Learn Secure Database Administration: MS SQL Server Security

Threat modelling is the structured practice of asking what could go wrong with a system, who would make it go wrong and how, while the design can still be changed cheaply.

Phishing is an attack that deceives a person into revealing credentials, approving a payment or running malicious content, usually through a message that impersonates someone they trust.

Ransomware is an attack in which criminals gain access to an organisation's systems, encrypt or steal its data, and demand payment to restore access or withhold publication.

Switching is the forwarding of frames within a single network segment by a device that learns which hardware address sits on which port and sends each frame only where it needs to go.

A VLAN divides one physical switched network into several logical segments, each with its own broadcast domain, by tagging frames with a VLAN identifier so that ports and devices in different VLANs cannot reach each other without a router.

Network address translation rewrites the addresses and ports in packets as they cross a network boundary, most commonly so that many devices with private addresses can share one public address to reach the internet.

Shared hosting puts your website on a machine that is simultaneously running hundreds of other people's, pooling its processor, memory and disk between all of you, which is both why it costs so little and why your speed partly depends on strangers.

A VPS is a software-defined slice of one physical machine that behaves as a server in its own right, with its own operating system, reserved CPU, memory and disk, and administrative access down to the kernel.

A dedicated server is an entire physical computer rented by a single customer, with no hypervisor taking a share and no other tenants on the hardware, chosen when consistent performance, specific components or provable isolation matter more than the ability to resize in seconds.