Glossary

Hacking of consumer electronics

The hacking of consumer electronics is an increasingly common practice which users perform in order to customize and modify their devices beyond what is typically possible.

Hardening

Hardening is the process of identifying and fixing vulnerabilities on a system.

Hash Function

An algorithm that computes a value based on a data object thereby mapping the data object to a smaller data object.

Hash Functions

(cryptographic) hash functions are used to generate a one way "check sum" for a larger text, which is not trivially reversed. The result of this hash function can be used to validate if a larger file has been altered, without having to compare the larger files to each other. Frequently used hash functions are MD5 and SHA1.

Header

A header is the extra information in a packet that is needed for the protocol stack to process the packet.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Ac

Hijack Attack

A form of active wiretapping in which the attacker seizes control of a previously established communication association.

Honey Client

Client Honeypots are active security devices in search of malicious servers that attack clients. The client honeypot poses as a client and interacts with the server to examine whether an attack has occurred. Often the focus of client honeypots is on web browsers, but any client that interacts with servers can be part of a client honeypot (for example ftp, ssh, email, etc.).