Glossary

Review definitions for Cloudflare Zero Trust terms.

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Term Definition

Access group A set of rules that can be configured once and then quickly applied across many Access applications.

active zone A DNS zone that is active on Cloudflare requires changing its nameservers to Cloudflare’s for management.

App Launcher The App Launcher portal provides end users with a single dashboard to open applications secured by Cloudflare Zero Trust.

application The resource protected by Cloudflare Zero Trust, which can be a subdomain, a path, or a SaaS application.

application token A piece of data that grants a user access to a specific Access application for a period of time. Can be stored in a browser cookie or passed to the application in place of a normal password.

Authenticated Origin Pulls Authenticated Origin Pulls allow origin web servers to validate that a web request came from Cloudflare using TLS client certificate authentication.

captive portal A login screen shown to users when they connect to a public Wi-Fi. Captive portals typically occur in places such as airports, cafes, and hotels.

CGNAT IP A unique, virtual IP address assigned to each WARP device from the 100.96.0.0/12 range. You can view the CGNAT IP for a device on its My Team > Devices page.

cipher suite A set of encryption algorithms for establishing a secure communications connection. There are several cipher suites in wide use, and a client and server agree on the cipher suite to use when establishing the TLS connection. Support of multiple cipher suites allows compatibility across various clients.

Cloudflare Access Cloudflare Access replaces corporate VPNs with Cloudflare’s network. It verifies attributes such as identity and device posture to grant users secure access to internal tools.

Cloudflare Browser Isolation Cloudflare Browser Isolation seamlessly executes active webpage content in a secure isolated browser to protect users from zero-day attacks, malware, and phishing.

Cloudflare CASB Cloudflare CASB provides comprehensive visibility and control over SaaS apps to prevent data leaks and compliance violations. It helps detect insider threats, shadow IT, risky data sharing, and bad actors.

Cloudflare Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Cloudflare Data Loss Prevention (DLP) allows you to scan your web traffic and SaaS applications for the presence of sensitive data such as social security numbers, financial information, secret keys, and source code.

Cloudflare DEX Cloudflare Digital Experience Monitoring (DEX) provides visibility into device, network, and application performance across your Zero Trust organization.

Cloudflare Gateway Cloudflare Gateway is a modern next-generation firewall between your user, device, or network and the public Internet. It includes DNS filtering to inspect and apply policies to all Internet-bound DNS queries.

Cloudflare One Agent The name of the Cloudflare WARP client app on iOS and Android devices.

Cloudflare Tunnel Cloudflare Tunnel uses software agents (cloudflared or WARP Connector) to establish a secure connection between a private network and Cloudflare.

Cloudflare Zero Trust Cloudflare Zero Trust provides the power of Cloudflare’s global network to your internal teams and infrastructure. It empowers users with secure, fast, and seamless access to any device on the Internet.

cloudflared The software powering Cloudflare Tunnel. It runs on origin servers to connect applications or private networks to Cloudflare.

cloudflared replica An additional instance of cloudflared that points to the same Cloudflare Tunnel. It ensures that your network remains online in case a single host running cloudflared goes down.

daemon A program that performs tasks without active management or maintenance.

device posture A way to evaluate the security of a user’s device, for example by verifying its serial number or checking if it has the latest software updates.

device profile A collection of WARP client settings applied to a specific set of devices in your organization.

DNS filtering DNS filtering uses the Domain Name System to block malicious websites and filter out harmful content, enhancing security and access control.

DNS location DNS locations are a collection of DNS endpoints which can be mapped to physical entities such as offices, homes, or data centers.

DNS over HTTPS DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a standard for encrypting DNS traffic via the HTTPS protocol, preventing tracking and spoofing of DNS queries.

DNS over TLS DNS over TLS (DoT) is a standard for encrypting DNS traffic using its own port (853) and TLS encryption.

DNS server DNS servers translate human-readable domain names into IP addresses, eliminating the need to remember complex IP addresses.

DoH subdomain A unique DoH subdomain for each DNS location in Cloudflare Zero Trust used in WARP client settings.

EDNS Client Subnet (ECS)

ECS is a DNS extension that enables recursive DNS resolvers to include client IP address information in their DNS queries.

Not all resolvers use ECS but, if they do, usually a part of the IP address is omitted. Sending ECS headers is generally intended to reduce latency and speed up content delivery in connection to CDNs and load balancers. The ECS mechanism is specified in RFC 7871.

hostname The name given to a server or node on a network, often the public DNS name of a server.

identity provider An identity provider (IdP) stores and manages users’ digital identities, enabling single sign-on and authentication for multiple applications.

JSON web token A compact way to securely transmit information between parties as a JSON object, often used for authentication.

locally-managed tunnel A Cloudflare Tunnel that was created by running cloudflared tunnel create <NAME> on the command line. Tunnel configuration is stored in your local cloudflared directory.

managed network A network location, such as an office, that is associated with a specific WARP client device profile.

MDM file A Mobile Device Management (MDM) file is a configuration file that allows organizations to manage the software, settings, and certificates installed on their devices.

MFA Multi-factor authentication (MFA) checks multiple aspects of a user’s identity, not only their username and password, before allowing them access to an application.

mTLS (mutual TLS) MTLS is a common security practice that uses TLS certificates to ensure that traffic between a client and server is secure and trusted in both directions.

OAuth A protocol for authorizing users, allowing them to perform actions and view data on different platforms without sharing credentials.

OIDC OpenID Connect (OIDC) is an identity authentication protocol built on top of OAuth 2.0. It is used verifying user identity and obtaining basic profile information.

origin certificate A Cloudflare Origin Certificate is a free SSL/TLS certificate issued by Cloudflare that can be installed on your origin server to facilitate making sure your data is encrypted in transit from Cloudflare to your origin server using HTTPS.

PAC file A file containing a JavaScript function which can instruct a browser to forward traffic to a proxy server instead of directly to the destination server.

policy A set of rules that regulate network activity, such as login access and website reachability.

RDP Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) allows remote desktop connections to a computer, often used on Windows and Mac operating systems.

remotely-managed tunnel A Cloudflare Tunnel that was created in Zero Trust under Networks > Tunnels. Tunnel configuration is stored in Cloudflare, which allows you to manage the tunnel from the dashboard or using the API.

root certificate A root certificate is generated by a CA and is used to sign certificates. Every browser includes a root store of trusted root certificates. Any certificate signed with the private key of a root certificate is automatically trusted by a browser.

SafeSearch SafeSearch is a feature of search engines that filters explicit or offensive content from search results.

SAML Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) enables single sign-on and authentication for multiple applications.

SASE Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a cloud-based security model bundling networking and security functions.

SCIM System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) is an open standard protocol that allows identity providers (such as Okta or Microsoft Entra ID) to synchronize user identity information with cloud applications and services.

seat A unique user authenticating to an Access application or enrolling in WARP,

service provider (SP) A service provider (SP) provides federated access to an application for a user from an identity provider (IdP).

service token Authentication credentials generated by Cloudflare Access which enable automated systems to access protected applications.

session An event generated when a user logs in to an Access application.

shadow IT

Shadow IT is the unsanctioned use of software, hardware, or other systems and services within an organization, often without the knowledge of that organization’s information technology (IT) department.

For more information, refer to the Cloudflare Learning Center.

SIEM A Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution collects, analyzes, and correlates data to help manage security incidents, detect anomalies, and meet compliance requirements.

SMB Secure Messaging Block (SMB) is a network file sharing protocol used for accessing files and services on a network.

SSH Secure Shell (SSH) protocol allows users to connect to infrastructure remotely and execute commands.

SSO Single Sign-On (SSO) is a technology that combines multiple application logins into one, requiring users to enter credentials only once.

team domain A unique subdomain assigned to your Cloudflare account (for example, <your-team-name>.cloudflareaccess.com), where users will find the apps you have secured behind Cloudflare Zero Trust.

team name

The customizable portion of your team domain, allowing you to personalize your Cloudflare Zero Trust configuration. You can view your team name in Zero Trust under Settings > Custom Pages.

team domain	team name
`<your-team-name>.cloudflareaccess.com`	`your-team-name`

To learn about the consequences of changing your team name, refer to the FAQ.

Terraform An infrastructure as code software tool that allows you to deploy services from different providers using a standardized configuration syntax.

tunnel A secure pathway for network traffic to flow between a device and Cloudflare’s global network.

User risk score Cloudflare Zero Trust user risk score ranks the likelihood of a user to introduce risk to your organization’s systems and data based on the detection of security risk behaviors. Risk scores add user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to the Zero Trust platform.

User risk score level Cloudflare Zero Trust assigns a risk score of Low, Medium or High based on detections of users’ activities, posture, and settings. A user’s risk score is equal to the highest-level risk behavior they trigger.

Virtual network A software abstraction that allows you to logically segregate resources on a private network. Virtual networks are especially useful for exposing resources which have overlapping IP routes.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) A tool that allows users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their devices were directly connected to the private network. For example, employees working from home can use a VPN to access files on the corporate network.

WARP client An application that connects corporate devices to Cloudflare for private network access, advanced web filtering, and other security functions.

WARP Connector An extension of the WARP client used to establish site-to-site, bidirectional, and mesh networking connectivity. WARP Connector software installs on a Linux server within a private network, which then becomes a gateway for other local networks that need to on-ramp traffic to Cloudflare.

Zero Trust Security Zero Trust Security is an IT security model that requires strict identity verification for every person and device accessing resources on a network.