Adware - Software installed on your computer that periodically shows you unwanted advertisements.

Cyber-criminal - A person who commits a crime on the Internet.

Cyber-crime - Crime committed on the Internet.

DNS - The abbreviation for "Domain Name System." It's the system that allows the name "www.usbank.com" to be translated into an IP address so that your Web browser can locate the server to request a Web page.

Firewall - A firewall is a software program or dedicated piece of hardware such as a router that prevents unwanted network connections from reaching your computer.

Identity theft - The crime of stealing the personal and/or financial information, such as name, social security number, or mother's maiden name from a person, with the intent to commit fraud.

IP Address - An IP address is the Internet equivalent of a street address and consists of four numbers separated by periods, such as "127.0.0.1". Each computer on the Internet must have an IP address in order for other computers to be able to find and communicate with it.

Keystroke logger - A keystroke logger is an application that runs silently in the background and records the keys that are typed on a keyboard, such as usernames and passwords. The captured keystrokes can then be sent to a third party over the Internet.

Malware - This is a broad term used to describe any kind of software that does harmful things. Spyware, trojans and virii are all kinds of malware.

Online fraud - Fraud committed on the Internet.

Phishing - Traditionally consists of a spoofed email purportedly from a financial institution that attempts to trick the recipient into clicking a link to a spoofed Web site where they will be asked to give up their personal information.

Pharming- Using attacks designed to steal personal information that work without the knowledge of the person being attacked. Attacks that use DNS cache poisoning and screen grabbers are examples of pharming attacks.

Pop-ups / Pop-up blockers - Pop-ups are Web browser windows that open automatically and usually contain advertisements. Pop-up blockers intercept the calls that open up these windows and prevent them from opening. Most current Web browsers have pop-up blocking software built in.

Screen grabber - A screen grabber is a piece of software that takes a snapshot of the computer screen. The screen shots are then sent to a third party that can see usernames, passwords, and anything else that was visible on the screen when the picture was taken.

SMTP - The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the protocol used to send and receive email on the Internet.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) - SPF is the most popular of various proposals to prevent spoofed sender information in email.

Spoofed email - Email that's sent with illegitimate information. Usually the sender name and address purport to come from a false origination point.

Spyware / Anti-Spyware - Spyware is software that surreptitiously records information on your computer such as the keys you type and sends that information across the internet to someone else. Anti-spyware is software designed to locate and remove spyware from your computer.

SSL / SSL Certificate - Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a networking protocol designed to allow for transparent encrypted communications between two computers. It's based on asymmetric encryption. An SSL certificate provides a mechanism to both allow this encryption to work and as a means of verifying the holder of the certificate. When you see an "https://" in your address bar, your browser is using SSL to communicate with the Web server.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) - It's a low-level networking protocol that makes higher-level protocols such as email SMTP possible.

Trojan - A software program that appears to be one thing, such as a game, but contains additional, unadvertised software like a keystroke logger.

Virus / Anti-Virus - A virus is a software program that does damage to your computer such as erase the hard drive. The LoverLetter/ILUVYOU virus, which infected over 40 million computers worldwide in May 2000, is an example of a virus. Anti-virus software is designed to find and eliminate viruses.

Worm - A software program that automatically propagates throughout a collection of computers connected to a network, such as a company's Local Area Network (LAN) or the Internet. The CodeRed worm that automatically hacked into over 350,000 computers in July 2001 is an example of a worm.

Web browser - An application program, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, designed to display Web pages.