Cyber Insurance & Security Glossary

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is an alternative communications protocol to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and is used primarily for establishing low-latency and loss-tolerating connections over the Internet.

The process by which an insurance company examines risk and determines whether the insurer will accept the risk or not, classifies those accepted and determines the appropriate rate for coverage provided.

Section of the risk-based capital formula calculating requirements for reserves and premiums.

Amount of premium for which payment has been made by the policyholder but coverage has not yet been provided.

All premiums (fees) received for coverage extending beyond the statement date; appears as a liability on the balance sheet.

Unicast is defined as any communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a network. The term exists in contradiction to multicast, communication between a single sender and multiple receivers, and any cast, communication between any sender and the nearest of a group of receivers in a network.

UTM brings together multiple security functions into a single network appliance.

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters that are used to identify the name of a resource. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network (such as the World Wide Web) using specific protocols. In other word, URI is the generic term for all types of names and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), although many people use the two terms interchangeably. A URL implies the means to access an indicated resource, which is not true of every URI. URLs occur most commonly to reference web pages (http), but are also used for file transfer (ftp), email (mailto), database access (JDBC), and many other applications.

Unix is a popular multi-user, multi-tasking operating system developed at Bell Labs in the early 1970s by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others. Unix was designed to be a small, flexible system used exclusively by programmers

Claims that are in the course of settlement. The term may also include claims that have been incurred but not reported.

An unprotected share is a mechanism that allows a user to connect to file systems and printers on other systems. An unprotected share is one that allows anyone to connect to it.

A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a string of characters that are used to identify the name of a resource. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network (such as the World Wide Web) using specific protocols. In other word, URI is the generic term for all types of names and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), although many people use the two terms interchangeably. A URL implies the means to access an indicated resource, which is not true of every URI. URLs occur most commonly to reference web pages (http), but are also used for file transfer (ftp), email (mailto), database access (JDBC), and many other applications.

URL or web content filtering describes the technology that allows organizations to block specific websites or entire categories.

A User is any person, organization entity, or automated process that accesses a system, whether authorized to do so or not. Users generally use a system or a software product without the technical expertise required to fully understand it.

A User contingency plan is the alternative methods of continuing business operations if IT systems are unavailable.

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is an alternative communications protocol to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and is used primarily for establishing low-latency and loss-tolerating connections over the Internet.

UTM brings together multiple security functions into a single network appliance.

An insurance contract for which the value is agreed upon in advance and is not related to the amount of the insured loss.

State legislation which specifies that the insured shall receive the face amount of the policy in the event of a total loss to a dwelling rather than the actual cash value regardless of the principle of indemnity.

An annuity contract under which the premium payments are used to purchase stock and the value of each unit is relative to the value of the investment portfolio.

Contracts or agreements in which a buyer agrees to purchase all or a part of a life insurance policy.

A Voice Intrusion Prevention System (VIPS) is a security management system for voice networks that monitors voice traffic for multiple calling patterns or attack/abuse signatures to proactively detect and prevent toll fraud, denial of service, telecom attacks, service abuse, and other anomalous activities.

Virtual Private Network or VPN allows users to securely access a private network via an encrypted tunnel over the Internet.

A computer virus is a type of malware that is designed to spread from computer to computer and has the ability to replicate itself.

A Voice Firewall is a physical discontinuity in a voice network that monitors, alerts, and controls inbound and outbound voice network activity based on user-defined call admission control (CAC) policies, voice application layer security threats or unauthorized service use violations.

A Voice Intrusion Prevention System (VIPS) is a security management system for voice networks that monitors voice traffic for multiple calling patterns or attack/abuse signatures to proactively detect and prevent toll fraud, denial of service, telecom attacks, service abuse, and other anomalous activities.

Virtual Private Network or VPN allows users to securely access a private network via an encrypted tunnel over the Internet.

Vulnerabilities are bugs in software programs that hackers exploit to compromise computers.

A Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a specification for a set of communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and radio transceivers, can be used for Internet access, including e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, and Internet Relay Chat. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.

War chalking is marking areas, usually on sidewalks with chalk, that receive wireless signals to advertise an open Wi-Fi network. War chalking was inspired by hobo symbols and were conceived by a group of friends in June 2002. They were publicised by Matt Jones who designed the set of icons and produced a downloadable document containing them.

A War dialer is a computer program that automatically dials a series of telephone numbers to locate lines connected to computer systems, and catalogs those numbers so that a cracker or attacker can try to break into the systems.

War dialing is a technique of using a modem to automatically scan a list of telephone numbers, usually dialing every number in a local area code to search for computers, bulletin board systems (computer servers), and fax machines.

Wardriving is searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by an individual in a moving vehicle while using a portable computer, smartphone, or personal digital assistant (PDA).

An agreement that gives the holder the right to purchase an underlying financial instrument at a given price and time or at a series of prices and times according to a schedule or warrant agreement.

Coverage that protects against manufacturer's defects past the normal warranty period and for repair after breakdown to return a product to its originally intended use. Warranty insurance generally protects consumers from financial loss caused by the seller's failure to rectify or compensate for defective or incomplete work and cost of parts and labor necessary to restore a product's usefulness. Includes but is not limited to coverage for all obligations and liabilities incurred by a service contract provider, mechanical breakdown insurance and service contracts written by insurers.

A shortcoming or imperfection in software code, design, architecture, or deployment that, under proper conditions, could become a vulnerability.

Web application control blocks unwanted applications that could cause security concerns such as P2P file sharing or instant messaging

Web application firewalls help keep your servers safe from hackers by scanning activity and identifying probes and attacks.

A bot (automated script) that “crawls” the internet to collect web page information such as URL, meta tags, and links.

The Web of trust is a concept that is used in PGP, GnuPG, and other OpenPGP-compatible systems to establish the authenticity of the binding between a public key and its owner. Its decentralized trust model is an alternative to the centralized trust model of a public key infrastructure (PKI), which relies exclusively on a certificate authority.

A Web server is a computer system that processes requests via HTTP, the basic network protocol used to distribute information on the World Wide Web. Web server is used to refer either the entire system, or specifically to the software that accepts and supervises the HTTP requests

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol for wireless local area networks defined in the standard IEEE 802.11b. It was introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in 1997, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network. WEP, recognizable by the key of 10 or 26 hexadecimal digits, was at one time widely in use and was often the first security choice presented to users by router configuration tools.

A list of components that are authorized.

A WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system. The protocol stores and delivers database content in a human-readable format. The WHOIS protocol is documented in RFC 3912.

Windowing is the process of taking a small subset of a larger dataset for processing and analysis. In this approach, the rectangular window, involves simply truncating the dataset before and after the window, while not modifying the contents of the window at all.

A windowing system is a system that is used for sharing a computer’s graphical display presentation resources among multiple applications at the same time. A windowing system uses a window manager to keep track of where each window is located on the display screen and its size and status. A windowing system doesn’t just manage the windows but also other forms of graphical user interface entities.

A Windump is a freeware tool for Windows that is a protocol analyzer that can monitor network traffic on a wire.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol for wireless local area networks defined in the standard IEEE 802.11b. It was introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in 1997, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network. WEP, recognizable by the key of 10 or 26 hexadecimal digits, was at one time widely in use and was often the first security choice presented to users by router configuration tools.

A Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a specification for a set of communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and radio transceivers, can be used for Internet access, including e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, and Internet Relay Chat. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.

Wiretapping is the process of monitoring and recording data that is flowing between two points in a communication system.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is the global, hypermedia-based collection of information and services that is available on Internet servers and is accessed by browsers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol and other information retrieval mechanisms.

A type of malware that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers.

The contractually determined amount charged by the reporting entity to the policyholder for the effective period of the contract based on the expectation of risk, policy benefits, and expenses associated with the coverage provided by the terms of the insurance contract.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is the global, hypermedia-based collection of information and services that is available on Internet servers and is accessed by browsers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol and other information retrieval mechanisms.

X.400 was originally published in 1984 by CCITT and later re-written in 1988 jointly by ISO and CCITT. X.400 is a standard that conforms to layer 7 of the OSI and is a standard used for transporting e-mail messages. X.400 is an alternative standard to the commonly used SMTP and includes support for several transport connections including Ethernet, TCP/IP, and dial-up.

XHTML is short for eXtensible HyperText Markup Language. XHTML is a hybrid between XML and HTML and designed for network devices as a method of displaying web pages on network and portable devices. XHTML was first released January 26, 2000.

XML is short for eXtensible Markup Language. XML is a specification developed by W3C starting with the recommendation on February 10, 1998. XML is similar to HTML, XML uses tags to markup a document, allowing the browser to interpret the tags and display them on a page. Unlike HTML, XML language is unlimited (extensible) which allows self-defining tags and can describe the content instead of only displaying a page’s content. Using XML other languages such as RSS and MathML have been created, even tools like XSLT were created using XML.