MFA (multi-factor authentication)
A login that asks for more than just a password, usually a code or an approval tap on your phone. The idea is simple: even if an attacker steals or guesses your password, they still cannot get in without that second factor. It is the single most effective control most businesses can turn on, and it sits at the heart of good identity and access management.
Phishing
A fake message, almost always email, designed to trick someone into handing over a password, approving a payment, or clicking a malicious link. Modern phishing is convincing and often impersonates a colleague, supplier or well-known brand. Filtering and staff awareness both matter, which is why it is the focus of layered email security.
Ransomware
Malicious software that encrypts your files and demands a payment to unlock them. A serious infection can halt an entire organisation for days and there is no guarantee paying gets your data back. Tested, isolated backups are the reliable way to recover, which is why backup and ransomware defence go hand in hand.
BEC (business email compromise)
A targeted scam where an attacker gets into, or convincingly imitates, a real email account to redirect a payment or invoice. There is often no malware involved, just a believable request to change bank details, so it slips past basic filters. Strong sign-in controls and a habit of verifying payment changes by phone are the practical defences.
Zero trust
A security approach that stops assuming anything inside your network is automatically safe. Instead, every user and device must prove who they are and that they are healthy before they reach an application or file, every time. In practice it means strong identity, device checks and least-privilege access working together rather than relying on a single perimeter.
Endpoint
Any device a person uses to do work: a laptop, desktop, phone or tablet. Endpoints are where most attacks land, because that is where people click links and open files. Keeping them patched, configured well and protected is the goal of endpoint protection.
EDR (endpoint detection and response)
Security software that watches each device for suspicious behaviour, not just known viruses, and can isolate a machine the moment something looks wrong. It is a big step up from traditional antivirus because it catches new and evasive attacks by how they act. EDR is a core part of modern endpoint protection.
MDR (managed detection and response)
EDR technology combined with real people who monitor the alerts and act on them around the clock. The tools surface threats; a security team investigates and responds so an alert at 2am does not sit unread until morning. MDR gives a business genuine 24/7 coverage without building its own security operations team, and it underpins a serious security posture.
SOC (security operations centre)
The team and tooling that monitor an organisation's systems for threats and coordinate the response when something happens. A SOC is what turns a flood of alerts into a calm, structured handling of real incidents. Most businesses access this capability through a provider rather than staffing one themselves.
SIEM (security information and event management)
A platform that gathers logs and signals from across your systems, correlates them, and raises alerts when patterns look dangerous. It is the engine that lets a security team spot an attack unfolding across email, devices and cloud services at once. SIEM is usually the data backbone behind a SOC and an MDR service.
Patch management
The ongoing discipline of applying security updates to operating systems and applications promptly and consistently. Unpatched software is one of the most common ways attackers get in, so the gap between a fix being released and installed is real exposure. Doing this reliably across a whole fleet is a standard part of managed IT.
