directories they have access to, is determined by how the network administrator has set up the user's profile.

Program Infector
A program infector is a piece of malware that attaches itself to existing program files.

Program Policy
A program policy is a high-level policy that sets the overall tone of an organization's security approach.

Promiscuous Mode
Promiscuous Mode refers to a machine or software reading all packets off the network, regardless of who they are addressed to. This is used by network administrators to diagnose network problems, but also by un-authoized people who are trying to eavesdrop on network traffic (which might contain passwords and other sensitive information). A non-routing node in promiscuous mode can generally only monitor traffic to and from other nodes within the same collision domain (for Ethernet and Wireless LAN) or ring (for Token Ring or FDDI), which is why network switches are used to combat malicious use of promiscuous mode.

Proprietary Information
Proprietary information is the information unique to a company and its ability to compete, such as customer lists, technical data, product costs, and trade secrets.

Protected Distribution System
Protected Distribution System is a wireline or fiber-optic system that includes sufficient safeguards (acoustic, electric, electromagnetic, and physical) to permit its use for unencrypted transmission of (cleartext) data.

Proxy
Proxy is a computer process that relays a protocol between client and server systems by appearing to be the client to the server, and appearing to be the server to the client.

Proxy ARP
Proxy ARP is a technique for using the ARP protocol to provide an ad hoc routing mechanism. Proxy ARP allows a host, usually a router, to answer ARP requests intended for another machine. By "faking" its identity, the router accepts responsibility for routing packets to the "real" destination. Proxy ARP can help machines on a subnet reach remote subnets without configuring routing or a default gateway.

Proxy Gateway
Proxy gateway is a system which passes on a request for a URL from a World-Wide Web browser such as Mosaic to an outside server and return the results. This provides clients that are sealed off from the Internet a trusted agent that can access the Internet on their behalf. Once the client is properly configured, its user should not be aware of the proxy gateway. A proxy gateway often runs on a firewall machine. Its main purpose is to act as a barrier to the threat of crackers. It may also be used to hide the IP addresses of the computers inside the firewall from the Internet if they do not use official registered network numbers.

Proxy Mode
Proxy Mode refers to a situation where a remote host can be assigned an IP address on the local network through its connection profile. Local hosts on the network see the remote host as if it were on the local network. When accesses are made to the remote host, the local host acts on behalf of the remote host and replies to requests and forwards packets.

Proxy Server
A proxy server, also called proxy, allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource either by connecting to the specified server or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes. Proxy server often acts as an intermediary between a workstation user and the Internet so that the enterprise can ensure security, administrative control, and caching service.

Proxy Service
Proxy service is a computer network service that allows clients to make indirect network connections to other network services. A client connects to the proxy server, then requests a connection, file, or other resource available on a different server. The proxy provides the resource either by connecting to the specified server or by serving it from a cache. In some cases, the proxy may alter the client's request or the server's response for various purposes.

Pseudo Random Number Generator
Pseudo Random Number Generator is a software that generate a so called Random Number based on some algorithm. Actually it is not a real random number but a Pseudo Random Number.Ultimately Pseudo Random Number remain predictable to one degree or another. And the random number generator is a pseudo random number generator.

Pseudonymous Profile
A pseudonymous profile is a collection of information about a particular computer user that identifies the user either by their computer's IP address or by a randomly-generated nickname. In general, a pseudonymous profile describes the particular interests, habits, and online activities that can be attributed to a specific user, or at least to a specific computer. Pseudonymous profiling is often used for Web site personalization, or for marketing purposes.

Pseudonymous remailer
Pseudonymous remailer, also known as nym server, as opposed to an anonymous remailer, is an Internet software program designed to allow people to write anonymous messages on Usenet newsgroups and send anonymous email under a pseudonym. Unlike a purely anonymous remailers, it assigns its users a user name, and it keeps a database of instructions on how to return messages to the real user. These instructions usually involve the anonymous remailer network itself, thus protecting the true identity of the user.

Public Key
Public Key is the publicly-disclosed component of a pair of cryptographic keys used for asymmetric cryptography. This key is used to confirm "signatures" on incoming messages or to encrypt a file or message so that only the holder of the private key can decrypt the file or message.

Public Key Cryptography
Public Key Cryptography is also known as asymmetric cryptography which is based on the mathematic scheme developed by Diffie and Hellman. Asymmetric cryptography uses different (but related) keys for encryption and decryption. It is also called public key cryptography because the encryption key is made public while the decryption key is kept private. The public key cryptography process allows any person to encrypt a message and send it to another person without prior key exchange.

Public Key Encryption
The popular synonym for "asymmetric cryptography". In the Public-key encryption process, there are two keys required for a person who need to exchange sensitive data document over Internet: a public key and a private key. Each public key is published, and the corresponding private key is kept secret. Data encrypted with your public key can be decrypted only with your private key.

Public-key Certificate
Public-key Certificate is a digital certificate that binds a system entity's identity to a public key value, and possibly to additional data items; a digitally signed data structure that attests to the ownership of a public key.

Publius Project
Publius Project is a system for anonymously publishing information on the World Wide Web. Publius is highly resistant to censorship and provides publishers with a high degree of anonymity. Publius was the pen name used by the authors of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

Pulist
Pulist is a utility for displaying running processes on machines running Microsoft Windows NT or later versions of the operating system.

Pulsing Zombie
A pulsing zombie is a computer whose security has been compromised by a cracker and it is used as a tool to launch denial-of-service attack on target computers in a network. Unlike a regular zombie, the pulsing zombie doesn't completely paralyze its targets, but merely weakens them, in what some call degradation-of-service attacks.

PUP: Potentially Unwanted Program
Potentially unwanted program(PUP) is a term used to describe unwanted programs such as Trojans, spyware and adware, along with other malware which may compromise your privacy. Some antivirus and PC security software packages will scan for and protect your system against PUPs. The term PUP was first used by persons at McAfee's Avert research lab to avoid any legal issues that may arise from calling these types of applications "spyware".

Pwdump
Pwdump is a utility for dumping passwords on machines running Microsoft Windows NT or later versions of the operating system.

PWL: Password List File
Password List File (PWL) is a file stored in your PC for Windows OS to check your password. It is not encrypted. In fact, your password is stored in a PWL file using a scrambling algorithm that makes the actual password invisible to a casual observer.