Python Institute PCES glossary of secure scripting, input validation, secrets, files, identity, hashing, encryption, and evidence terms.
Use this glossary when PCES-30-0x: Certified Entry-Level Security Specialist with Python terms start to blur together. The goal is practical recognition: what the term means in a Python security scenario and what answer it usually supports.
| Term | Exam meaning |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Keeping data from unauthorized disclosure. |
| Integrity | Protecting data from unauthorized or accidental change. |
| Availability | Keeping systems and data usable when needed. |
| Authentication | Proving identity. |
| Authorization | Deciding what an authenticated identity may do. |
| Least privilege | Giving only the access required for the task. |
| Input validation | Checking type, format, range, length, and allowed values before use. |
| Path traversal | File-path manipulation that escapes an intended directory boundary. |
| Secret | A credential or key that grants access and must be protected. |
| Redaction | Removing or masking sensitive values from output, logs, reports, or errors. |
| Hashing | One-way digest used for integrity checks or password verification patterns. |
| Encryption | Reversible protection of confidentiality when the right key is available. |
| Audit log | Evidence record of actor, action, target, time, and result. |
| Safe failure | Failing without granting access, corrupting data, or exposing internals. |
| Pair | How to separate them |
|---|---|
| Authentication vs authorization | Authentication proves who; authorization decides allowed action. |
| Hashing vs encryption | Hashing is one-way verification; encryption is reversible confidentiality protection. |
| Validation vs sanitization | Validation decides if input is acceptable; sanitization transforms or cleans input for a context. |
| Logging vs leaking | Logging preserves useful evidence; leaking exposes sensitive values. |
| Secret vs configuration | A secret grants access; configuration changes behavior. Protect secrets more strictly. |
| Exception handling vs hiding errors | Handling expected errors is useful; swallowing all errors removes evidence and may make the script unsafe. |
Do not memorize definitions alone. For each term, write one scenario where it is the best answer, one scenario where it is a distractor, and one signal that proves a weaker security choice was made.