Glossary

A data breach exposes sensitive data to unauthorized users. Basically, any data accessed by an unauthorized audience is a data breach. For enterprises, data breaches can result in lost intellectual property and consumer trust, as well as millions of dollars in fines, depending on the severity.

Decommissioning is the process of removing an asset from a company’s network and properly disposing of it or recycling it while ensuring that no information can be retrieved from it. It’s a common practice when upgrading hardware components such as servers, laptops, and entire data centers. Failure to decommission an asset properly means it remains part of the company’s attack surface and leaves the business vulnerable to potential cyber attacks. Local, state, and federal regulations exist that specify proper decommissioning requirements for various types of IT assets.

Defense in depth is another term for layered security. It means implementing multiple layers of security controls so that if one fails, there’s another obstacle to prevent threat actors from accessing the network or system.

The Digital Supply Chain is the result of business processes and transactions migrating to web-based services and applications. These “products” are now digital, and the “suppliers” of the components deliver their products via APIs and embedded code. Internet connectivity – the heart of these Digital Supply Chains – has enabled the explosion of digital business models over the last few decades.