Glossary of online security
- Phishing: A type of fraud whereby a criminal sends a fake email to a victim purporting to come from a legitimate source and requesting confidential information (such as a bank account number, social insurance number, etc.). Phishing (email spoofing) may direct the victim to an apparently legitimate website used to capture confidential information or launch execution of a pirate program.
The Laurentian Bank will never request that you disclose personal or financial information by email. Should you receive any such request, delete the email immediately. In case of doubt, do not hesitate to contact us at 1 877 522-3863.
- Spam: Unsolicited email, especially commercial advertising, announcing a product or service, sent in mass quantities to thousands of email addresses, thus flooding inboxes. They are not legitimate commercial emails requested by consumers. Spam is often used as a vehicle for fraud, viruses and offensive content.
- Spyware: Software that covertly gathers confidential user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, particularly with regard to surfing habits.
- Keylogger: Software that covertly captures the keystrokes of a computer user and stores them on a file, without his or her knowledge. Sensitive information such as passwords can thus be obtained by the program designer.
- Antispyware Utility (or software) that, once installed, detects and eliminates spyware.
- Pharming: Malicious program that highjacks server parameters (addresses) in order to redirect a user to a fraudulent website.
- Computer virus: Malicious program that executes when the vector to which it is attached is covertly activated. It replicates itself within other programs or system areas from which it proceeds to spread and effect the malicious actions which it was designed to trigger.
- Antivirus: Utility (or software) that, once installed on a computer, detects and destroys computer viruses and other malicious programs.
- Trojan horse: Program masquerading as a legitimate program, designed to execute malicious operations without the knowledge of the user.
- Firewall: Software designed to filter inbound and outbound data transiting from a network, Internet for example.
- Browser: Client software designed to interact with hypertext and hypermedia resources on the Web and overall Internet resources, allowing the user to search for information or access information.
- Cookies: Small text files that record the user's browsing preferences. Cookies are usually stored by the browser in a specific folder and are read by the Web server when the user revisits the site. Cookie files are usually harmless to your computer because they use browser information when accessing websites.
