Reference
Glossary
Plain definitions of the words that settings screens, banks and help pages use, from account recovery to XProtect.
| Term | Meaning | Where it is taught |
|---|---|---|
| Account recovery | The process a company uses to let you back into an account when the usual sign-in fails, relying on information you gave it beforehand, such as a recovery phone or email. Use only the provider's own recovery page; no one charges to recover an account. | Getting back in |
| Antivirus | Software that looks for known malware and blocks or removes it. Windows and Macs come with antivirus built in; for phones and tablets, the UK's NCSC says one is not needed if apps come only from official stores and everything updates automatically. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| Authenticator app | A free app that shows a new short code every 30 seconds or so for each account linked to it, used as the second check in two-step sign-in. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Auto-lock | The setting that locks the screen by itself after a phone sits unused for a set time. Android calls it Screen timeout. | Your phone and tablet |
| Backup | A separate copy of your files, kept somewhere other than the device, that you can get back after the original is lost, broken or changed. | Backups |
| Backup codes | Single-use codes an account gives you ahead of time, to type in when your phone is lost, broken or out of reach. Google and Microsoft say to print them; Microsoft's version is one recovery code. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Click restraint | Reading the whole list of search results before clicking any of them, because the first result can be an ad. | Checking what you read |
| Content Credentials | A signed record attached to a photo, video, audio file or document that says which camera or app made it and what edits were made. It cannot say whether the content is true. | Checking what you read |
| Credential stuffing | Trying the email addresses and passwords stolen in one breach on other sites, such as email, banks and shops. It works because many people use the same password for different accounts. | Passwords |
| Credit freeze | A block that stops a credit bureau from releasing your credit report to a new lender, so most new credit cannot be opened in your name. It is free and lasts until you lift it; the bureaus and the law also call it a security freeze. | Money and identity |
| Credit lock | A credit bureau's own product that limits access to your report much as a freeze does, under the bureau's terms rather than the law's. It is often sold for a fee. | Money and identity |
| Data breach | When criminals copy information from a company's systems, often including customers' email addresses and passwords. A breach at a company you used is not your fault; what you control is what that one stolen password opens. | Your starting list |
| End of life (end of support, EOL) | The date after which a maker stops sending security fixes for a system. The device keeps working, but problems found after that date stay unfixed. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| Extended Security Updates (ESU) | Microsoft's program that keeps sending security fixes to Windows 10 computers for a set time after support ends. The consumer program runs to October 12, 2027. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| Firmware | The small piece of software a router or other device runs, which needs updates like any other system. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| Fraud alert | A note on your credit file that tells lenders to check it is really you before opening credit. It does not block the report as a freeze does. An initial alert is free and lasts one year; an extended alert, for people whose identity has been stolen, lasts seven years. | Money and identity |
| Gatekeeper | The part of macOS that checks an app from outside the App Store for a developer signature Apple has issued before the app opens. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| HTTPS | The encrypted connection shown by a web address that starts with https and a lock in the browser. Other people on the network cannot read it, but it says nothing about who is on the other end. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| IP PIN (Identity Protection PIN) | A six-digit number from the IRS that stops someone else filing a tax return with your Social Security number or taxpayer number. A new one is issued each year. | Money and identity |
| Lateral reading | Judging a source by reading about it on other sites, side by side, instead of reading down the source itself. | Checking what you read |
| Legacy contact | A person you name in an account's settings to receive some of the account's data after your death. Apple and Facebook use this kind; Google uses an inactive-account contact instead. | Your security file |
| Malware | Software made to harm a computer or the person using it, for example to steal passwords, show fake warnings, spy on what you type or lock your files. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| MFA fatigue (push bombing) | Repeated sign-in prompts sent by someone who has your password, until one is approved by accident or out of annoyance. Approve only a sign-in you started. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Number lock | A setting at your phone company that blocks moving your number to a new SIM card or a new company until you turn it off. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Passkey | A sign-in your phone or computer makes for one account, used by unlocking the device with your face, fingerprint or screen lock. The site keeps only the public half of a key pair, so there is nothing on the site to steal and nothing to type into a fake page. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Passphrase | A password made of several words. It is strong only when the words are picked at random, by dice or a generator, not chosen by you. | Passwords |
| Password manager | A program that stores your passwords, fills them in when you sign in, and can make new random ones. Every phone and computer this manual covers has one built in, at no cost. | Passwords |
| Phishing | A message, usually an email, or a fake website that pretends to come from a company you know, to get you to click a link, open an attachment or type in a password, code or card number. | Recognizing scams |
| Port-out | Moving your phone number to a different phone company. A thief who moves your number this way can receive your texts and sign-in codes. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Prompt | A message an account sends to your phone asking whether you are signing in, with Yes and No buttons. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Ransomware | Harmful software that locks or scrambles your files and then demands payment to unlock them. Many kinds try to find and delete or encrypt any backups they can reach, which is why one copy is kept offline. | Backups |
| Recovery code | A long code a company gives you once, to print and keep, that proves an account is yours when other methods fail. Google calls its set of printed codes backup codes. | Getting back in |
| Recovery contact | A person you name on your account who can help you prove it is you, usually by passing you a code. Google and Apple offer this. | Getting back in |
| Recovery key | Apple's optional 28-character code that, with a trusted phone number and an Apple device, gets you back into your Apple Account. Turning it on turns off Apple's standard account recovery. | Getting back in |
| Restore | To get a file, or a whole device, back from a backup. | Backups |
| Reverse image search | A search that uses a picture instead of words and shows other places the same or a similar image appears online. | Checking what you read |
| Router | The box that connects your home to the internet and makes your Wi-Fi network. Every device in the home reaches the internet through it. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| Security key | A small physical device that plugs into a USB port or touches the phone (NFC) and holds a passkey of its own. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Sideloading | Installing an app from outside the official app store, such as the App Store or Google Play. | Your phone and tablet |
| SIM swap | Moving someone's phone number to a new SIM card without their permission, usually by persuading the phone company, so the texts, calls and sign-in codes sent to the number go to someone else. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Smishing | Phishing by text message: a text that tries to get you to tap a link, reply or call. | Recognizing scams |
| Stolen Device Protection | Apple's theft protection for iPhone (iOS 17.3 or later). Away from familiar places, the most damaging changes need Face ID or Touch ID, and some need a one-hour wait. | Your phone and tablet |
| Sync | Keeping the same files the same on every device and in the cloud, so a change or a deletion on one device reaches the others. Sync is not a backup, because it copies mistakes too. | Backups |
| Theft protection | Settings that lock a phone when it seems to be snatched or goes offline, or make the most damaging changes need a face, a fingerprint or a wait away from familiar places. Google and Samsung call theirs Theft protection; Apple's is Stolen Device Protection. | Your phone and tablet |
| Trusted device | A phone, tablet or computer already signed in to an account, which the account uses to confirm it is you. For an Apple Account, it is an Apple device where Apple can show a sign-in code. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| Two-step sign-in | A second check after the password, such as a code sent to your phone, a tap on a message from the account, or your own device's unlock, so a person with only your password cannot sign in. | Two-step sign-in and passkeys |
| VPN (virtual private network) | A service that sends all your traffic through the VPN company's computers in a scrambled tunnel. EFF says one is not necessary against most threats on public Wi-Fi, because most web traffic now uses HTTPS. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| WPA2 | One of the two current versions of Wi-Fi Protected Access, the standard that encrypts Wi-Fi; WPA3 is the newer. The FTC says to use WPA3 Personal or WPA2 Personal. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| WPA3 | The newer of the two current versions of Wi-Fi Protected Access, the standard that encrypts Wi-Fi. The FTC calls it the best encryption available. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |
| XProtect | The antivirus built into macOS. Its signatures update by themselves, separately from system updates, and Apple describes no setting for you to change. | Your computer and home Wi-Fi |