Browse Definitions by Alphabet

crowdsourcing - Crowdsourcing is the practice of turning to a body of people to obtain needed knowledge, goods or services.
cruft - Cruft is the elements of a program, system or product that are either useless, poorly designed or both.
cryptanalysis - Cryptanalysis is the study of ciphertext, ciphers and cryptosystems to understand how they work and to find and improve techniques for defeating or weakening them.
crypto wallet (cryptocurrency wallet) - A crypto wallet (cryptocurrency wallet) is software or hardware that enables users to store and use cryptocurrency.
crypto-agility - Crypto-agility, or cryptographic agility, is a data encryption practice used by organizations to ensure a rapid response to a cryptographic threat.
cryptocurrency - Cryptocurrency is a digital form of currency that uses cryptography to secure the processes involved in generating units, conducting transactions and verifying the exchange of currency ownership.
cryptogram - A cryptogram is a word puzzle featuring encrypted text that the user decrypts to reveal a message of some sort.
cryptographic checksum - Generated by a cryptographic algorithm, a cryptographic checksum is a mathematical value assigned to a file sent through a network for verifying that the data contained in that file is unchanged.
cryptographic nonce - A nonce is a random or semi-random number that is generated for a specific use.
Cryptography quiz questions and answers: Test your smarts - Put your encryption knowledge to the test, and perhaps even learn a new word or concept in the process with these cryptography quiz questions.
cryptojacking - Cryptojacking is a cybercrime in which another party's computing resources are hijacked to mine cryptocurrency.
cryptosystem - A cryptosystem is a structure or scheme consisting of a set of algorithms that converts plaintext to ciphertext to encode or decode messages securely.
Crystal Reports - Crystal Reports is a popular Windows-based report writer solution that allows a developer to create reports and dashboards from a variety of data sources with a minimum of code to write.
CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) - CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) is a protocol for carrier transmission in 802.
CSO (Chief Security Officer) - A Chief Security Officer (CSO) is a C-suite executive responsible for a company's physical and digital security.
CSR (Certificate Signing Request) - A Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is a specially formatted encrypted message sent from a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) digital certificate applicant to a certificate authority (CA).
CSS (cascading style sheets) - This definition explains the meaning of cascading style sheets (CSS) and how using them with HTML pages is a user interface (UI) development best practice that complies with the separation of concerns design pattern.
CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) - CSSLP (Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional) is a certification from ISC2 that focuses on application security within the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) - A CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) is a hardware device about the size of a modem.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete - On a personal computer with the Microsoft Windows operating system, Control+Alt+Delete is the combination of the Ctrl key, the Alt key, and Del key that a user can press at the same time to terminate an application task or to reboot the operating system.
curation - Curation is a field of endeavor involved with assembling, managing and presenting some type of collection.
curiosity artificial intelligence (curiosity AI) - Curiosity artificial intelligence (curiosity AI) is the simulation of human curiosity in artificial intelligence.
currency - Currency is anything that is generally accepted to have value as a medium of exchange so that it can be traded for goods and services.
current - Current is a flow of electrical charge carriers, usually electrons or electron-deficient atoms.
cursor - A cursor is the position indicator on a computer display screen where a user can enter text.
customer acquisition cost - Customer acquisition cost is the fee associated with convincing a consumer to buy your product or service, including research, marketing and advertising costs.
customer analytics (customer data analytics) - Customer analytics, also called customer data analytics, is the systematic examination of a company's customer information and behavior to identify, attract and retain the most profitable customers.
customer base - Customer base is the group of clients to whom a business markets and sells their goods or services.
customer churn (customer attrition) - Customer churn, also called customer attrition, is the number of paying customers who fail to become repeat customers.
customer data integration (CDI) - Customer data integration (CDI) is the process of defining, consolidating and managing customer information across an organization's business units and systems to achieve a "single version of the truth" for customer data.
customer data management (CDM) - Customer data management (CDM) is a set of administrative processes that allow data about customers and customer interactions from different source systems to be aggregated and normalized.
customer data platform (CDP) - A customer data platform (CDP) is a type of software application that provides a unified platform of customer information that can be collected, viewed or accessed by other systems.
customer demographics - Customer demographics are categories of consumer populations that are relevant to a business' purposes, such as marketing and product design.
customer engagement - Customer engagement is the way a company creates a relationship with its customer base to foster brand loyalty and awareness.
customer journey orchestration - Customer journey orchestration is the coordination of customer experiences in real time, in an omnichannel environment, to better understand customer needs and encourage further interaction with a brand.
customer lifecycle - In customer relationship management (CRM), customer lifecycle is a term used to describe the progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using and maintaining loyalty to a product or service.
customer premises equipment (CPE) - Customer premises equipment (CPE) is telecommunications and information technology equipment kept at the customer's physical location rather than on the service provider's premises.
customer proprietary network information (CPNI) - Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) in the United States is information that telecommunications services -- such as local, long-distance and wireless telephone companies -- acquire about their subscribers.
customer retention - Customer retention is a metric that measures customer loyalty, or an organization's ability to retain customers over time.
customer satisfaction (CSAT) - Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a measure of the degree to which a product or service meets customer expectations.
customer service charter - A customer service charter is a document that outlines how an organization promises to work with its customers along with providing insights into how an organization operates.
customer success - Customer success is a strategy to ensure a company's products are meeting the needs of the customer.
customer touchpoint - A customer touchpoint is any direct or indirect contact a customer has with a brand.
customer-managed relationship (CMR) - A customer-managed relationship (CMR) is a relationship in which a business uses a methodology, software, apps and perhaps internet capability to encourage the customer to control access to information and ordering.
cyber espionage - Cyber espionage (cyberespionage) is a type of cyber attack that malicious hackers carry out against a business or government entity.
cyber extortion - Cyber extortion is a crime involving an attack or threat of an attack coupled with a demand for money or some other response in return for stopping or remediating the attack.
cyber resilience - Cyber resilience is the ability of a computing system to identify, respond and recover quickly should it experience a security incident.
cyberbullying - Cyberbullying is a type of bullying in which one or more individuals use digital technologies to intentionally and repeatedly cause harm to another person.
cyberpicketing - Cyberpicketing is the use of the Internet to protest a corporation or other institution's wages, work conditions, products, environmental policy, or other issues.
cyberpsychology - Cyberpsychology is the field of study pertaining to the way people interact through computers or digital devices and the emotional effects that usage has on the brain.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) - Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is the division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that is tasked with defending the infrastructure of the internet and improving its resilience and security.
cybersecurity asset management (CSAM) - Cybersecurity asset management (CSAM) is the process created to continuously discover, inventory, monitor, manage and track an organization's assets to determine what those assets do and identify and automatically remediate any gaps in its cybersecurity protections.
cyberterrorism - Cyberterrorism is usually defined as any premeditated, politically motivated attack against information systems, programs, and data that threatens violence or results in violence.
cyberwarfare - The generally accepted definition of cyberwarfare is a series of cyber attacks against a nation-state, causing it significant harm.
Cygwin - Cygwin is a collection of open source tools that allows Unix or Linux applications to be compiled and run on a Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) from within a Linux-like interface.
CYOD (choose your own device) - CYOD (choose your own device) is an employee provisioning model in which an organization allows people to select the mobile devices they would like, usually from a limited number of options.
IT consultant - A consultant is an experienced individual in a given field who provides expert advice for a fee.
What are Common Criteria (CC) for Information Technology Security Evaluation? - Common Criteria (CC) is an international standard (ISO/IEC 15408) for evaluating information technology security products.
What are COTS, MOTS, GOTS and NOTS? - COTS, MOTS, GOTS and NOTS are abbreviations that describe prepackaged software or -- less commonly -- hardware purchase alternatives.
What are CPE (continuing professional education) credits? - Continuing professional education, or CPE, credit is a term referring to the points professionals receive for participating in specialized training in IT and other fields.
What are customer service and support? - Customer service is the support organizations offer to customers before, during and after purchasing a product or service.
What is a call center? Everything you need to know - A call center is a centralized department of customer service professionals who handle inbound and outbound calls from current and potential customers.
What is a capacitor (capacitance)? - A capacitor is a passive electronic component that stores electrical charge.
What is a center of excellence (CoE)? - A center of excellence (CoE) is a team of skilled knowledge workers whose mission is to provide the organization they work for with best practices around a particular area of interest.
What is a CEO (chief executive officer)? - A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking position in an organization and responsible for implementing plans and policies related to a company's financial strength, operational efficiency and strategic management.
What is a certificate authority (CA)? - A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted entity that issues digital certificates to authenticate content sent from web servers.
What is a certificate revocation list (CRL) and how is it used? - A certificate revocation list (CRL) is a list of digital certificates that have been revoked by the issuing certificate authority (CA) before their actual or assigned expiration date.
What is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)? - Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is a certification and globally recognized standard for appraising an IT auditor's knowledge, expertise and skill in assessing vulnerabilities and instituting IT controls in an enterprise environment.
What is a change agent (agent of change)? - A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who promotes change and enables it to happen within any group or organization.
What is a checksum? - A checksum is a value that represents the number of bits in a transmission message.
What is a chief experience officer (CXO)? - A chief experience officer (CXO) is an executive in the C-suite who ensures positive interactions with an organization's customers.
What is a chief sustainability officer (CSO)? - A chief sustainability officer (CSO) is an executive tasked with improving sustainability within the company.
What is a chief technology officer (CTO)? - A chief technology officer (CTO) is a high-level executive who is responsible for overseeing an organization's strategic use of IT.
What is a CIO (chief information officer), and what do they do? - The role of the CIO emerged in the late 1950s, when businesses began to incorporate computing into business operations.
What is a class diagram? - A class diagram is an illustration of the relationships and source code dependencies among classes in the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
What is a cloud access security broker (CASB)? - A cloud access security broker (CASB) is a software tool or service that sits between an organization's on-premises infrastructure and a cloud provider's infrastructure.
What is a cloud architect and how do you become one? - A cloud architect is an IT professional who is responsible for overseeing a company's cloud computing strategy.
What is a cloud contact center? - A cloud contact center is an internet-hosted service, typically managed by a third party, that handles all inbound and outbound customer communications for an organization.
What is a cloud database? An in-depth cloud DBMS guide - A cloud database is an organized and managed collection of data in an IT system that resides on a public, private or hybrid cloud computing platform.
What is a cloud engineer? Key skills and how to become one - A cloud engineer is an IT professional responsible for any technological duties associated with cloud computing, including design, planning, management, maintenance and support.
What is a cloud IDE? - A cloud IDE is a web-based integrated development platform.
What is a cloud server? - A cloud server is a virtual server that operates in a cloud computing environment and makes its resources accessible to users remotely over a network.
What is a cloud service provider? - A cloud service provider, or CSP, is a company that offers components of cloud computing -- typically in an as-a-service model like infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS).
What is a cloud-native application? - A cloud-native application is a program that is designed for a cloud computing architecture.
What is a cloud-native network function (CNF)? - A cloud-native network function (CNF) is a service that performs network duties in software, as opposed to purpose-built hardware.
What is a clustered network-attached storage (NAS) system? - A clustered network-attached storage (NAS) system is a scale-out storage platform made up of multiple NAS nodes networked together into a single cluster.
What is a collaborative robot (cobot)? - A collaborative robot, also known as a cobot, is an industrial robot that can safely operate alongside humans in a shared workspace.
What is a command prompt? - A command prompt is the input field in a text-based user interface screen for an operating system (OS) or program.
What is a CompactFlash card (CF card)? - A CompactFlash card (CF card) is a memory card format developed by SanDisk in 1994 that uses flash memory technology to store data on a very small portable device.
What is a compiler? - A compiler is a special program that translates a programming language's source code into machine code, bytecode or another programming language.
What is a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)? - A complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is the semiconductor technology used in most of today's integrated circuits (ICs), also known as chips or microchips.
What is a computer exploit? - A computer exploit, or exploit, is a program or piece of code developed to take advantage of a vulnerability in a computer or network system.
What is a conductor? - A conductor, or electrical conductor, is a substance or material that allows electricity to flow through it.
What is a configuration file? - A configuration file, often shortened to config file, defines the parameters, options, settings and preferences applied to operating systems (OSes), infrastructure devices and applications in an IT context.
What is a Consensus Algorithm? - A consensus algorithm is a process in computer science used to achieve agreement on a single data value among distributed processes or systems.
What is a contact center? - A contact center is a central point from which organizations manage all customer interactions across various channels.
What is a content management system (CMS)? - A content management system (CMS) is a software application that lets users create, edit, collaborate on, publish and store digital content.
What is a convolutional neural network (CNN)? - A convolutional neural network (CNN) is a category of machine learning model.
What is a copyright? - Copyright is a legal term describing ownership or control of the rights to use and distribute certain works of creative expression, including books, video, motion pictures, musical compositions and computer programs.
What is a customer account record? - A customer account record is the basic unit of information about a customer that resides in a CRM, or customer relationship management system.