BCP Glossary

Business Related

ALTERNATE SITE: A site held in readiness for use during a Business Continuity E/I/C to maintain the business continuity of an organization’s Mission Critical Activities. The term applies equally to office or technology requirements. Alternate sites may be "cold", "warm" or "hot". This type of site is also known as a Recovery Site. See: Cold Site, Warm Site, Hot Site, Recovery Site
ASSESSMENT: The evaluation and interpretation of measures and other information to provide a basis for decision-making.
BACKUP: A process by which data, electronic or paper based, is copied in some form to be available if the original data is lost, destroyed or corrupted.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING: The overall process of developing an approved set of arrangements and procedures to insure your business can respond to a disaster and resume its critical business functions within a required time frame objective. It is an ongoing process to plan, develop, and implement disaster recovery procedures to ensure the optimum availability of the critical business functions. The primary objective is to reduce the level of risk and cost to you and the impact on your staff, customers and suppliers.
BUSINESS INCOME COVERAGE: The insurance company agrees to pay your loss of business income that results in a suspension of your business operations because of damage to your building or personal property caused by a covered cause of loss insured in your property policy. Business Income includes net profit or loss that would have been earned if the suspension of operations had not occurred and normal operating expenses including payroll that would have continued during the suspension. Coverage begins with the date of the loss to your property and ends when the damage or destroyed property could have been restored with reasonable speed and like quality.
BUSINESS INCOME FOR DEPENDENT PROPERTIES: Coverage is provided for you loss of business income because of damage to the building or personal property at another business that you are dependent on for your operations. The four types of dependent properties are businesses that furnish materials or services to you, businesses that purchase material or services from you, businesses that manufacture products for your customers, and a leader location, for example, an anchor store that attracts customers to your business.
CALL TREE: A structured cascade process (system) that enables a list of person, roles and/or organizations to be contacted as a part of an information or plan invocation procedure. See: Contact List, Cascade System, Reverse Cascade System
CASCADE SYSTEM: A system whereby one person or organization calls out/contacts others who in turn initiate further call-outs/contacts as necessary. See: Contact List, Call Tree and Reverse Cascade System.
CIVIL AUTHORITY INSURANCE: Business Income insurance pays for the loss of income if access to you business is prohibited by civil authorities because of damage to other property as a result of a covered cause of loss insured in your policy. Coverage is provided for up to two consecutive weeks from the date of the civil authority action.
CONTINGENCY PLAN: A specific planned response to an event which is possible, but uncertain, to occur.
COLD SITE: A site (data center/work area) equipped with appropriate environmental conditioning, electrical connectivity, communications access, configurable space and access to accommodate the installation and operation of equipment by key employees required to resume business operations.
COMMAND, CONTROL AND COORDINATION: A Crisis Management process:
- Command means the authority of an organization or part of an organization to direct the actions of its own resources (both personnel and equipment).
- Control means the authority to direct strategic, tactical and operational operations in order to complete an assigned function and includes the ability to direct the activities of others engaged in the completion of that function, i.e. the crisis as a whole or a function within the crisis management process. The control of an assigned function also carries with it the responsibility for the health and safety of those involved.
- Coordination means the harmonious integration of the expertise of all the agencies/roles involved with the objective of effectively and efficiently bringing the crisis to a successful conclusion.
CONTACT LIST: See Call Tree and Cascade System, Reverse Cascade System.
COORDINATE: To advance systematically an exchange of information among principals who have or may have a need to know certain information in order to carry out their role in a response.
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: The process of assessing the financial/non-financial damage following a Business Continuity E/I/C. It usually refers to the assessment of damage to physical assets, e.g. vital records, building, sites, technology to determine what can be salvaged or restored and what must be replace.
DATA MIRRORING: A process whereby critical data is copied instantaneously to another location so that it is not lost n the event of a Business Continuity E/I/C.
DENIAL OF ACCESS: Inability of an organization to occupy its normal working environment; often due to Emergency Services policy.
DECISION POINT: The latest moment at which the decision to invoke the emergency procedures has to be taken in order to ensure the continued viability of the organization.
DENIAL OF ACCESS: The inability of a organization to access and/or occupy its normal working environment. Usually imposed and controlled by the Emergency and/or Statutory Services.
DESKTOP EXERCISE: See Table Top Exercise
DISASTER: A sudden, unplanned calamitous event that causes great damage or loss. In the business environment, it is an event that creates an inability on an organization=s part to provide the critical business functions for some predetermined period of time. A disaster is any event that impairs your organizations ability to provide critical business functions for some predetermined period of time.
DISASTER MITIGATION: Activities taken to eliminate or reduce the level of risk to life and property from hazards.
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: Activities, programs, and systems developed prior to a disaster that are used to support and enhance mitigation, emergency response, and recovery.
DISASTER PREVENTION: Measures employed to prevent, detect, or contain incidents, which, if left unchecked, could result in disaster.
DISASTER RECOVERY: The portion of a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that addresses restoration of Information Technology and Telecommunication capabilities.
E/I/C: The acronym for Emergency(ies), Event(s), Incident(s) or Crisis(es).
ELECTRONIC VAULTING: The transfer of data to an offsite storage facility using a communications link.
EMERGENCY: Any natural or man-caused situation that results in or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property.
EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC): The site from which civil government officials (municipal, county, State and Federal) exercise direction and control in an emergency.
EMERGENCY PUBLIC INFORMATION: Information that is disseminated primarily in anticipation of an emergency or at the actual time of an emergency and in addition to providing information, frequently directs actions, instructs, and transmits direct orders.
EMERGENCY RESONSE PROCEDURES: The initial response to any E/I/C and is focused upon protecting human life and the organizations assets.
EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTION: A functional area of response activity establishes to facilitate coordinated Federal delivery of assistance required during the response phase to save lives, protect property and health, and maintain public safety. These functions represent those types of Federal assistance that the State likely will need most because of the overwhelming impact of a catastrophic event on local and State resources.
ESSENTIAL SERVICE: A service without which a building would be disabled. Often applied to utilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.) it may also include standby power systems, environmental control systems or communication network.
EQUIPMENT: The computer hardware and other equipment should be compatible with that of the original system. Other office equipment such as phone systems, fax machines, and employee workspaces should also be examined.
EVACUATION ORDER: The most important instruction you will receive from local government officials, relayed over local radio and television stations. Once issued, an evacuation order is mandatory under law in the State of Florida.
EXERCISE: An announced or unannounced execution of the business continuity plan intended to implement existing plans and/or highlight the need for additional plan development. A way of testing part of a BCP, an exercise may involve invoking the BCP procedures but is more likely to involve the simulation of an emergency or crisis in which participants role-play in order to assess what issues may arise, prior to a real invocation.
EXTENDED PERIOD OF INDEMNITY: You may purchase, as an option, an endorsement to extend the time of recovery after you resume operations to cover the reduction in income when you require addition time to return to normal levels of revenue.
EXTRA EXPENSE COVERAGE: The insurance company provides coverage for the necessary additional expenses needed to continue business when a covered loss damages or destroys your property. Examples include extra pay for overtime work to speed the restoration of the business, the extra cost of moving your operations to a temporary location, and rental of substitute equipment.
EVACUATION: Organized, phased and supervised dispersal of civilians from dangerous or potentially dangerous areas, and their reception and care in safe areas.
FIRST RESPONDER: Local police, fire, and emergency medical personnel who first arrive on the scene of an incident and take action to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs.
HOT SITE: A site (data center, work area) provides a BCM facility with the relevant work area recovery, telecommunications and IT interfaces and environmentally controlled space capable of provide relatively immediate backup data process support to maintain the organization's Mission Critical Activities.
HOT STANDBY: A term that is normally reserved for technology recovery. An alternate means of process that minimizes downtime so that no loss of process occurs. Usually involves the use of a standby system or site that is permanently connected to business users and is often used to record transactions in tandem with the primary system.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DISASTER RECOVERY (ITDR): An integral part of the organization's BCM plan by which it intends to recover and restore its IT and telecommunications capabilities after an E/I/C.
KEY EMPLOYEES: The employees absolutely necessary to perform the tasks mandatory for an organization's continued operation.
LEAD AGENCY: The federal department or agency assigned lead responsibility under U.S. law to manage and coordinate the Federal response in a specific functional area. For the purposes of the CONPLAN, there are two lead agencies, the FBI for Crisis Management and FEMA for Consequence Management. Lead agencies support the overall Lead Federal Agency (LFA) during all phases of the response.
LIAISON: An agency official sent to another agency to facilitate interagency communications and coordination.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Any county, city, village, town, district, or political subdivision of any State, and Indian tribe or authorized tribal organization, or Alaska Native village or organization, includes any rural community or unincorporated town or village or any other public entity.
MANUAL PROCEDURES: An alternative method of working following a lost of IT systems. As working practices rely more and more on computerized activities, the ability of an organization to fallback to manual alternatives lessens. However, temporary measures and methods if working can help mitigation the impact of a E/I/C and give staff a morale boost.
MAXIMUM ACCEPTABLE OUTAGE (MA0): This is the timeframe during which a recovery must become effective before an outage compromises the ability of an organization to achieve its business objectives and/or survive.
MISSION CRITICAL ACTIVITIES (OR FUNCTIONS): The critical operational and/or business support activities (either provided internally or outsourced) without which the organization would quickly be unable to achieve its business objectives(s), e.g. services and/or products.
MOBILE STANDBY: A transportable operating environment – often a large trailer – complete with office facilities and computer equipment that can be delivered and set up at a suitable site at short notice.
OFFSITE LOCATION: a site at a safe distance from the primary site where critical data (computerized or paper) and /or equipment is stored from where it can be recovered and used at the time of a Business Continuity E/I/C if original data, material or equipment is lost or unavailable.
OUTSOURCING: The transfer of business functions to an independent (internal or external) third party supplier.
PERIOD OF TOLERANCE: The period of time in which a Business Continuity E/I/C can escalate to a potential disaster without undue impact to the organization.
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD): PTSD is caused by a major traumatic E/I/C where a person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with a crisis that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to the physical integrity of self or others, and the person's response involved intense fear, helplessness or horror. See: Trauma Counseling and Trauma Management.
PRE-POSITIONED RESOURCE: Material (i.e. equipment, forms and supplies) stored at an offsite location to be used in business recovery operations.
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: Official at headquarters or in the field responsible for preparing and coordinating the dissemination of public information in cooperation with other responding Federal, State, and local agencies.
RECOVERY: Recovery, in this document, includes all types of emergency actions dedicated to the continued protection of the public or to promoting the resumption of normal activities in the affected area.
RECOVERY PLAN: A Plan developed by each State, with assistance from the responding Federal agencies, to restore the affected area.
RECOVERY TIME OBJECTIVE (RTO): RTO is the maximum acceptable length of time that can elapse before loss of a business function severely impacts the business entity. The RTO is the time before a disaster is declared, during which time the impact begins, is recognized and is identified, and the time to perform the tasks documented in the disaster recovery plan for resumption of the critical business functions.
RENDEZVOUS POINT (RVP): A secure and safe location (point) to which all Emergency Services resources arriving at a Recovery Center outer barricade are directed for logging, briefing, equipment issue and deployment.
RESPONSE: Those activities and programs designed to address the immediate and short-term effects of the onset of an emergency or disaster.
REVERSE CASCADE SYSTEM: A reversal of the cascade system that enables the whereabouts and safety of personnel to be established.
RISK: The chance of something happening, measured in terms of probability and consequences. The consequence may be either positive or negative. Risk in a general sense can be defined as the threat of an action or inaction that will prevent an organization's ability to achieve its business objectives. The results of a risk occurring are defined by the impact.
RISK ANALYSIS: The process of identifying the risks to an organization, assessing the critical functions necessary for an organization to continue business operations, defining the controls that are in place to reduce organization exposure, and evaluating the cost for each such control. The risk analysis often includes an evaluation of the probabilities and likely impact of a particular event.
RISK ASSESSMENT: The overall process of risk identification, analysis and evaluation.
RISK CATEGORIES: Risks of similar types are grouped together under key headings, otherwise know as "risk categories". These categories include reputation, strategy, financial, investments, operation infrastructures, business, regulatory compliance, people, technology and knowledge.
RISK MANAGEMENT: A management approach designed to prevent and reduce risks and to lessen the impact of their occurrence. The objective is to identify the risks and mitigate to an acceptable level while considering the risk impact, probability and cost of mitigation implementation options.
RISK MITIGATION: Measures taken to reduce exposures to risks.
ROLL CALL: The process of ensuring that all employees, visitors and contractors have been safety evacuated and accounted for following an evacuation of a building or site.
SOCIAL IMPACT: The affect and effect of a E/I/C on the overall well-being of a population or community.
STANDBY SERVICE: the provision of the relevant recovery facilities.
TABLETOP EXERCISE: A paper feed scenario based method of testing plans, procedures and people.
TRAUMA COUNSELLING: The provision of assistance to staff, customers and others who have suffered mental or physical injury through being involved in an E/I/C.
TRAUMA MANAGEMENT: Trauma Management involves helping employees deal with trauma in a systematic way following a disaster through the delivery of appropriate support systems and coping strategies with the objective of restoring employees psychological wellbeing.
UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS): used for ensuring clean electrical power is delivered to sensitive or critical equipment in the event of a power loss or surge.
UTILITIES: Companies/organizations providing essential services; e.g. gas, water, electricity.
VIRUS: An unauthorized program that inserts itself into a computer system and then propagates itself to other computers via networks or disks. When activated, it interferes with the operation of the computer systems.
VITAL RECORD: Computerized or paper record which is considered to be essential to the continuation of the business following an E/I/C.
VITAL RECORD LOCATION: A designated storage location for holding Vital Records. Must be away fro the normal site and be secure.
WARM SITE: A site (data center/ work area) which is partially equipped with hardware, communication interfaces, electricity and environmental conditioning capable of providing backup operating support.
WORK AREA FACILITY: A pre-designated space provided with desks, telephones, PCs, etc. ready for occupation by business recovery teams at short notice. May be internally or externally provided. See Cold Site, Hot Site, Warm Site, Alternate Site.

Weather Related

AIR MASS: A large body of air with relatively uniform characteristics, such as temperature and humidity.
ATMOSPHERE: The air surrounding the Earth.
BAROGRAPH: A device for recording air pressure.
BAROMETER: A device used to measure air pressure.
CLIMATE: Average weather of an area over a long time, usually 30 years.
CLIMATE MODEL: Mathematical model containing equations that describe climatic interactions.
COASTAL FLOOD WARNING: A warning that significant wind-forced flooding is eminent along low-lying coastal areas.
COASTAL FLOOD WATCH: An alert that wind-forced flooding is expected along low-lying coastal areas.
COLD FRONT: A warm-cold air boundary with the cold air advancing.CONDENSATION: The change of a vapor to liquid.
CONDUCTION: Transfer of heat within a substance or from one substance to another by inter-molecular action.
CONTINENTAL AIR MASS: An air mass that forms over land, making it generally dry. It may be warm or cold.
CONVECTION: Transfer of heat by the movement of the heated material. In meteorology, the up and down air motions caused by heat.
CORIOLIS EFFECT: The apparent curving motion of anything, such as wind, caused by Earth's rotation. It was first described in 1835 by French scientist Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis.
CYCLONE: An area of low atmospheric pressure with winds blowing around it, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
DOPPLER RADAR: Radar that measures speed and direction of a moving object, such as wind.
DOWNBURST: Wind blasting downward through the air. It may be due to a thunderstorm or shower.
DRIZZLE: Falling water drops with a diameter less than .02 inches.
DROUGHT: Period of abnormal dryness for a particular region.
EL NIÑO: Linked ocean and atmospheric events, which have worldwide effects, characterized by warming of water in the tropical Pacific from around the International Date Line to the coast of Peru.
EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONE: A large-scale weather system that forms outside the tropics with a low-pressure center.
FLASH FLOOD: Flooding with a rapid water rise.
FLOOD WARNING: Heavy rains are expected to cause flooding (minor, moderate or major).
FOG: A cloud with its base on the ground.
FUJITA SCALE: A scale created by Theodore Fujita for classifying tornadoes according to their rotational wind speed and the damage they cause. Categories range from an F0 (low) to an F5 (high) based on the wind speed.
FUNNEL CLOUD: A rotating column of air extending from a cloud, but not reaching the ground.
GOES: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, a U.S. weather satellite in an orbit that keeps it above the same place on the equator.
GULF STREAM: A warm ocean current that flows from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic to the European Coast. It helps warm Western Europe.
GUST FRONT: The boundary between cola air flowing downward out of a thunderstorm and the warmer air at the surface. Its passage is similar to that of a strong cold front.
HAIL: Balls of ice that grow in thunderstorm updrafts.
HEAT LIGHTNING: Glowing flash in clouds. No thunder is heard because lightning is too far away.
HIGH: An area of high-atmospheric pressure, also called an anticyclone.HURRICANE: A tropical cyclone with winds of 74 mph or more.
HYDROSPHERE: The Earth's water.
INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE: The area near the equator, called "The Doldrums" by sailors, where the trade winds converge.
INVERSION: Stable air condition in which air near the ground is cooler than air at a higher altitude.
JET STREAM: A narrow band of wind in the upper atmosphere with speeds greater than 57 mph.
LATENT HEAT: Energy stored when water evaporates into vapor or ice melts into liquid. It's released as heat when water vapor condenses or water freezes.
LATITUDE: Distance on the Earth's surface measured in degrees north and south of the equator.
LIGHTNING: A visible discharge of electricity produced by a thunderstorm.
LONGITUDE: Distance on the Earth's surface measured in degrees east and west from the prime meridian.
LOW: An area of low-atmospheric pressure.
MARITIME AIR MASS: An air mass that forms over an ocean, making it humid. It may be warm or cold.
MERIDIONAL FLOW: A north to south to north flow of high-altitude winds.
MESOCYCLONE: A rotating, upward moving column of air in a thunderstorm that can spawn tornadoes.
MESOSCALE: In meteorology, weather systems and events up to about 250 miles across.
METEOROLOGICAL BOMB: An extra-tropical cyclone in which the center pressure drops an average of one millibar an hour for 24 hours. Usually refers to storms off the U.S. East Coast.
MICROBURST: A downburst less than 2.5 miles in diameter.
MID LATITUDES: Region of the Earth outside the polar and tropical regions, between latitudes 23.5 degrees and 66.5 degrees.
MILLIBAR: A metric unit of air pressure measurement. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1013 millibars.
MOIST ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE: The variable rate at which rising air cools or sinking air warms when water is changing phases in the air.
MONSOON: Persistent, widespread, seasonal winds that seasonally reverse directions. Usually summer winds from the ocean bring rain, while winter winds from the land are dry.
MULTICELL STORMS: Thunderstorms consisting of clusters of single cell thunderstorms.
NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER (NCDC): The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Asheville, NC, that keeps climate records.
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER (NHC): National Weather Service office in Coral Gables, FL, that tracks and forecasts hurricanes and other weather in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and parts of the Pacific.
NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL CENTER (NMC): National Weather Service center in Camp Springs, MD, that prepares worldwide computer forecasts. Hurricane and Severe Storms centers are part of NMC.
NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS FORECAST CENTER: National Weather Service center in Kansas City, MO, that issues watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across the nation.
NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY (NSSL): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Laboratory in Norman, OK, that studies severe thunderstorms.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Federal agency that observes and forecasts weather. Formerly the U.S. Weather Bureau, its part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce.
NUMERICAL FORECASTING OR PREDICTION: Use of computers to solve mathematical equations and produce weather forecasts.
100-YEAR-FLOODS: Water levels that, on average, should occur once a century. This is the same as water level with a 100 to 1 chance of occurring in any single year.
OZONE: Form of oxygen with molecules that consist of three oxygen atoms compared to two atoms for ordinary oxygen molecules.
OZONE HOLE: Zone of decreased ozone content that forms in the stratosphere over Antarctica each spring.
PREFRONTAL SQUALL LINES: Lines of thunderstorms ahead of an advancing cold front.
PRESSURE GRADIENT FORCE: Force acting on air caused by air pressure differences.
RAIN: Falling water drops with a diameter greater than .02 inch.
RAINBOW: Arc or circle of colored light caused by the refraction and reflection of light by water droplets.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY: The ratio of the amount of water vapor actually in the air compared to the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold at its current temperature and pressure. This is expressed as a percentage.
RIDGE: An elongated area of high atmospheric pressure, running generally north-south, at the surface or aloft.
SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE DAMAGE POTENTIAL SCALE: A 1-5 scale, developed by Robert Simpson and Herbert Saffir that measures hurricane intensity.
SEA BREEZE: Winds blowing inland from any body of water.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM: A thunderstorm with winds faster than 57 mph or hailstones three-quarters of an inch or larger in diameter.
SHORT WAVE: A bend, or wave of wind, only tens of miles long that moves along in the wind flow of upper atmosphere.
SOLAR ENERGY: The energy produced by the sun.
SQUALL LINE: A line of thunderstorms.
STABLE AIR: Air in which temperature and moisture discourage formation of updrafts and downdrafts. Clouds will be low and flat any precipitation will be steady.
STATIONARY FRONT: A warm-cold air boundary with neither cold nor warm air advancing.
STORM SURGE: Quickly rising ocean water levels associated with hurricanes that can cause widespread flooding.
STORM TRACKS: Paths that storms generally follow.
STRATOSPHERE: The layer of the atmosphere from about 7 to 30 miles up.
SUPERCELL: A fierce thunderstorm that usually lasts several hours, often spinning out a series of strong tornadoes.
SYNOPTIC SCALE: Large-scale weather events and systems, generally more than 200 miles across.
THUNDER: Sound produced by a lightning discharge.
THUNDERSTORMS: Localized storms that produce lightning, and therefore, thunder.
TORNADO: A strong, rotating column of air extending from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud to the ground.
TRADE WINDS: Global-scale winds in the tropics that blow generally toward the west in both hemispheres.
TRANSPIRATION: Release of water vapor into the air by plants.
TROPICAL CYCLONE: A low-pressure system in which the central core is warmer than the surrounding atmosphere.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION: A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds near the surface of less than 39 mph.
TROPICAL DISTURBANCE: Rotary air circulation 160 to 300 kilometers across associated with a low-pressure area over the tropical ocean.
TROPICAL STORM: A tropical cyclone with 39 to 74 mph winds.
TROPICS: Region of the Earth from latitude 23.5 degrees north--the Tropic of Cancer--southward across the equator to latitude 23.5 degrees south--the Tropic of Capricorn.
TROPOPAUSE: The boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
TROPOSPHERE: The lower layer of the atmosphere, extending from the surface up to 7 or 8 miles above the Earth.
TYPHOON: A tropical cyclone with winds more than 75 miles/hr. and located in the north pacific, west of the International Date Line.
WARM FRONT: A warm-cold air boundary with warm air advancing.
WARNING: Severe weather conditions are expected in the specified area of the warning, usually within 24 hours.
WATCH: Severe weather conditions pose a threat to coastal areas, generally within 36 hours.
WATER VAPOR: Water in a gaseous state.

Terrorism Related

ANTI-TERRORISM: Defensive measures against terrorism.
COMBATING TERRORISM: The full range of Federal programs and activities applied against terrorism, domestically and abroad, regardless of the source or motive.
CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT: Consequence management is predominately an emergency management function and includes measures to protect public health and safety, restore essential government services, and provide emergency relief to governments, business and individuals affected by the consequences of terrorism. In an actual or potential terrorist incident, a consequence management response will be managed by FEMA using structures and resources of the Federal Response Plan (FPR). These efforts will include support missions as describes in other Federal operations plans, such as predictive modeling, predictive action recommendations, and mass decontamination.
COUNTERTERRORISM: Offensive (proactive) measures against terrorism.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Chris management is predominantly a law enforcement function and includes measures to identify, acquire, and plan the use of resources needed to anticipate, prevent and/or resolve a threat or act of terrorism. In a terrorist incident, a crisis management response may include traditional law enforcement missions, such as intelligence, surveillance, tactical operations, negotiation, forensics, and investigations, as well as technical support missions, such as agent identification, search, render safe procedures, transfer and disposal, and limited decontamination. In addition to traditional law enforcement missions, crisis management also includes assurance of public health and safety.
CYBERCRIME: Use of computers to carry out fraud, embezzlement, copyright infringement, scams, and other illegal activities.
CYBER-DETERRENCE: Integration of conventional forces, technological exhibitionism, and strategic simulations as a deterrent to enemy aggression.
CYBERTERRORISM: Computer-based, information-oriented terrorism.
CYBERWAR: Information-oriented warfare waged by formal military forces.
CYBOTAGE: Acts of disruption and destruction against information infrastructures; computer sabotage.
CYBOTEUR: One who commits cybotage; anarchistic or nihilistic computer hacker; computer saboteur.
DIRTY BOMB: A radiological dispersion device that combines conventional explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive materials in the form of powder or pellets. The idea behind a dirty bomb is to blast radioactive material into the area around the explosion. This could possibly cause buildings and people to be exposed to radioactive material. The main purpose of a dirty bomb is to frighten people and make buildings or land unusable for a long period of time.
HACKING: Breaking into computer networks.
HACTIVISM: Use of hacking by social activists with the intent of disrupting normal operations but not causing serious damage.
INFORMATION WARFARE: When broadly defined, this term refers to the use of technology against technology, to deny some entity the ability to use its own technology and its information. Information warfare may be wagedagainst industries, political spheres of influence, global economic forces, or countries. When narrowly defined, this term refers to military uses of information technology.
INFOSPHERE: The totality of all information media, especially those that are interconnected and internetted.
NETWAR: Information-oriented conflict waged by networks of primarily nonstate actors. (Some authors restrict the definition of netwar to information-related conflict at a grand level between nations or societies. Others broaden it to include attacks on private or corporate systems or a city's infrastructure.)
TERRORISM: Terrorism includes the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMD): A WMD is any device, material, or substance used in a manner, in a quantity or type, or under circumstances evidencing intent to cause death or serious injury to persons or significant damage to property.

From A Terrorism Evolves Toward Netwar,@ in Rand Review Winter 1998-99 issue; and Denning, Dorothy E., Activism, Hactivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy, @ in Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy . Arquilla, John, and Ronfeldt, David, eds. Rand Corp., 2001.