Acronyms | Computing Terminology & Cyber Threat Intelligence NOTE: As in any dictionary this list is a continual work in progress |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Return to Main | 320 acronyms as of December 2023 | https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary |
1 | 3G, 4G, 5G | Third, Fourth, Fifth, etc Generation |  |  | Authentication |
2 | 2LD, 3LD | Second, Third etc Level Domain of DNS |  |  | Cyber Threat Intelligence acronymns most relevant & peculiar see also https://socradar.io/cti-glossary/ |
3 | AAS | As A Service; bunch of xAAs where x may be S (software) D (desktop) I (infrastructure) P (Platform) , F (Firewall) etc | This Page | NIST |  | 0-day | Zero Day |  | OTP |
4 | ABI | Application Binary Interface also see Embedded ABI (EABI) |  |  |  | SSO |
5 | ARP | Address Resolution Protocol | A | A |  | ACL | Access Control List |  | AD |
6 | ASP | Active Server Pages | B | B |  | AD | Active Directory |  | RADIUS |
7 | ACL | Access Control List | C | C |  |  | APT | Advanced Persistent Threat |  | LDAP |
8 | AD | Active Directory or Analog/Digital | D | D |  | C2 or CC | Command & Control |  | API |
9 | AML | Anti Money Laundering | E | E |  | CERT | Computer Emergency Response Team |  | SCIM | System for Cross-domain Identity Management
10 | API | Application Programming Interface - Source code level | F | F |  | CIC | Command Information Center |  | IDaM | Identiy & Access Management |
11 | APK | Android Package Kit | G | G |  | CIRT | Computer Incident Response Team |  | TLS |
12 | APPX | Application Package Extension - File extension for package Microsoft appications ready to install | H | H |  | CM | Continuous Monitorin |  | SSL |
13 | APT | Advanced Persistent Threat | I | I |  | CMF | Collection Management Framework |  | AWS |
14 | ARM | Advanced RISC Machine | J | J |  | CNAa | Computer Network Attack |  | EC2 |
15 | ASIC | Application Specific Interated Circuit | K | K |  | CND | Computer Network Defence |  | SQL |
16 | ASLR | Address Space Location Randomization | L | L |  | CNE | Computer Network Exploitation |  | VM | Virtual Machine |
17 | ASN | Autonomous System Numbers |  |  |  | COA | Courses Of Action |  | OAM | Oracle Access Manager |
18 | ASP | Active Server Pages & ASPX (extended) | M | M |  | CTA | Cyber Threat Analyst |  | OAM | Operations Administration & Maintenance
19 | ASR | Attack Surface Reduction | N | N |  | CTI | Cyber Threat Intelligence |  | OAM | Open Application Model |
20 | AV | Anti-Virus | O | O |  | CVE | Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures |  | OAM | Object Access Method |
21 | AWS | Amazon Web Services |  |  |  | DNS | Domain Name Service |  | OAM | Officially Appointed Mechnaism |
22 | BGP | Border Gateway Protocol | P | P |  | DOX | Doxing -searching for OSINT, typically for malicious intent; revealing private info |  | OAM | OCP (Open Compute Project) Accelerator Module
23 | BIOS | Basic Input-Output System | Q | Q |  | EDR | Endpoint Detection & Response |
24 | BIN | Bank Identification Number | R | R |  | ETW | Event Tracing for Windows |
25 | BLOB | Binary Large Object | S | S |  | FW | FireWall |
26 | BNF | Backus-Naur Form |  |  |  | GEOINT | Geospatial Intelligence |
27 | BOLO | Be On Look Out (law enforcement term) | T | T |  | HUMINT | Human Intelligence |
28 | BRT | Breach Response Team | U | U |  | IC | Intelligence Community |
29 | BS | Base Station |  |  |  | IDS | Intrusion Detection System |
30 | BT | BitTorrent (file sharing protocol) | V | V |  | IPS | Intrusion Prevention System |
31 | BTS | Base Transceiver Stations |  |  |  | IOA | Indicators of Attack |
32 | BYOD | Bring Your Own Device | W | W |  | IOB | Indicators of Behavior |
33 | C2 | Command and Control | X | X |  | IOC | Indicators Of Compromise |
34 | CA | Certificate or Certifying Authority |  |  |  | IPS | Intrusion Prevention System |
35 | CAPEC | Common Attack Pattern Enumeration & Classification | Y | Y |  | IR | Incident Response |
36 | CASB | Cloud Access Security Broker |  |  |  | MASINT | Measurement and Signature Intelligence |
37 | CC | Command & Control | Z | Z |  | MDR | Management Detection & Response |
38 | CCI | Control Correlation Identifiers |  | MI | Military Intellignce |
39 | CASB | Cloud Access Security Broker |  |  |  | MISP | Malware Information Sharing Platform |
40 | CDM | Continuing Diagnostics Mitigtion; Code Division Multiplexor |  | OPSEC | Operational Security |
41 | CDN | Content Delivery Network caches content near users |  | OSINT | Open Source Intelligence |
42 | CERT | Computer Emergency Response Team |  | OSSEM | Open Source Security Events MetaData |
43 | CI/CD | Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery - application updating |  | RCE | Remote Code Execution |
44 | CIDR | Classless Internet Domain Routing |  | RDP | Remote Desktop Protocol |
45 | CIRT | Computer Incident Response Team |  | SA | Situational Awareness |
46 | CISC | Complex Instruction Set Computing |  | SIEM | Security Information & Event Management |
47 | CISO | Chief Information Security Officer |  | SIGINT | Signals Intelligence |
48 | CL | Command Line |  | SOC | Security Operations Center |
49 | CLI | Command Line Interface |  | SOCMINT | Social Media Intelligence |
50 | CLM | Constrained Language Mode (Powershell) |  | STIX-TAXII | Structured Incident Expression |
51 | CLSID | Class ID |  | TaHiTI | Targeted Hunting Integrationof Threat Intelligence |
52 | CM | Continuous Monitoring |  | TIP | Threat Intelligence Platform |
53 | CnC | Command and Control |  | TLP | Traffic Light Protocol |
54 | CND | Computer Network Defense |  | TOR | The Onion Router |
55 | CNE | Computer Network Exploitation |  | TTP | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
56 | CNN | Combinatorial Neural Network |  | UBA | User Behavior Analytics |
57 | CNP | Card Not Present (credit card transaction) |  | XDR | Extensible Detection & Response |  |  |
58 | COA | Course of Action |  | CISA | Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency |
59 | COM | Common Object Model; Communications |  | NIST | National Institute of Standards & Technology |
60 | COMSEC | Communications Security |
61 | CONOPS | Concept of Operations |
62 | COTS | Commercial Off the Shelf |
63 | CPT | Cyber Protection Team |
64 | CPU | Central Processing Unit |
65 | CSIRT | Computer Security Incident Response Team |
66 | CSP | Cloud Service Provider |
67 | CSS | Cross-Site Scripting or Cascading Style Sheets |
68 | CSU/DSU | Channel Service Unit / Data Service Unit |
69 | CSV | Comma Separated Value |
70 | CTA | Cyber Threat Analyst |
71 | CTF | Capture The Flag |
72 | CTI | Cyber Threat Intelligence |
73 | CUI | Controlled Unclassified Information |
74 | CVE | Common Vulnerabilites and Exposures |
75 | CVSS | Common Vulnerability Scoring System |
76 | CVV | Card Verification Value also known as CVN (number) or CVC (code) |
77 | CWE | Common Weakness Enumeration |
78 | DAAS | Data As A Service or Desktop As A Service |
79 | DB | Database |
80 | DCOM | Distributed Component Object Model |
81 | DDE | Dynamic Data Exchange |
82 | DDOS | Distributed Denial Of Service |
83 | DDR | Double Data Rate; see also GDDR |
84 | DEP | Data Execution Prevention |
85 | DGA | Domain Generation Algorithm |
86 | DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
87 | DLL | Dynamic Link Library |
88 | DLP | Data Loss Prevention |
89 | DKIM | DomainKeys Identified Mail - IETF Std 7372 |
90 | DMA | Direct Memory Access |
91 | DMARC | Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance IETF 7489 |
92 | DNI | Digital Network Intellgence |
93 | DNR | Dialed Number Recognition |
94 | DNS | Domain Name Service |
95 | DNSSEC | Domain Name Security Security |
96 | DOM | Document Object Model |
97 | DOS | Denial Of Service |
98 | DOX | Short for Doxing or searching for OSINT |
99 | DPI | Deep Packet Inspection |
100 | DTE | Data Terminal Equipment |
101 | EDR | Endpoint Detection & Response |
102 | eFuse | Electronic Fuse |
103 | ELF | Execute & Link Format |
104 | ETH | Ethernet |
105 | ETL | Extract Transform Load |
106 | ETW | Event Tracing for Windows |
107 | EV SSL | Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer |
108 | EXE | Executable |
109 | FDDI | Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
110 | FF | Fast Flux |
111 | FOUO | For Official Use Only |
112 | FPGA | Field Processor Gate Array |
113 | FPOC | Field Point Of Connection |
114 | FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
115 | FQDN | Fully Qualified Domain Name |
116 | FW | Firewall |
117 | FWaaS | FireWall as a Service |
118 | Gb | GigaByte |
119 | GCID | Global Cell ID |
120 | GDDR | Graphics Double Data Rate |
121 | GEOINT | Geospatial Intelligence |
122 | GHZ | GigaHertz |
123 | GPO | Group Policy Orchestrator |
124 | GRC | Governance Risk & Compliance |
125 | GSM | Global System for Mobile Communications |
126 | GUI | Graphical User Interface |
127 | GUID | Global Identifier |
128 | HMAC | Hash-based Message Authentication Code |
129 | HSM | Hardware Security Module |
130 | HTML | HyperText Markup Language |
131 | HTTP | HyperText Transport Protocol |
132 | HUMINT | Human Intelligence |
133 | HV | HyperVisor |
134 | HW | Hardware |
135 | HZ | Hertz - Cycles per Second |
136 | IAAS | Infrastructure As A Service |
137 | IAM | Identity & Access Management |
138 | IARPA | Intelligence Research Projects Agency |
139 | IC | Intelligence Community or Integrated Circuit |
140 | ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol |
141 | ICS | Industrial Control System |
142 | ICT | Information and Communication Technology |
143 | IDAM | IDentity & Access Management |
144 | IDE | Integrated Development Environment |
145 | IDS | Intrusion Detection System |
146 | IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force |
147 | IMAP | Internet Message Protocol |
148 | IMINT | Image Intelligence |
149 | IO | Input Output |
150 | IOA | Indicators of Attack |
151 | IOB | Indicators of Behavior |
152 | IOC | Indicators of Compromise |
153 | IP | Internet Protocol |
154 | IPS | Intrusion Prevention System |
155 | IR | Incident Response |
156 | IRC | Inter Relay Chat |
157 | IRL | In Real Life |
158 | ISO | International Standards Organization |
159 | ISP | Internet Service Provider |
160 | ITAM | Information Technology Asset Management |
161 | ISAC | Information Security & Analysis Center |
162 | JIE | Joint Information Environment |
163 | JS | JAVAScript |
164 | JSON | JAVAScript Object Notation |
165 | Kb | KiloByte (1024 bits) |
166 | KYC | Know Your Customer |
167 | LAC LAI | Location Area Code, Location Area Identifier |
168 | LAN | Local Area Network |
169 | LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol |
170 | LE | Law Enforcement |
171 | MA | Mission Assurance |
172 | MAC | Media Access Control or Message Authentication Code |
173 | MASINT | Measurement And Signature Intelligence |
174 | MB | MegaByte or MotherBoard |
175 | MBR | Master Boot Record |
176 | MDR | Managed Detection & Response |
177 | MFA | Multi Factor Authentication |
178 | MHz | MegaHertz |
179 | MI | Military Intelligence |
180 | ML | Machine Learning |
181 | MOE | Measures of Effectiveness |
182 | MOP | Measures of Performance |
183 | MOU | Memorandum of Understanding |
184 | MPLS | Multi-Protocol Label Switching |
185 | MRU | Most Recent Used |
186 | MSCCM | Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager |
187 | MSSP | Managed Security Services, MSS Provider |
188 | MTA | Mail Transfer Agent |
189 | NAC | Network Access Control |
190 | NAT | Network Address Translation |
191 | NPM | Node Package Manager - code packages |
192 | NTLM | Windows NT (an Operating System) Lan Manager |
193 | NTP | Network Time Protocol |
194 | NVD | National Vulnerability Database |
195 | OAuth | Open Authentication |
196 | ON | Optical Network |
197 | OPSEC | Operations Security |
198 | OSI | Open Systems Interconnect |
199 | OSINT | Open Source Intelligence |
200 | OS | Operating System |
201 | OT | Operational Technology - control systems controllers, sensors, & actuators |
202 | OTN | Optical Transport Network |
203 | OTP | One Time Password |
204 | P2P | Point to Point Protocol |
205 | PAAS | Platform As A Service |
206 | PAT | Port Address Translation |
207 | PCAP | Packet Capture |
208 | PCI | Peripheral Component Interface or Payment Card Industry |
209 | PE | Portable Executable |
210 | PID | Program IDentifier |
211 | PII | Personal Identifiable Information (name, address, SSN, etc) |
212 | PLC | Programmable Logic Controller |
213 | POC | Point of Connection; or PoC Proof of Concept |
214 | POI(s) | Person(s) of Interest |
215 | POP | Post Office Protocol |
216 | PPP | Point to Point Protocol |
217 | PS | PowerShell |
218 | PtH | Pass the Hash |
219 | PnP | Plug and Play |
220 | PUA | Potentially Unwanted Application |
221 | PUP | Potentially Unwanted Program |
222 | QOS | Quality Of Service |
223 | RADIUS | Remote Authentication Dial In User Service |
224 | RAM | Random Access Memeory |
225 | RAN | Radio Access Network (ususlly applied to cellular networks) |
226 | RCE | Remote Code Execution |
227 | RDP | Remote Desktop Protocol |
228 | REST | Representational State Transfer; an API between Internet Client-Server |
229 | RFC | Request For Comment |
230 | RISC | Reduced Instruction Set Computing |
231 | RMF | Risk Management Framework |
232 | RMON | Remote Monitor |
233 | ROC | Remote or Regional Operations Center |
234 | ROM | Read Only Memory |
235 | ROP | Return Oriented Programming |
236 | RPC | Remote Procedure Call |
237 | RPKI | Resource Public Key Infrastructure |
238 | RSA | Rivest Shamir Adleman |
239 | SAAS | Software As A Service |
240 | SAM | Security Access Manager |
241 | SAML | Security Assertion Markup Language |
242 | SAN | Storage Area Network |
243 | SASE | Secure Access Service Edge | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Access_Service_Edge |
244 | SBGP | Security in Border Gateway Protocol |  |
245 | SBOM | Software Bill of Materials |  |
246 | SCADA | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition |  |
247 | SCAP | Security Content Automation Protocol |
248 | SCCM | System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) - Microsoft |
249 | SD | Software Defined or Systems Development or Security Descriptor |
250 | SDK | System Development Kit |
251 | SDLC | Systems Development Life Cycle |
252 | SDN | Software Defined Networking |
253 | SDR | Software Defined Radio |
254 | SDRAM | Sychronous Dynamic Random Access Memory |
255 | SDWAN | Software Defined Wide Area Network |
256 | SE | Software Engineering |
257 | SIEM | Security Information & Event Management |
258 | SIGINT | Signals Intelligence |
259 | SIP | Session Initiation Protocol |
260 | SLA | Service Level Agreement |
261 | SMB | Server Message Block |
262 | SMS | Systems Management Server - renamed to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (MSCCM) |
263 | SMS | Short Message Service |
264 | SMTP | Simple Mail Transport Protocol |
265 | SNA | Social Network Analysis |
266 | SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol |
267 | SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol |
268 | SOAR | Security Orchestration Automation & Response |
269 | SOC | Security Operations Center or System On a Chip |
270 | SPOF | Single Point of Failure |
271 | SPF | Sender Policy Framework - Authentication STD IETF 7208 |
272 | SQL | Structured Query Language |
273 | SSH | Secure Shell |
274 | SSL | Secure Sockets Layer see also EV SSL |
275 | SSO | Single Sign On |
276 | STIX | Structure Threat Information eXpression |
277 | STS | Security Token Service |
278 | SW | Software |
279 | SWF | Shockwave Flash File |
280 | SWG | Secure Web Gateway |
281 | TAXII | Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information |
282 | TCP | Transmission Control Protocol |
283 | Tb | TerraByte |
284 | TELCO | Telephone Company |
285 | TLD | Top Level Domain |
286 | TLP | Traffic Light Protocol |
287 | TLS | Transport Layer Security |
288 | TPM | Trusted Platform Module |
289 | TTI | Technical Threat Intelligence |
290 | TTL | Time to Live |
291 | TTP | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
292 | U2F | Universal 2nd Factor |
293 | UAC | User Account Control |
294 | UBA | User Behavior Analytics |
295 | UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
296 | UEFI | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface |
297 | UI | User Interface |
298 | UID | User ID |
299 | uPnP | Univeral Plug and Play |
300 | URL | Universal Resource Locator |
301 | USB | Universal Serial Bus |
302 | USC | United States Code |
303 | UTM | Unified Threat Management |
304 | UUID | Universally Unique Identifier |
305 | UX | User Experience |
306 | VDI | Virtual Desktop Infrastructure |
307 | VLR | Visitor Location Register |
308 | VM | Virtual Machine; Virtual Memory |
309 | VPC | Virtual Private Cloud |
310 | VPN | Virtual Private Network |
311 | VPS | Virtual Private Server |
312 | VR | Virtual Reality |
313 | WAF | Web Application Firewall |
314 | WAN | Wide Area Network |
315 | XDR | Extended Detection & Response |
316 | XML | Extensible MarkUp Language |
317 | XSRF | Cross Site Request Forgery |
318 | XSS | Cross Site Scripting |
319 | ZTA | Zero Trust Architecture |
320 | ZTNA | Zero Trust Network Access |
321 |
322 |