A
ASL: The term ‘ASL” is a shorthand acroynym used in instant messaging, text messaging or Internet Relay Chat (IRC). It stands for “age, sex, location” and is used to ask another person for these vital pieces of information to determine whether or not they are someone you wish to continue communicating with.
Active Scripting: Active Scripting is a term used to define the various script programs that can run within and work with HTML to interact with the user and create a dynamic web page. By itself, HTML is static and can simply present text and graphics. Using active scripting languages such as JavaScript or VBScript the developer can accomplish things like updating the date and time displayed on the page, popping information up in a separate window or creating scrolling text with important information to go across the screen.
ActiveX: ActiveX is a Microsoft creation designed to work in a similar manner to Sun Microsystem’s Java. The main goal is to create platform-independent programs that can be used over and over on different operating systems. ActiveX is a loose standards definition though and not a specific language. An ActiveX component or control can be run on any ActiveX compatible platform.
ActiveX defines the methods with which these COM objects and ActiveX controls interact with the system but it is not tied to a specific language. ActiveX controls and components can be created in various programming languages such as Visual C++, Visual Basic or even VBScript.
Annoyance: An annoyance is a piece of malware which leans more toward mischievous than malicious. These often come as email attachments from friends who think it will be funny to pull a prank on you. Executing files such as this, often leads to silly, but non-destructive, actions such as opening the CDROM drive on your computer or flipping the text on your screen backwards or upside down. Also Known As: joke, hoax
Antivirus Software: Antivirus software is a type of application you install to protect your system from viruses, worms and other malicious code. Most antivirus programs will monitor traffic while you surf the Web, scan incoming email and file attachments and periodically check all local files for the existence of any known malicious code. Also Known As: anti-virus software
Application Gateway: An application gateway is a type of firewall. All internal computers establish a connection with the proxy server. The proxy server performs all communications with the Internet. External computers only see the IP address of the proxy server and never communicate directly with the internal clients. The application gateway examines the packets more thoroughly than a circuit-level gateway when making forwarding decisions. It is considered more secure, but uses more memory and processor resources. Also Known As: Application Proxy, Application-Level Proxy
Authentication: One of the keys in determining if the message or file you are receiving is safe is to first authenticate that the person who sent it is who they say they are. Authentication is the process of determining the true identity of someone. Basic authentication is simply using a password to verify that you are who you say you are. There are also more complicated and more precise methods such as biometrics (fingerprints, retina scans).