An attack vector is a path or means by which a hacker (or cracker) can gain access to a computer or network server in order to deliver a payload or malicious outcome. Attack vectors enable hackers to exploit system vulnerabilities, including the human element.
In computer security, a threat is a potential event that could undermine your efforts to defend your data. Threats can be intentional (conceived by attackers), or they could be accidental (you might leave your computer turned on and unguarded).
https://ssd.eff.org/en/glossary/threat
In computer security, risk analysis is calculating the chance that threats might succeed, so you know how much effort to spend defending against them. There may be many different ways that you might lose control or access to your data, but some of them are less likely than others. Assessing risk means deciding which threats you are going to take seriously, and which may be too rare or too harmless (or too difficult to combat) to worry about.
https://ssd.eff.org/en/glossary/risk-analysis
Hardening your computer is an important step in the fight to protect your personal data and information. This process works to eliminate means of attack by patching threats and turning off inessential services. Hardening a computer involves using antivirus and antispyware protection, regularly downloading the latest manufacturers patches, and disabling unneeded software and applications, making computers harder to break into.
http://www.colorado.edu/oit/it-security/security-awareness/hardening-your-computer
Two-factor authentication (or “2FA”) is a way to let a user identify him or herself to a service provider by requiring a combination of two different authentication methods. These components may be something that the user knows (like a password or PIN), something that the user possesses (like a keyfob or mobile phone), or something that is attached to or inseparable from the user (like your fingerprints).
https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/how-enable-two-factor-authentication
A process that takes a message and makes it unreadable except to a person who knows how to "decrypt" it back into a readable form.