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GLOSSARY

S-HTTP - SECURE HTTP
SAMBA
SCRIPT KIDDY
SSL - SECURE SOCKET LAYER
SENDMAIL
SPX - SEQUENCED PACKET EXCHANGE
SLIP
SLA - SERVICE LEVER AGREEMENT
SIP - SESSION INITIATION PROTOCOL
SMS - SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE
SS7 - SIGNALING SERVICE 7
SMTP - SIMPLE MAIL TRANSFER PROTOCOL
SNMP - SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL
SLAMMING
SOHO - SMALL OFFICE HOME OFFICE
SMARTPHONE
SMURFING
SNAIL MAIL
SNEAKERNET
SNIFFER
SNOOP SERVER
SNORT
SOCKS
SONET - SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL NETWORK
SPAM
SPOOF
STATELESS
STATIC
STATIC IP
STELTH
SUBNETWORK
SURF
SVC - SWITCHED VIRTUAL CIRCUIT


• S-HTTP, Secure HTTP, is an extension to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that allows the secure exchange of files on the World Wide Web. Each S-HTTP file is either encrypted, contains a digital certificate, or both. For a given document, S-HTTP is an alternative to another well-known security protocol, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). A major difference is that S-HTTP allows the client to send a certificate to authenticate the user whereas, using SSL, only the server can be authenticated. S-HTTP is more likely to be used in situations where the server represents a bank and requires authentication from the user that is more secure than a userid and password.
  

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• SAMBAis a popular freeware program that allows end users to access and use files, printers, and other commonly shared resources on a company's intranet or on the Internet. Samba is often referred to as a Network File System and can be installed on a variety of operating system platforms, including: Linux, most common UNIX platforms, OpenVMS, and OS/2.
  

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• SCRIPT KIDDY(sometimes spelled kiddie) is a derogative term, originated by the more sophisticated crackers of computer security systems, for the more immature, but unfortunately often just as dangerous exploiter of security lapses on the Internet. The typical script kiddy uses existing and frequently well-known and easy-to-find techniques and programs or scripts to search for and exploit weaknesses in other computers on the Internet - often randomly and with little regard or perhaps even understanding of the potentially harmful consequences. Hackers view script kiddies with alarm and contempt since they do nothing to advance the "art" of hacking but sometimes unleashing the wrath of authority on the entire hacker community.
  While a hacker will take pride in the quality of an attack - leaving no trace of an intrusion, for example - a script kiddy may aim at quantity, seeing the number of attacks that can be mounted as a way to obtain attention and notoriety. Script kiddies are sometimes portrayed in media as bored, lonely teenagers seeking recognition from their peers.
  

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• SSL, Secure Sockets Layer, is a commonly-used protocol for managing the security of a message transmission on the Internet. SSL has recently been succeeded by Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is based on SSL. SSL uses a program layer located between the Internet's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Transport Control Protocol (TCP) layers. SSL is included as part of both the Microsoft and Netscape browsers and most Web server products. Developed by Netscape, SSL also gained the support of Microsoft and other Internet client/server developers as well and became the de facto standard until evolving into Transport Layer Security. The "sockets" part of the term refers to the sockets method of passing data back and forth between a client and a server program in a network or between program layers in the same computer. SSL uses the public-and-private key encryption system from RSA, which also includes the use of a digital certificate.
  

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• SENDMAIL is the most popular UNIX-based implementation of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for transmitting e-mail. When a sendmail server receives e-mail, it attempts to deliver the mail to the intended recipient immediately and, if the recipient is not present, it queues messages for later delivery. However, because it does not provide a mailbox facility and for other reasons, other software such as a POP3 or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server are also needed. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide both an SMTP server (such as sendmail) and a POP or IMAP server.
  A commercial version of sendmail, called Sendmail, includes a POP3 server and other enhancements to the basic open source sendmail.
  

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• SPX, Sequenced Packet Exchange, is the protocol for handling packet sequencing in a Novell NetWare network. SPX prepares the sequence of packets that a message is divided into and manages the reassembly of received packets, confirming that all have been received and requesting retransmission when they haven't. SPX works directly with the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), which manages the forwarding of packets in the network.
  

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• SLIP is a TCP/IP protocol used for communication between two machines that are previously configured for communication with each other. For example, your Internet server provider may provide you with a SLIP connection so that the provider's server can respond to your requests, pass them on to the Internet, and forward your requested Internet responses back to you. Your dial-up connection to the server is typically on a slower serial line rather than on the parallel or multiplex lines such as a line of the network you are hooking up to.
  

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• SLA, Service Level Agreement, is a contract between a network service provider and a customer that specifies, usually in measurable terms, what services the network service provider will furnish. Many Internet service providers (ISP)s provide their customers with an SLA.
  

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• SIP, Session Initiation Protocol, is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard protocol for initiating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements such as video, voice, chat, gaming, and virtual reality.
  Like HTTP or SMTP, SIP works in the Application layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communications model. The Application layer is the level responsible for ensuring that communication is possible. SIP can establish multimedia sessions or Internet telephony calls, and modify, or terminate them. The protocol can also invite participants to unicast or multicast sessions that do not necessarily involve the initiator. Because the SIP supports name mapping and redirection services, it makes it possible for users to initiate and receive communications and services from any location, and for networks to identify the users whereever they are.
  

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• SMS, Short Message Service, is a service for sending messages of up to 160 characters (224 characters if using a 5-bit mode) to mobile phones that use Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication. GSM and SMS service is primarily available in Europe. SMS is similar to paging. However, SMS messages do not require the mobile phone to be active and within range and will be held for a number of days until the phone is active and within range. SMS messages are transmitted within the same cell or to anyone with roaming service capability. They can also be sent to digital phones from a Web site equipped with PC Link or from one digital phone to another.
  

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• SS7, Signaling System 7 is a system that puts the information required to set up and manage telephone calls in a separate network rather than within the same network that the telephone call is made on. Signaling information is in the form of digital packets. SS7 uses what is called out-of-band signaling, meaning that signaling (control) information travels on a separate, dedicated 56 or 64 Kbps channel rather than within the same channel as the telephone call. Historically, the signaling for a telephone call has used the same voice circuit that the telephone call traveled on (this is known as in-band signaling). Using SS7, telephone calls can be set up more efficiently and with greater security. Special services such as call forwarding and wireless roaming service are easier to add and manage. SS7 is now an international telecommunications standard.
  

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• SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending and receiving e-mail. However, since it's limited in its ability to queue messages at the receiving end, it's usually used with one of two other protocols, POP3 or Internet Message Access Protocol , that let the user save messages in a server mailbox and download them periodically from the server. In other words, users typically use a program that uses SMTP for sending e-mail and either POP3 or IMAP for receiving messages that have been received for them at their local server. Most mail programs such as Eudora let you specify both an SMTP server and a POP server. On UNIX-based systems, sendmail is the most widely-used SMTP server for e-mail.
  SMTP usually is implemented to operate over Transmission Control Protocol port 25.
  

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• SNMP, Simple Network Management Protocol is the protocol governing network management and the monitoring of network devices and their functions. It is not necessarily limited to TCP/IP networks.
  

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• SLAMMING is the practice by some U.S. long-distance phone carriers of switching users to their service without the user's knowledge or authorization. Southwestern Bell, a local carrier, reports that they received calls about slamming from 558,000 customers in 1997. Slamming methods include "free trials" and offers for credit cards that offer prize or give-away points for each dollar of charges from a given carrier. Phone solicitors often get "approval" from children, baby-sitters, and domestic employees. Occasionally, your carrier may be switched if your current carrier has been sold to another company. If your carrier is switched, there may be a $5-6 switching charge on your bill. Unless you agreed to the switch, you do not have to pay the charge.
  You can find out who your current long-distance carrier is by calling 700-555-4141, toll-free.
  

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• SOHO is a term for the Small Office or Home Office environment and business culture. A number of organizations, businesses, and publications now exist to support people who work or have businesses in this environment. The term "virtual office" is sometimes used as a synonym.
  

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• SMARTPHONE is sometimes used to characterize a wireless telephone set with special computer-enabled features not previously associated with telephones.
  

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• SMURFING is the attacking of a network by exploiting Internet Protocol (IP) broadcast addressing and certain other aspects of Internet operation. Smurfing uses a program called Smurf and similar programs to cause the attacked part of a network to become inoperable. The exploit of smurfing, as it has come to be known, takes advantage of certain known characteristics of the Internet Protocol (IP) and the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). The ICMP is used by network nodes and their administrators to exchange information about the state of the network. ICMP can be used to ping other nodes to see if they are operational. An operational node returns an echo message in response to a ping message.
  A smurf program builds a network packet that appears to originate from another address (this is known as spoofing an IP address). The packet contains an ICMP ping message that is addressed to an IP broadcast address, meaning all IP addresses in a given network. The echo responses to the ping message are sent back to the "victim" address. Enough pings and resultant echoes can flood the network making it unusable for real traffic.
  One way to defeat smurfing is to disable IP broadcast addressing at each network router since it is seldom used. This is one of several suggestions provided by the CERT Coordination Center.
  

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• SNAIL MAIL is a slang term for the regular postal service (for example, the U.S. Postal Service) with the implication that it is a lot slower than e-mail.
  

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• SNEAKERNET is a jargon term for the method of transmitting electronic information by personally carrying it from one place to another on floppy disk or other removable medium.
  

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• SNIFFER is a program that monitors and analyzes network traffic, detecting bottlenecks and problems. Using this information, a network manager can keep traffic flowing efficiently.
  A sniffer can also be used legitimately or illegitimately to capture data being transmitted on a network. A network router reads every packet of data passed to it, determining whether it is intended for a destination within the router's own network or whether it should be passed further along the Internet. A router with a sniffer, however, may be able to read the data in the packet as well as the source and destination addresses.
  

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• SNOOP SERVER is a server that uses a packet sniffer program to capture network traffic for analysis. Used to identify security risks and/or to monitor employees' activities (such as Web sites visited), a snoop program puts network interfaces into promiscuous mode. Promiscuous mode allows the system to access all the data in each network packet - instead of only routing-related information - including those packets intended for other computers. Packet data is typically captured to a file for later analysis and reporting. Any computer on a network can use a snoop program, although - at least for administrative purposes - they are most often installed on servers. Snooping is also a popular means of illicitly collecting network data; sometimes an administrative snoop server finds a previously undetected node operating for this purpose.
  

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• SNORT is an open source network intrusion detection system (NIDS) created by Norman Roesch. Snort is a packet sniffer that monitors network traffic in real time , scrutinizing each packet closely to detect a dangerous payload or suspicious anomalies.
  

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• SOCKS is a protocol that a proxy server server can use to accept requests from client users in a company's network so that it can forward them across the Internet. Socks uses sockets to represent and keep track of individual connections. The client side of Socks is built into certain Web browsers and the server side can be added to a proxy server.
  

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• SONET, Synchronous Optical Network is the American National Standards Institute standard for synchronous data transmission on optical media. The international equivalent of SONET is synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH). Together, they ensure standards so that digital networks can interconnect internationally and that existing conventional transmission systems can take advantage of optical media through tributary attachments.
  

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• SPAM is unsolicited e-mail on the Internet. From the sender's point-of-view, it's a form of bulk mail, often to a list culled from subscribers to a Usenet discussion group or obtained by companies that specialize in creating e-mail distribution lists. To the receiver, it usually seems like junk e-mail. It's generally equivalent to unsolicited phone marketing calls except that the user pays for part of the message since everyone shares the cost of maintaining the Internet.
  

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• SPOOF is to deceive for the purpose of gaining access to someone else's resources (for example, to fake an Internet address so that one looks like a certain kind of Internet user).
  

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• STATELESS means there is no record of previous interactions and each interaction request has to be handled based entirely on information that comes with it. Stateful and stateless are derived from the usage of state as a set of conditions at a moment in time. (Computers are inherently stateful in operation, so these terms are used in the context of a particular set of interactions, not of how computers work in general.)
  The Internet's basic protocol, the Internet Protocol (IP), is an example of a stateless interaction. Each packet travels entirely on its own without reference to any other packet. When you request a Web page from a Web site, the request travels in one or more packets, each independent of the other as far as the Internet Protocol program itself is concerned. (The upper layer Transmission Control Protocol - TCP - does relate packets to each other, but uses the information within the packet rather than some external information to do this.) The term connectionless is also used to describe communication in which a connection is made and terminated for each message that is sent. IP is connectionless as well as stateless.
  The Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), an application layer above TCP/IP, is also stateless. Each request from a user for a Web page or URL results in the requested pages being served, but without the Web (HTTP) server remembering the request later. In other words, there is no recorded continuity. Each communication is discrete and unrelated to those that precede or follow. In order to have stateful communication, a site developer must furnish a special program that the server can call that can record and retrieve state information. Web browsers such as Netscape Explorer and Microsoft Internet Explorer provide an area in their subdirectories where state information can be stored and accessed. The area and the information that Web browsers and server applications put in this area is called a cookie.
  

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• STATIC means stationary or fixed whereas dynamic means energetic, capable of action and/or change, or forceful. Both terms can be applied to a number of different types of things, such as programming languages (or components of programming languages), Web pages, and application programs
  

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• STATIC IP is a number (in the form of a dotted quad) that is assigned to a computer by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to be its permanent address on the Internet. Computers use IP addresses to locate and talk to each other on the Internet, much the same way people use phone numbers to locate and talk to one another on the telephone. When you want to visit cnsny.net, your computer asks a domain name system (DNS) server (think telephone information operator) for the correct dotted quad number (think phone number) for cnsny.net and your computer uses the answer it receives to connect to the cnsny.net server.
  

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• STELTH refers to an event, object, or file that evades methodical attempts to find it. In particular, the term applies to certain computer viruses, and to a state of affairs in which a computer or port is rendered invisible to hacking programs.
  

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• SUBNETWORK is a separately identifiable part of a larger network that typically represents a certain limited number of host computers, the hosts in a building or geographic area, or the hosts on an individual local area network. Companies often create subnetworks (sometimes called subnet) when setting up connection to the Internet as a way to manage the limited number of Internet Protocol addresses (IP address) that are available with Internet Protocol version 4.
  

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• SURF is to either explore a sequence of Web sites in a random, unplanned way, or simply use the Web to look for something in a questing way.
  

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• SVC, Switched Virtual Circuit is a temporary virtual circuit that is established and maintained only for the duration of a data transfer session. A permanent virtual circuit (PVC) is a continuously dedicated virtual circuit. A virtual circuit is one that appears to be a discrete, physical circuit available only to the user but that is actually a shared pool of circuit resources used to support multiple users as they require the connections. Switched virtual circuits are part of an X.25 network. Conceptually, they can also be implemented as part of a frame relay network.
  

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