Knowing how to discuss cybersecurity in English is essential in a professional context, whether with a customer or a technical team. Here are bilingual mini-dialogues, vocabulary sheets and tips for practising in all situations.
💼 1. consultant ↔ client
🇬🇧 Customer : How does this solution improve our cybersecurity?
🇫🇷 How does this solution improve our cyber security?
🇬🇧 Consultant : It provides continuous monitoring and detects potential threats in real time. It also ensures compliance with GDPR and ISO standards.
🇫🇷 It provides continuous monitoring and detects potential threats in real time. It also ensures compliance with the RGPD and ISO standards.
🇬🇧 Customer : That's reassuring. What about data protection?
🇫🇷 Reassuring. What about data protection?
🇬🇧 Consultant : All sensitive data is encrypted, and access is restricted through multi-factor authentication.
🇫🇷 All sensitive data is encrypted and access is restricted using multi-factor authentication.
👥 2. Manager ↔ IT Team
🇬🇧 Manager : What's the status of the incident?
🇫🇷 What is the status of the incident?
🇬🇧 Engineer : We identified a phishing attack targeting employee emails. The affected accounts have been secured.
🇫🇷 We have identified a phishing attack targeting employee emails. The accounts concerned have been secured.
🇬🇧 Manager : Good. What's our next step?
🇫🇷 Good. What next?
🇬🇧 Engineer : We will update the firewall rules and run a company-wide awareness session.
🇫🇷 We're going to update the firewall rules and organise an awareness session for the whole company.
🎤 3. Conference / Workshop
🇬🇧 Speaker : Cybersecurity is not only about technology - it's also about people and processes.
🇫🇷 Speaker: Cyber security isn't just about technology - it's also about people and processes.
🇬🇧 Participant : What's the most common mistake companies make?
🇫🇷 Participant: What is the most common mistake companies make?
🇬🇧 Speaker : They underestimate the importance of employee training. Most breaches start with human error.
🇫🇷 Speaker: They underestimate the importance of employee training. Most leaks start with human error.
🧑💻 4. Internal meeting on a safety project
🇬🇧 Colleague A : Do we have an incident response plan in place?
🇫🇷 Colleague A: Do we have an incident response plan in place?
🇬🇧 Colleague B : Yes, the security team reviewed and updated it last month.
🇫🇷 Colleague B: Yes, the security team reviewed and updated it last month.
🇬🇧 Colleague A : Perfect. We should also schedule a penetration test to validate our defences.
🇫🇷 Colleague A: Perfect. We should also plan an intrusion test to validate our defences.
🇬🇧 Colleague B : Agreed, I'll coordinate with the external provider.
🇫🇷 Colleague B: OK, I'll coordinate with the external service provider.
🔤 Essential vocabulary sheet
- Cyber threat → Cyber threat
👉 The company is facing a growing cyber threat. - Data breach → Data breach
👉 The data breach exposed thousands of customer records. - Phishing attack → Phishing attack
👉 Employees must be trained to detect phishing attacks. - Ransomware → Ransomware
👉 The ransomware locked all company files. - Malicious software → Malware
👉 Malware can spread through infected email attachments. - Denial of service attack → Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack
👉 The website was down due to a DoS attack. - Firewall → Firewall
👉 The firewall blocked unauthorized access attempts. - Anti-virus software → Antivirus software
👉 Our antivirus software detected a Trojan. - Encryption → Encryption
👉 Encryption protects data in transit and at rest. - Multi-factor authentication → Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
👉 MFA adds an extra layer of security for logins. - Access control → Access control
👉 Access control policies define who can view sensitive files. - Incident response plan → Incident response plan
👉 The incident response plan was activated after the breach. - Intrusion test → Penetration test (pentest)
👉 We scheduled a pentest for next month. - Vulnerability → Vulnerability
👉 The system has a critical vulnerability in its code. - Patch management → Patch management
👉 Patch management is essential to fix known vulnerabilities. - Compliance requirements → Compliance requirements
👉 The company must meet compliance requirements for GDPR. - Risk assessment → Risk assessment
👉 A risk assessment helps identify security gaps. - Awareness training → Awareness training
👉 Employees received awareness training on phishing. - Zero Trust Model → Zero trust model
👉 The zero trust model assumes no device or user is trusted by default. - Internal threat → Insider threat
👉 An insider threat can be more dangerous than an external hacker.
💡 Tips and tricks for remembering cybersecurity vocabulary
✅ Use words in simple sentences The more you say them out loud in context, the more natural they become.
✅ Creating associations : for example, phishing → think of "fishing" as it involves catching the victim.
✅ Classify by category: attacks, defences, processes, compliance.
⚠️ Frequent false friends
- Security ≠ Security (correct), but don't say "safetywhich means physical safety (accidents).
- Raising awareness → Awarenessand not sensibility (which means emotional sensitivity).
- Confidentiality → Privacyand not confidentiality (which is more legal: classified information).
🔑 Words to keep in English (even in professional French)
In French-speaking IT circles, certain English words are used without translation:
- Firewall (the term "firewall" is rarely used in international trade)
- Pentest (more natural than "intrusion test")
- Ransomware (used as is, even in French)
- Compliance (often preferred to "conformity" in international presentations)
Want to find out more?
➜ See our cybersecurity glossary
