Tech explainers - Resource from WhatIs.com (original) (raw)

Identity governance and administration (IGA) is the collection of processes and practices used to manage user digital identities and their access throughout the enterprise.

Ransomware encrypts data and demands payment for release. Protect yourself by backing up data, updating software and avoiding suspicious links.

Nvidia's market value surpassed $3 trillion in 2024, fueled by the generative AI boom, rebounding tech sector and 154% stock growth in 2024. However, there are questions if AI will sustain the hype cycle.

CRM software enhances customer relationships and drives sales growth by consolidating customer data into a single database, enabling effective marketing and improved service.

RFID -- often an alternative to barcode systems -- uses electromagnetic frequencies to uniquely identify a person, object or animal.

Software as a service can be a cost savings to organizations, as it eliminates licensing fees, expensive hardware and maintenance.

Companies are enforcing return-to-office mandates, and employees aren't thrilled. Boosting morale with perks and flexibility can ease the transition.

Social media usage continues to grow as people share posts, videos and photos. However, there are data privacy issues and risks with sharing on social media.

A CrowdStrike update caused a massive IT outage, crashing millions of Windows systems. Critical services and business operations were disrupted, revealing tech reliance risks.

Cloud compliance ensures the safe and secure use and storage of data through strict adherence to existing cloud computing rules and guidelines, including applicable federal or international laws and regulatory compliance, as well as industry frameworks and best practices.

Cloud architecture is how infrastructure components are connected and configured to create a suitable cloud computing environment for the performance, reliability and scalability needed to host user workloads and data.

Mixed reality refers to advanced technology that combines both virtual reality (VR), a fully immersive computer-generated experience, and augmented reality (AR), which integrates digital elements into the physical world.

Whether they are aware of it or not, businesses are increasingly using people's social media posts -- written content and images -- for their training AI systems.

The hurricane disrupted quartz mining essential for semiconductors. While some operations resumed, delays may affect chip supply chains and global industries.

Cloud networking is a type of IT infrastructure in which the cloud hosts some or all of an organization's networking resources.

A cyberattack on American Water disrupted customer systems. While water operations were unaffected, the incident underscores the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.

A U.S. judge ruled Google violated antitrust laws with an illegal monopoly over online searches -- a landmark decision with major implications for Big Tech and consumer choices.

Cryptocurrency values rose in 2021 but started to decline in 2022, causing some exchange platforms to fold. FTX appeared to stay strong -- until news broke of an elaborate scam.

The DOJ has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging it has unlawfully monopolized the U.S. debit card market, limiting competition and charging exorbitant fees.

Social media disinformation is meant to be deceptive and can spread quickly. Here are some ways to spot it.

AI speech recognition systems often struggle to understand certain accents and dialects due to insufficient training data.

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a set of specifications from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that is responsible for identifying network devices and routing traffic across the internet.

Cloud consulting assists organizations with the complexity of cloud computing including building, deploying, managing and securing applications and infrastructure in the cloud.

AI inference is the process during which a trained AI model applies its understanding to generate original output in real time.

AI is making fake reviews harder to spot, as they become more convincing. The FTC's new rules target deceptive practices, helping consumers trust reviews before making a purchase.

A large action model (LAM) is an AI system that understands queries and responds by taking action.

Cloud economics analyzes the total cost of ownership, benefits of cloud services and the overall computing costs in an enterprise environment, focusing on the economic principles driving these factors.

IT outages can be caused by cyberattacks, hardware failure, natural disasters and human error. Learn about some of the biggest outages here.

QR code phishing, or 'quishing,' is a social engineering phishing attack that intentionally deceives its recipient into scanning a QR code, redirecting the person to a bogus website.

Skill-based routing (SBR) is a strategy within customer service and contact centers to distribute incoming interactions -- phone calls, chats or emails -- based on the specific skills of the agents.

Secure multiparty computation (SMPC) is a form of confidential computing that protects the privacy and security of systems and data sources, while maintaining the data's integrity.

Traditional CPUs struggle with complex ML and AI tasks, leading to today's specialized processors -- GPUs, TPUs and NPUs, each tailored to handle specific functions efficiently.

Core features of Apple's generative AI tool include natural language understanding, custom image generation and automatic transcription.

Configuration management has four key benefits -- compliance, consistency, service delivery and security.

The Fibonacci sequence has key applications in code testing, cryptography and quantum computing.

Cybersecurity protects internet-connected systems from attacks, covering hardware, software and data.

As stock market turbulence sparks speculation of an AI bubble burst, the tech industry faces a critical shift, with inflated expectations turning to a review of AI's potential.

Subnets make networking manageable and ensure efficient communication. Without subnetting, sending emails, texts and documents would be significantly slower.

An estimated 2.9 million Social Security numbers and other PII have been leaked onto the dark web in a National Public Data breach.

MAC and IP addresses serve different roles in data transmission, differing in location, format and use.

Fishbone diagrams assist in root cause analysis to identify the core issue of a problem.

An endpoint protection platform (EPP) is a security technology that safeguards endpoint devices.

Industry 4.0 can be used across a number of industries, including retail, food service and cybersecurity.

Here are the basics of Industry 4.0 -- the fourth industrial revolution -- featuring AI, IoT and cloud technologies.

SearchGPT is OpenAI's answer to Google search. It's a generative AI search engine that can ingest information in real time.

Websites personalize content using third-party cookies and tracking pixels but do so in different ways.

DeFi and CeFi manage cryptocurrency transactions in different ways. Here's how.

An embedded system is a combination of computer hardware and software designed for a specific function.

Private 5G improves upon traditional cellular networks by catering to private networks, expanding accessibility beyond major carriers.

Serverless computing simplifies app development by eliminating server management, streamlining coding for cloud platforms.

Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) is an open source initiative to enhance artificial intelligence's security.

IT outages can be caused by utility disruptions, hardware faults, configuration errors and software faults.

With the rise of remote work, mobile devices and IoT, the traditional security perimeter extends beyond corporate networks, making endpoint security crucial for organizations.

Private clouds cater to a single organization, offering enhanced security and compliance, unlike multi-tenant public clouds.

Load balancing ensures smooth network performance by distributing traffic equitably, enhancing scalability and adapting to dynamic IT landscapes.

Generative design transforms the creation process across many fields and excels in generating unbiased, efficient designs.

Large language models can be traced back to 1966 but are significantly more sophisticated today.

Endpoint security is the protection of endpoint devices against cybersecurity threats.

Prompt engineering is responsible for training AI language models to ensure accurate outputs in AI chatbots.

Pig butchering is a scam that exploits virtual relationships to deceive and steal money.

Cobots are robotic arms equipped with sensors for manufacturing and assembly tasks. They also detect human presence for productivity enhancement.

A botched CrowdStrike update triggered a massive outage, affecting airlines, healthcare, banking and transit.

Flipper Zero is both a tool for pen testers and a learning device for new hackers.

The blue screen of death (BSOD) -- also known as a stop error screen, blue screen error, fatal error or bugcheck -- is a critical error screen that can be displayed by Microsoft Windows operating systems (OSes).

Another breach has affected millions of people -- this time it is AT&T customers. Learn more about this AT&T breach and what to do if you were part of this attack.

Using echo chambers, Instagram political content is limited to accounts users engage with and follow.

Inception scores are a mathematical algorithm that measures the quality of AI-generated images.

Wireless security has evolved from WEP to WPA protocols and play a pivotal role in safeguarding against cyberattacks.

Super apps consolidate banking, shopping, transportation, email and food delivery into a single, versatile application.

The 2024 Olympics in Paris will use AI for judging accuracy, personalized recaps, security, logistics and enhancing athlete performance, aiming for a fairer and safer event.

NumPy is an open source mathematical and scientific computing library for Python programming tasks.

Bots are automated programs with varied roles. They can be both helpful and malicious.

Predictive analytics is a type of advanced analytics. Learn more in this video.

There are four main categories of AI -- reactive, limited memory, theory of mind and self-aware.

CDK Global was hit with a ransomware attack affecting thousands of U.S. auto dealerships. Keep reading to learn more about this attack and how it affected the industry.

A tensor processing unit (TPU) is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) specifically designed to accelerate high-volume mathematical and logical processing tasks typically involved with machine learning (ML) workloads.

GPT-4o is a multimodal large language model developed by OpenAI.

In information security CIA stands for confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Data protection, privacy and security all play critical roles in effective data management.

Trojan horses are a type of malware that can take control of your computer and even access your camera.

Here are some simple explanations of common AI buzzwords.

Generative AI creates content quickly and accurately but faces the risk of model collapse.

The core of every generative AI chatbot -- such as ChatGPT, Bard and YouChat -- is the foundation model.

Hugging Face is a machine learning platform that provides the means to run and deploy AI in live applications.

Artificial intelligence is growing rapidly in the tech sector and assisting with various tasks such as creating images and generating content. However, it cannot do everything.

Cybercriminals have various methods at their disposal to hack and exploit credit card information. Learn what they are, how to prevent them and what to do when hacked.

Compliance officers ensure a company follows both its internal rules as well as external laws from the government.

While both AI types often work together, conversational AI enables natural interaction with machines, while generative AI creates new content such as text and images.

Apple and OpenAI have partnered to bring ChatGPT to Apple devices via Apple's generative AI program, Apple Intelligence, uniting two major forces in the tech industry.

A natural user interface uses human gestures, spoken words or biometrics for interaction, reducing reliance on typing and programming. This video will compare NUIs to CLI and GUI.

As AI continues to evolve, understanding the differences and collaborative potential of conversational AI and generative AI is vital to their role in shaping the digital landscape.

In this fast-paced digital age, the concept of a machine customer has emerged, changing how businesses interact with their online platforms and services.

Gamification integrates video game elements into nongame contexts such as business operations. It uses points, badges, levels and rewards to enhance engagement and motivation.

The Worldcoin cryptocurrency uses iris scans to create unique digital identities.

In this video, TechTarget editor Tommy Everson talks about rich communication services.

Authors, artists and others are filing lawsuits against generative AI companies for using their data in bulk to train AI systems without permission.

Vector search is a multidimensional tool that represents words, sentences, images and audio as numbers across multiple dimensions.

ICT is an umbrella term for all digital interaction technologies that, when combined, help people and organizations interact in the digital world.

Machine learning's legacy dates from the early beginnings of neural networks to recent advancements in generative AI that democratize new and controversial ways to create content.

With the $42.45 billion BEAD Program, each state will use allocated funds to connect all households to high-speed internet.