Glossary of digital security and behaviour terms
Here we set out some clear, simple definitions to explain the common terms you’ll find on our website and in our research.
Agent-Based Modelling - a method for exploring the behaviour of complex systems by modelling the behaviour and interactions of individual actors, known as agents to discover emergent properties.
Algorithm - a finite, unambiguous, and effective step-by-step set of rules or instructions designed to solve a specific problem or compute a specific function.(1)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) - a discipline that researches and develops AI systems. These AI systems are engineered mechanisms designed to generate outputs such as predictions, recommendations, or decisions for a given set of human-defined objectives.(2)
AI governance - the framework of policies, regulations, and ethical guidelines used to oversee the development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies. It aims to address social implications, ensure accountability, and promote responsible innovation within the fields of science and technology. It emphasises the importance of ethical considerations in shaping AI's impact on society.(3)
Autonomous agent - an automated entity that senses and responds to its environment and takes actions to achieve defined goals.(4)
Blockchain - a distributed ledger with confirmed blocks organised in an append-only, sequential chain using hash links.(5)
Com networks – online networks in which members achieve status and social capital gains for the perpetration or incitement of violence, degrading acts, self-harm and/or cybercrime, and the associated generation and sharing of extreme content (including terrorism related material, and content depicting child sexual abuse, self-harm , and animal cruelty.(6)
Conspiracy Theory - the belief that there are hidden mechanisms for events that are controlled by elites with a sinister goal(s).
Content moderation - the process by which Internet companies determine whether user-generated content meets the standards articulated in their terms of service and other regulations.
Cybersecurity - the practice of protecting digital systems, networks and data from attack, damage or unauthorised access.
Cybersecurity for AI systems - activities necessary to ensure an AI system is resilient against attempts by malicious actors to alter its behaviour, performance or intended use, or compromise its security. (7)
Data governance - the system of policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes by which an organisation manages its data assets to ensure they are fit for purpose, traceable and used in accordance with applicable requirements. (8)
Digital economy - the changing patterns of production and consumption brought about by digital technologies.
Digital Traces - the data created by an individual’s everyday use of digital technologies, often leaving a record of our activities, behaviours and interactions online.
Digital Trust - confidence that digital technologies, systems and services operate securely, reliably, and ethically.
Disinformation - the creation and spread of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead people, either for the purposes of causing harm, or for political, personal or financial gain.
Distributed ledger - a ledger that is shared across a network of distributed ledger technology (DLT) nodes and synchronised between those nodes using a consensus mechanism. (4)
Explainable AI - a property of an AI system that enables a given human audience to comprehend the reasons for the system's output or behaviour. (9)
Extremism - a political term which determines activities that are not in accordance with norms, are intolerant toward others, reject democracy and reject the existing social order.
Far right - an umbrella term used to refer to those to the ideological right of mainstream politics.
Frame Analysis - frame analysis aims to interpret and discover the ‘social frameworks’, which provide meaning, determine what is relevant and irrelevant when considering certain actors, issues, or events, and suggest appropriate behaviour.
Generative AI - a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content such as text, images, audio, video or computer code based on patterns learned from existing data.
Ideology - a set of social, political, or religious ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that contribute to a person’s worldview.
Incels - a sub-culture community of men who forge a sense of identity around their perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships.(10)
Manosphere - online spaces dedicated to men’s issues and an environment where misogynistic views proliferate and where anti-feminist, hateful ideas are spread. Communities include ‘red pill’ and ‘black pill’ groups, incels, Men Going Their Own Way, Men’s Rights Activists, Pick Up Artists, ‘Looksmaxxers’, as well as other groups relating to self-improvement, masculinity and gender politics. Each has their own subculture and ideologies.(11)
Misinformation - false or misleading information that is created and spread by mistake including by individuals who didn’t realise the information was false.
Multiagent System - a collection of autonomous agents that interact, cooperate or compete to solve problems or perform tasks.
Online harm - user-generated content or behaviour that is illegal or could cause significant physical or psychological harm to a person.
Norms - shared rules or expectations that influence how people, organisations or software agents behave.
Policy modelling - the use of computational methods to represent, test and analyse policies before implementation.
Privacy by Design - an approach that embeds privacy protections into systems and processes from the outset rather than adding them later.
Radicalisation - the process of a person legitimising support for, or use of, terrorist violence. Radicalisation need not be limited to radicalisation to terrorism; it can also happen when a person develops extreme views or beliefs that support violent or harmful actions.
Regulatory Technology (RegTech) - technology used to help organisations meet regulatory and compliance obligations more efficiently.
Responsible AI - the development and use of AI in ways that are ethical, transparent, accountable and beneficial to society.
Smart contract – a computer program stored on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) system in which the outcome of any execution of the program is recorded on the distributed ledger.(4)
Terrorism - the use or threat of serious violence against a person or serious damage to property where that action is (a) designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public; and (b) for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
References
1 The Art of Computer Programming, Donald Knuth
3 Unesco definition for Ai governance
5 ISO 22739:2024(en), Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies — Vocabulary
6 https://crestresearch.ac.uk/resources/youth-radicalisation-and-harm-in-online-networks/
7 EU AI Act 2024/1689 Recital 76
8 prEN 18284 Quality and governance of datasets
11 Ribeiro, M.H., Blackburn, J., Bradlyn, B., De Cristofaro, E., Stringhini, G., Long, S., ...& Zannettou, S. (2021, May). The evolution of the international AAAI conference on web and social media (Vol, 15, pp.196-207). Barnes, M.J., & Karim, s. m. (2026). The manosphere and politics. Comparative Political Studies, 59(1), 3-43.