Buffer – A buffer is an
area in a computers memory to store data.
If it is a single piece of data, such as a number or a
single character, then its storage space is usually not referred to as a buffer. The real definition of a buffer is
somewhere where data is stored temporarily, but the term
buffer is often used more loosely.
Pointer – Pointers point to
something in the computers memory.
Everything stored in a computer is stored as a
number, including pointers. A
pointer is a number that is the references another place in
memory by its address.
Denial-of-service –
Sometimes if a program is needed by multiple users (on a network, for example) and an attacker
crashes it, no one else can access it.
Core dump – A core dump
occurs sometimes when a program crashes.
Basically, everything that was in that
program’s memory is written out to an unprotected file, and sometimes this data is
security-sensitive.
Address – An address in a
computer’s memory is the same as the address in a mailbox. If your box number in the
mailroom is 232, then 232 is called your address. The same is true for data and programs
stored in a computer’s memory.
Bit – A
computer stores numbers using bits.
A bit can be only one of two things: a 1 or a 0.
Byte – A byte is an 8 bit
number, such as 10011110. A byte
can store a number from 0 through 255, or 00000000
through 11111111 in binary.