home/glossary/moving target defense

moving target defense

nounverified·updated May 9, 2026

The concept of controlling change across multiple system dimensions in order to increase uncertainty and apparent complexity for attackers, reduce their window of opportunity, and increase the costs of their probing and attack efforts.

MWENIST SP 800-172r3

Senses

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) Cybersecurity Lexicon

The presentation of a dynamic attack surface, increasing an adversary's work factor necessary to probe, attack, or maintain presence in a cyber target.

Classifications

Entity Type

Control85%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5
?unassignedlast reviewed

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

plural
moving target defenses
possessive
moving target defense's
pluralpossessive
moving target defenses'