Cybersecurity Glossary Explains Core Threats, Attack Techniques and Defenses

Summary

Huntress’s cybersecurity glossary explains attack methods, malware, identity security, data protection and security operations, including OAuth phishing, credential attacks and the roles of EDR, MDR and XDR.

Key points

• Credential stuffing reuses stolen username-password pairs, while password spraying tests a few common passwords across many accounts.
• Device code phishing tricks users into authorizing an attacker’s device through a genuine login page, potentially granting OAuth tokens despite MFA.
• Living-off-the-land attacks abuse trusted utilities, while malicious use of remote monitoring and management tools can blend into normal administration.
• EDR provides endpoint visibility and response; MDR adds managed human expertise; XDR correlates threat data across multiple security layers.
• Centralized logging and security telemetry support investigations, while threat hunting proactively searches for activity that existing controls may have missed.
• Defense in depth combines multiple security barriers, and separately stored backups support recovery after data loss.