134 Glossary

connection

A method of data exchange that allows a reliable

 

transfer of data between two computers.

connection attempt

The data transfer that requests the opening of a

 

connection.

cookie

A small data file that some Web sites place on your

 

hard disk while you’re viewing a Web page. Web

 

servers can use cookies to store your personal

 

information and preferences so that you don’t

 

need to reenter them each time that you visit.

cracker

A person who cracks code, not necessarily for

 

malicious reasons. Sometimes used to refer to a

 

malicious hacker.

DHCP (Dynamic Host

A TCP/IP protocol that automatically assigns a

Configuration

temporary IP address to each device on a network.

Protocol)

 

 

A hierarchical naming system that translates

DNS (Domain Name

System)

domain names (such as www.symantec.com) into

 

IP addresses (such as 206.204.212.71).

DNS server (Domain

A computer that keeps a database of domain

Name System server)

names and their corresponding IP addresses.

 

When a computer sends a domain name to a DNS

 

server, the server returns the IP address for that

 

domain.

domain

The common address for a single company or

 

organization (such as symantec.com) on the

 

Internet, which might have multiple hosts.

 

To transfer data from one computer to another,

download

 

usually over a modem or network. Usually refers

 

to the act of transferring a file from the Internet, a

 

bulletin board system, or an online service to one's

 

own computer.