--- title: "Knowledge Base" url: https://musatotech.co.za/musato-technologies/knowledge-base/ date: 2017-04-17 modified: 2026-10-06 lang: en author: "Gideon E. M" description: "1. What is ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malicious software that carries out the cryptoviral extortion attack from crypto-virology that blocks access to data until a ransom is paid..." word_count: 1458 --- # Knowledge Base **1. What is ransomware?** Ransomware is a type of malicious software that carries out the cryptoviral extortion attack from crypto-virology that blocks access to data until a ransom is paid and displays a message requesting payment to unlock it. Simple ransomware may lock the system in a way which is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse. More advanced malware encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them **2. What is Malware?** Malware, short for malicious software, is any software used to disrupt computer or mobile operations, gather sensitive information, gain access to private computer systems, or display unwanted advertising. **3.What is a Cyber-attack?** A Cyber-attack is any type of offensive maneuver employed by nation-states, individuals, groups, or organizations that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks, and/or personal computer devices by various means of malicious acts usually originating from an anonymous source that either steals, alters, or destroys a specified target by hacking into a susceptible system. 4. **What are compilers?** Compilers are programs that convert computer code written in high-level languages intelligible to humans into low-level instructions executable by machines. **5. What Is DHCP?** Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a client/server protocol that automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway. 6**. what is phishing?** Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. 7.** Database: Glossary** ActiveX Data Objects (AD0) - an API from Microsoft that lets a programmer writing Windows applications access a database. **autonomous transaction** - in Oracle's database products, an independent transaction that is initiated by another transaction. **block** - in some databases, the smallest amount of data that a program can request. **B-tree** - a method of placing and locating files in a database. **catalog** - a directory of information about data sets, files, or a database. **commit** - the final step in the successful completion of a previously started database change. **CSV file (comma-separated values file)** - contains the values in a table with each column value separated by a comma and each row starting a new line. **DAO (Data Access Objects)** - API available with Visual Basic that lets a programmer request access to an Access database. **Data** - information that has been translated into a form that is more convenient to move or process. **data availability** - assurance that data continues to be available at a required level of performance in any situation. **data dictionary** - a collection of descriptions of the data objects or items in a data model for the benefit of programmers and others who need to refer to them. **data modeling** - the analysis of data objects and the identification of the relationships among these data objects. **data mart** - a repository of data gathered from operational data and other sources that are designed to serve a particular community of knowledge workers. **data mining** - sorting through data to identify patterns and establish relationships. **data pre-processing** - any type of process performed on raw data to prepare it for another processing procedure. **data scrubbing** - the process of amending or removing data that is incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or duplicated. **data set** - in an IBM mainframe operating system, a named collection of data that contains individual data units formatted in a specific way. **data source name** - a data structure that contains the information about a specific database that an ODBC driver needs in order to connect to it. **data warehouse** - a central repository for all or significant parts of the data that an enterprise's various business systems collect. **database** - a collection of data that is organized so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. **DBA** - someone who directs or performs all activities related to maintaining a successful database environment. **DBMS** - a program that lets one or more computer users create, manage, and access data in a database. **DB2** - a family of relational database management system (RDBMS) products from IBM that serve a number of different operating system platforms. **DDBMS** (distributed database management system) - a centralized application that manages a distributed database as if it were all stored on the same computer. **distributed database** - a database whose components are stored on multiple computers within a network. **field** - a location for a single piece of data in a database. **FileMaker** - a relational database application known for being easy to use and for its ability to serve Web pages dynamically. **flat file** - a database model that stores data in text files that can only be accessed sequentially. **foreign key** - a key that targets a primary key in another table. **E. F. Codd** - IBM programmer responsible for developing the conceptual framework for the relational database and SQL. **HOLAP -** hybrid online analytical processing, a combination of ROLAP and MOLAP. **Java Data Objects** - an API that enables a Java programmer to access a database implicitly, without having to make explicit SQL statements. **Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)** - an API specification for connecting programs written in Java to the data in popular databases. **JOLAP (Java Online Analytical Processing)** - a Java API for J2EE for data in an online analytical processing (OLAP) application. **Metabase** - a database for storing metadata (data that describes data) for a specific purpose. **MOLAP** (multidimensional online analytical processing) - online analytical processing (OLAP) that indexes directly into a multidimensional database. **MySQL** - an open source relational database management system that uses SQL. **normalization** - a multi-stage process of organizing data into tables in such a way that the results of using the database are always unambiguous and as intended. **OODBMS** (object-oriented database management system) - a DBMS that supports the modeling and creation of data as objects. **OLAP** (online analytical processing) - computer processing that enables a user to easily and selectively extract and view data from different points-of-view. **ODBC** (Open Database Connectivity) - open standard API for accessing a database. **the operational data store** (ODS) - a type of database often used as an interim area for a data warehouse. pivot table - a programming tool that allows you to reorganize and summarize selected columns and rows of data in a spreadsheet or database table to obtain the desired report. **PL/SQL** - a procedural language extension to SQL used to combine database language and procedural programming language. **primary key** - a key in a relational database that is unique for each record, used to identify a particular record. **quad tree** - a method of placing and locating files in a database. **query** - a request to a database for information, or to update, modify or delete information. **relational database** - a database organized as a set of formally-described tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to reorganize the tables. **RDBMS** (relational database management system) - a program that lets you create, update, and administer a relational database. **ROLAP** (relational online analytical processing) - a form of OLAP that performs dynamic multidimensional analysis of data stored in a relational database. **rollback** - the undoing of partly completed database changes when a database transaction is determined to have failed. **row** - a group of fields in a database table organized to contain all the information relevant to a specific entity. **schema** - the organization or structure for a database. **splay tree** - a self-adjusting search algorithm for placing and locating files in a database. **SQL** (Structured Query Language) - a standard interactive and programming language for getting information from and updating a database. **SQLJ** - a set of programming extensions that allow a programmer using the Java programming language to embed statements that provide SQL database requests. **TSQL** - programming extensions that add several features to SQL including transaction control, exception and error handling, row processing, and declared variables. **table** - in a relational database, a data structure that organizes the information about a single topic into rows and columns. **tree structure** - an algorithm for placing and locating records in a database. **UDA** (Universal Data Access) - a model or framework for a single uniform API to different software makers' databases. VLDB (very large database) - sometimes used to describe databases occupying magnetic storage in the terabyte range and containing billions of table rows. **view** - a temporary organization of data drawn from one or more tables to enable a specific perspective. Please, visit our blog for more insight and interesting articles on the latest IT trends: [Musato Tech Blog](https://musatotech.co.za/home/musato-tech-blog/)