Dictionary of Information Security

Introduction to Infosecspeak

Communities often define themselves by vocabulary that those

in the inner circle know, and those on the outside do not.

Security people do this as well, and sometimes more than most.

We are, after all, the professionally paranoid, and it is more

important to us than to most other groups to know who

belongs.

This linguistic identification can backfire. Law enforcement

personnel have a specific and distinctive vocabulary all their

own. I have been informed by a number of members of police

forces that police officers are very susceptible to social engi-

neering, or scams, due to this fact. If you know the language,

you must be “one of us.”

Understanding the language of the security community is

made more difficult because there are multiple ...