CAD and CAD/CAM:  Computer Aided Design. A general term referring to those programs that are used to create designs (architectural, manufacturing, etc.) using computers.  One of the most popular CAD programs is AutoCAD. In integrated CAD/CAM, products designed in CAD are input directly into the CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) system.  See also EDA, for the merger of CAD and CAE (below).

CAE:  Computer Aided Engineering. A broad term used by the electronic design automation (“EDA”) industry for the use of computers to analyze and manufacture products and processes often created by CAD (above).  The term includes CAD to use the computer for drafting and modeling designs, and CAM for managing the manufacturing processes. See also EDA, for the merger of CAD and CAE.

CAM:  Computer Aided Manufacturing. See CAE, CAD.

CAPACITOR:  A device found on integrated circuits that stores electrical energy, kind of like a battery.  Inside a capacitor are two metal plates (connected to terminals, like a battery) separated by a non-conducting substance such as glass or ceramic, called the “dielectric”. A capacitor’s storage potential is measured in farads (1 coulomb of charge at one volt; it take a lot of math to decipher this, so don’t ask).  The main difference between a battery and a capacitor is that a battery takes some time to discharge its energy, while a capacitor uses its entire charge almost instantly.  This makes a capacitor particularly useful for instances where a bright, instantaneous flash is required, such as with a camera flash or laser.  If you remember your high school science course, the basis for the capacitor is generally attributed to a Dutchman named Peter van Musschenbroek, who came up with a device known as the Leyden jar, the predecessor to the capacitor.  Capacitors are quite common on motherboards and other printed circuit boards and, when they go bad or are “blown” due to electrical surges you can tell because their tops are rounded, possibly leaking fluid, rather than flat and solid, a sure sign that they are causing malfunction!

CAPTCHA:  An Acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”.  Invented in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon and sold to Google in 2009, it’s sole purpose is to block unwanted spam, at the rate of some 280 million captchas each day. Why?  Follow the money, of course! For example, an automated spam bot could log on to a website and, in seconds, grab all of the tickets to a concert, then sell them later at a profit, depriving potential customers of the opportunity to attend at the prices intended by the promoter. Or all of the inventory of a popular toy for Christmas.  You get the idea. A typical captcha involves a picture of text, usually with the text rotated, distorted, colored and otherwise creatively altered. Human beings have no trouble reading the text, but simple computer programs can't. A well-written captcha can often keep out even OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programs.  A "Turing test" is any test that attempts to distinguish human beings from computers. The idea of a Turing test is credited to  the computer science pioneer Alan Turing, who first described it in 1950. It’s not perfect, but works much of the time.  An example:

Lately, though, spammers have upped the game, requiring ratcheting up the difficulty and consequently the time (average 14 seconds) required to decipher each captcha, often frustrating legitimate users, sometimes even causing website problems.   One alternative is from Are You a Human, a company that produced a “game” that must be solved to obtain access to a site, by matching “pieces” from one part of the game and dragging it onto another.  Also, Solve Media, which makes the user retype from a list of advertising slogans of some 90 major brands.  There are some 1200 different approaches to creating captchas, and the spammers are working just as fast to get around them.

CARAT:  The “^” symbol on the keyboard, also called an up arrow, control character, hat, wedge or chevron.  It is a proofreader’s mark, placed just above the base of the line of type to indicate an insertion point for edited text shown just above it.  Also, in mathematics, it stands for “power,” so that 6^10 means 6 to the tenth power.

CARD READER:  See “Punch Card”.

CARNIVORE:  An Internet surveillance system developed for the U.S. FBI to monitor the electronic transmissions of criminal suspects.  It has been largely discontinued and replaced by other software, partly as the result of charges by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) in 2005 of a lack of safeguards against its misuse.  See also, Echelon; PROMIS, Social Networking.

CASCADING:  Connecting hardware together in a chain, such as connecting KVM switches or network switches together by attaching one to another (sometimes also called “Daisy Chaining”).  Not always a good idea - e.g. surge protectors shouldn’t be cascaded.  Software:  Anything embedded into anything else, e.g. cascading style sheets.

CASE:  Also called the tower, box, CPU and other names.  Click HERE.

CASTLING:  Just like a real castle, it is the creation of a private, fortified location for information on a computer network.  See also, Silo, Encryption.

CAT 5, 6, etc.:  See Ethernet for detailed discussion.  Stands for “CATegory”.  Based on the Commercial Building Telecommunications Standard developed by the Electronics Industries Association as requested by the Computer Communications Industry Association in 1985, Cat 5 is used for computer networks, and consists of 4 pairs of 24 gauge copper wire with 3 twists per inch (reducing electrical interference and crosstalk) terminated by RJ45 connectors, supporting frequencies up to 100 Mhz and speeds up to 1000 Mbps.  Cat 5e is enhanced to support “gigabit” networks (1000BSE-T) and for long distance (350 meters, vice 100 meters for Cat 5) links.  Cat 6 is suitable for 1000 Base-T up to 100 meters.  The proposed Cat 7 has four individually-shielded cable pairs inside electromagnetic shielding and is designed for 10-Gigabit network and 600Mhz.  Cat 3 cable is telephone cable, unshielded twisted pair with 100 ohm impedance at up to 16Mhz frequencies, with only 4 copper wires, terminated by RJ9 connectors.  Cat 4 is basically enhanced Cat 3 cable for special telephone networks. CAT can be manufactured in UTP (“unshielded twisted pair”) and STP (“shielded twisted pair”) varieties, STP providing less interference and more security; the greater the number of twists, the safer the signal. For office applications, plenum cable is a type of cable often run in the spaces of buildings used for air circulation (HVAC and telephone cables), typically between the structural ceiling and the suspended ceiling or under a raised floor.  This type of twisted pair and coax cable is coated with a fire-retardent coating (typically Teflon), so that in case of fire it does not give off toxic smoke and gasses as it burns. [I have read that some [E.G. Black Box] say that Cat 5e and CAT 6 aren’t compatible on the same network, but I don’t think this is so, although you should keep a map of the separate runs in case there are problems later on.  Click HERE for photos of ethernet cable and connectors.

CAx:  The broad term describing the use of computer technology to aid in the design, analysis and manufacture of products.  See CAD, CAM, CAE.

CD, DVD, -R, -RW: 

CD stands for CD-ROM, which means literally “Compact Disk, Read-Only Memory”.  Originally standardized in 1983 by Sony and Philips, it is a polycarbonate plastic disk about 4 3/4 inches in diameter, on which can be “burned” (written) approximately 650 Mb of data (i.e., text, music, video) or about 465 times as much data as can be written on a standard floppy diskette.  The ROM means that nothing further can be changed on the CD, it can only be read. 

A DVD looks essentially identical to a CD, but stores at least 4.7Gb of data (about as much as 9 CDs) and is used primarily for storing music and video files, hence the name “Digital Video Disk”.  For movies and video, there are also higher density DVDs such as HD DVD and Blu-ray , which store even greater amounts of information.  Pre-recorded DVDs may have DVD country code restrictions.  Currently in development by GE are holographic versitile disks, or HVDs, which can store information not only on the disk surface, but also the entire substrate to hold three-dimensional holograms that can store data.  They will offer the same write speeds as Blu-ray, but with up to 4 terabytes of storage capacity.  DVDs can be ROM, and can be burned with music or video that can be played or viewed, but not changed.  The -R designation on a CD or a DVD means that it is a blank disk that can, with the appropriate hardware, be used to create data on the disk.  The -RW designation means that it is re-writeable, so that data can be added to the disk at different times until it is complete, or it can be erased to write new data on it.  DVD-RAM is also a technology for re-writeable DVD disks.

DVD and combination drives are available that can accomplish all or some of these tasks at varying speeds.  The DVD-R/-RW format was developed by Pioneer.  The reason that there are so many formats is because there is no industry standard format and different groups and manufacturers have chosen to support one technology over the other. For more detail click on this LINK.

CDMA:  “Code Division Multiple Access” is a digital wireless transmission technology primarily for cell phones, developed by QUALCOMM (originally for military purposes) which is popular because it enables many more people to share the airwaves at the same time without static, cross-talk or interference.  By the way, the “cell” in cell phones refers to the transmitter’s span of coverage.  As the cell phone user moves from one cell or area (span) of coverage, the cell phone is effectively passed on to the next local cell transmitter.  Other popular protocols are GSM, UMTS and HSDPA. CDMA is more popular in the U.S., used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint, although GSM is much more popular in Europe.  HSDPA is becoming more popular.

CELL PHONE:  Short for cellular telephone, so called because it transmits the digital phone signal across microwave towers from one service (cell) area to another, as the mobile user travels across the landscape.  Invented by Marty Gross in New York in 1973.

CENTRONICS:  A type of interface (connector at the end of a cable) that is used for parallel cables. The plug has 18 contacts each on the top and bottom and the socket contains one opening with matching contacts. Named after The Centronics Data Computer Corporation, a subsidiary of Wang Laboratories, which introduced the parallel port for computers.

CERTIFICATE: Digital Security Certificate.  While he was working for Netscape, Dr. Taher Elgamal created SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology, which became adopted as a standard web technology known as TLS (Transport Layer Security) by the Internet Engineering Task Force.  The certificate credentials created by SSL/TSL are employed to establish and positively validate a user’s identity on the Internet, commonly used for online shopping and downloads.  There are two types:  “Soft” (embedded in web browsers, most common) and “hard” (smart cards used with special readers).  Each certificate contains a chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.  Certificates contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number, valid dates, and an encrypted fingerprint that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate.  In order for an SSL connection to be established, both sides must have a valid security certificate.  It can be expensive for businesses to get digital certificates, particularly for software downloading, but is becoming a requirement for online protection.  For example, when you download software, have you noticed the window that asks you whether you want to continue, because there isn’t a security certificate for that software?  It’s usually O.K., but you’re being told it’s at your own risk.

When certificates are stolen by hackers, as they were in September, 2011 from Dutch security firm DigiNotar, the stolen credentials were used by hackers to eavesdrop on the Gmail, bank and credit card accounts of some 300,000 people and perhaps pose as banks or shopping websites in order to steal cash from those users. For more, see the SECURITY page of this site.

CERTIFICATIONS:  See, MCSE.

CGA:  See, COLOR, also VGA.  Color Graphics Adapter, introduced in 1981 by IBM, capable of rendering 4 colors at a resolution of 320 pixels horizontally by 200 pixels vertically.

CGI:  Common Gateway Interface is a protocol (language) that allows web pages to run a program (called a “script”) on a web server.  Common examples are forms, counters and guest books.  CGI scripts are sometimes kept in directories called CGI-BIN, which are separate from the other directories on the server; others allow scripts to be run from the CGI-Local directory.  CGI programs are often created using PERL, Practical Extracting and Reporting Language, which costs nothing and is free to distribute, thus has the advantage of a large population of contributing programmers.

CHARACTER: See specrum.

CHANNEL:  Any letters, numbers, symbols, glyphs or other representations that can be entered into a computer via keyboard or other input device.

CHAT ROOM:  A site or part of a web site where users can communicate in real-time.  Typically, a chat room is devoted to a particular topic or group of users.  America On-Line, for example, has defined chat rooms for common interests such as music, movies, etc.  Most chat rooms require users to choose a user name and password to log in and out to the room, so that the other users are alterted to their presence.  Users can choose to post or just listen to the conversation.  Most chat rooms are part of a site or service like AOL and don’t require any special software.  Some types of chat, such as Internet Relay Chat (“IRC”) may require the user to download free software from the Internet.  Chat rooms differ from “forums” and “discussion groups” in that those venus do not offer real-time communication and merely allow users to post messages which can be responded to by other users of the group.

CHECK DISK:  A Windows utility which performs hard disk analysis, used often by computer techs.  It can be run either from a DOS command line (chksdk.exe) or from within Windows (Computer>Disk>Properties>Tools>Error Checking).  It is used to scan the computer and locate and fix file system errors and bad disk sectors; you can tell if you have a failing hard drive.  So exactly what does it do?  It has 5 stages, the first three of which are considered major, the second two optional (you must select both repair options for the scan) and can take from only a few minutes up to an hour or more to complete.  Once complete, a log report is available both on-screen and in the Application Event Log as Event ID 26212.  Stage 1 examines each “file record segment” in the MFT (Master File Table). In an NTFS volume, for example, each and every file and directory on the volume is identified by a specific file record segment in the MFT.  Stage 2 examines the indexes (directories) on the volume for existence, internal consistency and accuracy.  Stage 3 examines and confirms the security descriptors for each file and directory.  Stage 4 verifies all clusters in use.  Stage 5 verifies unused clusters.

CHECKSUM:  A number which represents the number of bits in an internet transmission, which is included within that transmission so that the receiver can then check to see if the same number of units transmitted have arrived.

CHICKLET:  Named after the square white chewing gum pieces, it has at least two computer meanings.  First, with reference to computer keys on the keyboard, chicklets are each key, particularly “island” keys on a laptop.  Second, an on-screen button that usually has a logo for a feed or blog, allowing users to easily subscribe by clicking on the button.  For more see keyboards.

CHILD:  Any subdirectory below the root directory of a drive.  A directory above a subdirectory is a parent directory.

CHIP*:  The “brain” of your computer - see, CPU, below.  Also, processor.  In a broader sense, it is shorthand for “microchip,”  any silicon wafer embedded with circuits and electronic devices, which are used in anything from cars to appliances to computers.  For other chips, see IC Chip.

CHIPSET*:  The chips on a motherboard that control the functions and features of the board itself, such as determining how much memory you can use with it and what type of processors can be inserted.

CHROME:  See, Google Chrome.

CHANNEL:  Generally, referring to computers, a reference to the retail sales distribution chain for computers, particularly the use of VARs, which sell computers with added customization to the end users.  Secondarily, technologically, a path for data [i.e. 32-bit graphics systems contain 4 “channels” (red, green, blue & alpha (blending mask); or fibre channel path for serial data transfer.]

CHEF:  Popular cloud server-management software.  See Puppet for more.

CIDR:  Classless Inter-Domain Routing.  See, IPV.

CIO:  Chief Information Officer. Usually found in larger companies, the CIO is responsible for all of the IT issues (planning, implementation, operation) within the organization.  Sometimes called the Chief Technology Officer (CTO); also CISO, the Chief Information Security Officer, primarily responsible for data security.

CITRIX:  Sounds a little like Cisco (above) but it’s unrelated.  It’s a Florida company started in 1989, originally named Citrus, later changed to Citrix (a portmanteau of Citrus and Unix).  If you’ve had reason to connect remotely to your desktop or have a help desk control your computer, it’s often Citrix software.  It’s more: Citrix is involved in server virtualization, SaaS and cloud computing, as well as desktop virtualization.

CLAMP TIME:  Also, CLAMP VOLTAGE.  See, SURGE SUPPRESSORS.  A measure of the voltage threshold and the time threshold (in milliseconds) necessary to trip a surge suppressor.

CLARK, JIM:  James H. Clark.  Along with Marc Andreesen, co-founder of Netscape, also Silicon Graphics, Inc., and several other Internet companies.

CLASSES OF IP ADDRESSES:   There are three classes of IP addresses:  Class A (supports 16 million hosts on each of 126 networks).  Class B (supports 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks).  Class C (supports 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks).  See Public vs. Private, and iPV for more detail.

CLEANING:   This is beyond the scope of this type of glossary, but mentioned only because general janitorial or home cleaning isn’t sufficient for clean computer rooms or even home or office computers.  Airborne contamination and particulate migration must be considered, and ISO Standard 14644-1 must be adhered to. Some advice for cleaning monitors and keyboards is in FAQS.

CLICK: The act of depressing either the any of the buttons on a computer mouse one or more times in order to select an option on the screen.

CLICK LAUNDERING or CLICKJACKING: See “jacking.”  A practice of artificially adding clicks to website ads.  An example would be that used by RedOrbit and HelloMetro, against which Microsoft filed lawsuits in 2010.  They directed traffic to their own servers, removing the identifying information, then replacing it with information making it look like the hits came directly to the site in question.

CLIENT:  A subservient computer which is dependent upon a server computer.  A so-called “Thin Client” is a computer which is designed to especially small so that the bulk of the data processing occurs on the server.

CLIFF EFFECT:  See MiMo.

CLIPPER CHIP:  A chipset that was developed and promoted by the U.S. Government to be used by telephone, computer and other electronics manufacturers, so that the Government would be able to decrpyt possible terrorist transmissions.  Announced in 1993, due to a tremendous backlash by consumers and manufacturers, it was withdrawn by 1996.  Since that time, the Government has attempted to propose Clipper 2 and Clipper 3, which stipulate that the Government be able to recover any keys exported outside of the U.S., but neither plan has met with any real success.  The U.S. government, however, does possess the ability to hack into cell phones through their GPS chips and computers and other smart devices through other intrusive means.  See Privacy for more discussion.

CLOUD:  Click HERE for an explanation of Cloud Computing.  See also SaaS.

CLSID:  Stands for “Class ID”.  This is kind of like a “social security number” for software (or one if its components), a unique ID that is stored in the operating system registry allowing the software to be identified and, therefore, to operate.  It is generally a large (128 bit) number that is displayed, between brackets, something like this: {AE&AB96B-FFSE-4dce-801E-14DF2C4CD681}.  See REGISTRY for further information about CLSIDs.

CLUSTER COMPUTING:  Using a group of computers to solve a single problem.  Clusters may be distributed, grid, parallel or any other configuration, but the purpose is always the same: To take advantage of the massive group computer resources to solve a complex problem in less time.

CMDLETS:  Lightweight commands used in the Windows Powershell environment.

CMS:  Content Management System.  This is a way to build, organize and generally manage web page content right on the web, as opposed to developing a page in HTML, then FTPing it to the server.  FaceBook is CMS.

CNR:  A motherboard slot, like AGP and PCI used in the ATX family of motherboards supporting audio, modem and networking subsystems.   Developed by Intel, it is an acronym for Communication and Networking Riser.

COAX:  A type of cable (coaxial) that is generally used for television/internet and antenna cable, characterized by a center copper wire that is surrounded by plastic insulation and then a grounded shield of braided wire.  Standard coax is usually called RG-6, while quad shielded cable (4x shielding power) is called “quad-shield”  or RG-59.  Older computer cable, 10 Base T, is also coax.  Click HERE for photos of coax cable and connectors.

CODE:  Generally refers to a line of alphanumeric (letters and numbers) instructions that tell a computer to do something; a computer program consists of lines of code.

CODEC:  An acronym for compression/decompression, a codec is a specialized computer program that encodes or reduces the number of bytes consumed by very large programs.  Files encoded with  specific codec require the same codec for decoding.

COMMUNICATION:  The sending and receiving of a signal between two or more parties (a

COLOR:  The number of colors that can be viewed over a computer monitor varies by the computer hardware on the motherboard, the video card/board, the monitor and the web browser/program.  See, in this Glossary, the RGB, CGA and S-Video color models.  The number of colors that can be displayed, theoretically, range from 256 to 16,777,216 (standard 24 bit) colors, or even more.

COMCAST: The nation’s largest cable provider, headquartered in Philadelphia and doing business in 39 states and DC.  Also, acquired a majority stake in NBC in 2011.  The name is a portmanteau of the words “communication” and “broadcast.”  Started in 1963 by Ralph Roberts and others as American Cable Systems.  In 2011, rebranded to Xfinity to include the triple play combination of Internet, telephone and TV.  The Comcast name is still used for corporate accounts.  Also includes the Smartzone communications center for e-mail accounts.

COMMAND.com or CMD.exe: A 32-bit MS-DOS run-line command known as the “command prompt” that is used to run certain disk and file maintenance and network functions in DOS.  See, command line, below,

COMMAND: An instruction to the computer to do something.  It can be a text command line or a run line, or else a keyboard command (e.g. Shift + F8 makes type bold) or even a mouse command from a menu.

APPLE COMMAND KEY:  Similar in function to the Windows key and sometimes the CTRL key (depending on the version of the Apple keyboard), it is a special function key used to translate menu commands directly to the keyboard, because when pressed in combination with other keys it would select the corresponding menu command.  Developed by Andy Hertzfield, a member of the original Apple development team, Steve Jobs fought the symbol (which has become alternatively known as the Gorgon loop, the splat, the infinite loop, a place of interest sign (in Unicode) and (in Sweden, a noteworthy attraction in a campground) as designed by Apple’s Susan Kare, because he wanted to use an Apple symbol, while Hertzfield believed that there were just too many Apples on the screen already.  To this day, the command key symbol has remained, although on some Apple keyboards, both that and the Apple symbol are printed on the same key.  Used as a meta key forLinux.

COMMUNICATION:  The sending and receiving (i.e. “communicating) of a signal (e.g. words, electronics, magnetics, even behavior) between two or more parties (humans) or devices (e.g. telephones, computers).

COMMAND LINE:  Used to run a DOS command.  A run line is used to run a Windows command.

COMBINER:  See, SPLITTER. A splitter which operates in both directions.

COMPILER:  A program which converts the source code of a program, created and readable by humans, into the binary object code for that program, executable by a computer’s CPU.  The machine language for a particular computer is tied to the architecture of its CPU.  A programmer can create source code using a “high level” programming language such as C++, Python, Java, Fortran, Cobol, Pascal, etc. then the compiler (also sometimes called an “interpreter”) translates it into machine language.  For more information, see the discussion at source code and object code.

COMPONENT VIDEO:  Click HERE for information.

COMPOSITE VIDEO:  Click HERE for information.

COMPUTER: Basically, a “programmable machine”.  Essentially, a computer is an electronic device that accepts and retains information (“data”) and manipulates it to achieve some result using a series of  sequenced instructions (a “program”) describing how that data is to be processed toward that end.  Colloquially, most people consider the system of a monitor, keyboard, mouse and case (holding a hard drive and other drives, a processor chip and main circuit board) to be a “computer” (like the graphic to the right).  Everyone these days recognizes what a computer looks like, but for a stroll down memory lane for those of us who were there at the beginning, and the answer to the question “who invented the computer,” click here.

CRACKER:  A term created in the mid-1980s by HACKERS who wanted to differentiate themselves.  Crackers sole aim is to break into secure systems.  Hackers maintain that they only break into the systems in order to gain knowledge about them and, once in, sometimes engage in playful pranks, nothing more.  (The difference is sometimes difficult to ascertain.)  As a noun, the term CRACK is universally understood - it means to break (“crack” like a safe) various software registration, activation or copy protection devices in order to copy or use commercial software illegally, without compensation.  See WAREZ.

CRAM:  (1) Challenge-Response Authentication Mechanism. A two-level scheme for authenticating network users that is used as part of the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The two levels are basic authentication and digest authentication.  (2) Also a term describing those mysterious charges — for an assortment of memberships and services that have long been showing up on wire-line telephone bills and lately on text and SMS statements. These charges are defined as crams if they come from a third party and if consumers didn’t ask for them.

CRASH:  A condition where a program, or the entire operating system, stops performing its intended function and will not respond to system commands.  Most often, the entire computer “freezes” and must be rebooted.

CRAWLER:  See, Spider.

CROSS PLATFORM: This is a term which refers to computer software or hardware which can be used on different platforms (i.e. PCs, Apple, Linux, etc.).  An example of cross-platform software would be a web browser.  Closely related is WORA software (“Write Once, Run Anywhere), primarily used with phone and pad apps, so that they will be compatible with Apple, Android and other O/S platforms.  It’s still not perfected, sometimes dubbed “Write Once, Debug Everywhere”.

CROWDSOURCING:  Teams of people, interacting over the Internet, applying their knowledge and abilities to solve complex scientific and business challenges.  An example would be the contest by Netflix, the movie rental company, challenging software writers to develop recommendation software more accurately predicting the movies that its customers would like to rent.  A prize of $1 million was offered.  (The contest was won in October, 2009 by a collaberation of statisticians, machine-learning experts and computer engineers from the U.S., Austria, Canada and Israel calling itself “BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos”.)

CRM:  “Customer Relationship Management”.  This is an overall business strategy built around the idea of being “customer centric”.  CRM fosters an understanding of the customer based not only on demographics and purchasing patterns, but also their empowerment at touch points, i.e. web interaction, employee contact, telephone service, etc.

CRYPTOGRAPHY:  The science of information security, derived from the Greek word cryptos, meaning ”hidden”.  It means encoding data so that it can only be decoded by specific individuals having the appropriate tools.  Usually involves creating “cyphertext” through an algorithm combining the original data “plaintext” with one or more keys (“ciphers”) which are numbers or strings of characters known only to the sender and recipient.

CRT:  Cathode Ray Tube - most older monitors, the ones that look like (the older) TVs. See, screens.

CSMA/CD:  The technique used to control the flow of information over ethernet cables across a network.  This is an acronym for “Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection.”  Carrier sense means that a computer listens to a cable before sending a message to assure that no one else is sending a message right them.  Multiple access means that there is nothing wrong with two (or more) computers sending messages across the cable at the same time, so long as they alternate their packets.  Collision detection means that the computer listens to see whether it’s transmission got through or whether it may have collided with another message, in which case it re-sends the message.

CSRF:  Pronounced “sea surf”.  Cross-Site Request Forgery.  Also referred to as “session riding”, “One Click Attack”, or “XSRF”.  CSRF attacks use security flaws in cookies, password requests and other interactive Web components to intercept communications between your browser and a Web site’s server.  Even encryption won’t protect you.  In April, 2009 G-mail experienced CSRF attacks.  See also, XSS exploits. For more, see SPYWARE.

CSS:  Content Scrambling System.  A method of recording commercial DVDs so that they cannot be copied.  ALSO: Cascading Style Sheets, which is a method of creating web pages with uniform layout elements such as headers, fonts, borders, color, etc. for each web page in a site.

CSU:  Channel Service Unit.  See DEMARC.

CURSOR:  A movable spot on a visual display, showing the user the point (or sometimes the range) at which commands such as typing may be applied. The cursor may be controlled by the mouse or directional arrow keys, or both. The cursor may change form in order to meet its function, e.g. from an “arrow” for an insertion point, to a “bar” for text commands.

CUTTING EDGE:  Just like the edge of a knife is the cutting edge, a technology or company on the cutting edge is in the leading or forefront of the field.  See also, bleeding edge, ascendant.

CYBER:  As in “cyberspace.”  Refers to a type of relationship which is on-line or only through the use of the Internet.  The prefix can be attached to virtually anything, e.g. Cybermom - a mother who’s constantly connected to the Internet.  More common cybersuffixes are discussed below...

CYBERCOM:  Short for USCybercom, the United States Cyber Command, headquartered in Ft. Mead, Md.  This is the “fifth domain” of military operations (after land, sea, air and space) and the first manmade domain.  The newly created Pentagon command, which was created by President Obama in 2009, became operational in October, 2010 and is charged with defending the country against real-world enemies in cyberspace.  In 2011, Pres. Obama signed executive orders giving the military the all-clear to use weapons that can perform tasks ranging from espionage to the crippling of an enemy’s electrical grid (The latter would, however, require a Presidential directive).  [Bloomberg Businessweek, 7/25/11, p. 57] This, in addition to Homeland Security, the CIA, the NSA and the FBI.  In order to do this, the Command arguably monitors and controls to a degree all of the activity on the Internet.

CYBERCRIME:  Crime perpretrated over the Internet.

CYBER MONDAY:  Refers to the Monday after “Black Friday,” the Friday following Thanksgiving, on which brick-and-mortar stores give their greatest discounts to increase their profits on the day they’re supposed to go “into the black” for the year.  Similarly on Cyber Monday, the Internet stores offer their greatest Christmas shopping discounts to encourage on-line spending for the holiday.  Check with spoofee.com for information about discounts.

CYBERNETICS:  See, cyberpunk, below.

CYBERPUNK:  See cyberspace, below.  A science-fiction genre which is a contraction of the words “cybernetics” (the study of  communication, control and feedback in machines and living systems, as coined by math prodigy Norbert Weiner, its originator) and “punk” (a young person, especially a member of a rebellious counterculture group).  It features descriptions of advanced science coupled with a radical change in social order, populated by classic loners, often young hackers, who fight the system.  Think movies like “The Matrix” and “Blade Runner” and many video games.

CYBERSPACE:  A term coined by author William Gibson in his 1984 novel Neuromancer (the first installment of The Sprawl Trilogy), which represents the totality of all connected computer networks and their contents in a future world.  The term is now currently used as generic slang for the Internet and all of the information in it.  The novel is often cited as an example of cyberpunk (see above), a science fiction genre which uses exceeding detail, carefully constructed intricacy, and techniques redefining the nature of humanity. 

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