Glossary
Account on My Kaspersky portal
A My Kaspersky account is required to log in to My Kaspersky and to use the portal and various other Kaspersky Lab applications. This account also grants access to other Kaspersky Lab resources. You can create an account when registering on My Kaspersky. If you are already registered with other Kaspersky Lab resources, you can use your existing account credentials to sign in to the portal.
Anti-virus databases
Databases that contain descriptions about computer security threats known to Kaspersky Lab as of the anti-virus database release date. The anti-virus databases are created by Kaspersky Lab.
Firewall
A suite of hardware and/or software that monitors and filters network packets passing through it in accordance with the configured rules. The primary objective of a firewall is to protect computer networks from unauthorized access. Firewalls are also often referred to as filters because their main job is blocking (filtering out) packets that do not match the criteria defined in the configuration.
Heuristic analyzer
Technology for detecting threats whose definitions have not yet been added to Kaspersky Lab databases. The heuristic analyzer detects objects whose behavior in the operating system may pose a security threat. Objects detected by the heuristic analyzer are considered probably infected. For example, an object may be considered probably infected if it contains sequences of commands that are typical of malicious objects (for example, open file, write to file).
Infected object
An object with a portion of its code completely matching part of the code of known malware. Kaspersky Lab does not recommend using such objects.
Kaspersky Security Network (KSN)
An infrastructure of cloud services that provides access to the Kaspersky Lab database with constantly updated information about the reputation of files, web resources, and software. Data from Kaspersky Security Network ensures faster response by Kaspersky Lab applications to threats, improves the effectiveness of some protection components, and reduces the risk of false alarms.
My Kaspersky portal
A one-stop online resource for remotely accessing and licensing Kaspersky Lab applications, downloading installation packages, and receiving technical support. An account is required to log in to My Kaspersky. You can create an account when signing up on My Kaspersky portal or use your existing account credentials if you are registered with other Kaspersky Lab resources.
Probably infected object
An object whose code contains modified code of a known threat or code whose behavior is similar to that of a threat.
Proxy server
A computer network service that allows clients to make indirect requests to other network services. The client first connects to the proxy server and requests a particular resource (for example, a file) located on a different server. Then the proxy server either connects to the specified server and obtains the resource from it, or returns the resource from its own cache (if the proxy has its own cache). In some cases the client request or server response can be modified by the proxy server for certain purposes.
Virus
A program that infects applications by inserting its code into them in order to take control when infected files are run. This simple definition describes the most common action performed by a virus — the act of infection.
Vulnerability
A flaw of an operating system or program that may be used by malware developers for penetrating into the system or program and violating its integrity. A large number of vulnerabilities in a system makes it unreliable, because viruses that have penetrated into the system may cause operation failures in the system itself and in installed applications.