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Complete List of Cybersecurity Acronyms

Published January 4, 2022 12:07 pm

Cybersecurity news and best practices are full of acronyms and abbreviations. Without understanding what each one means, it’s difficult to comprehend the significance of most major threats and the essential tools that help prevent them. Our list below contains 100 of the most common cybersecurity abbreviations that you may encounter in the cybersecurity industry.

Cybersecurity abbreviations

Number	Acronym	Meaning
1	2FA	Two-Factor Authentication
2	AC	Access Control
3	AI	Artificial Intelligence
4	AES	Advanced Encryption Standard
5	APT	Advanced Persistent Threat
6	APWG	Anti-Phishing Working Group
7	ASV	Approved Scanning Vendor for PCI
8	ATT&CK	Adversarial Tactics, Techniques and Common Knowledge
9	AUP	Acceptable Use Policy
10	AV	Antivirus
11	AVIEN	Antivirus Information Exchange Network
12	BAS	Breach and Attack Simulation
13	BBP	Bug Bounty Program
14	BYOD	Bring Your Own Device
15	CASB	Cloud Access Security Broker
16	CAPTCHA	Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
17	CEH	Certified Ethical Hacker
18	CERT	Computer Emergency Response Team
19	CHAP	Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol
20	CIRT	Computer Incident Response Team
21	CIS	Center for Internet Security
22	CISA	Certified Information Systems Auditor/Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
23	CISM	Certified Information Systems Security Manager
24	CISO	Chief Information Security Officer
25	CISSP	Certified Information Systems Security Professional
26	COBIT	Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies
27	CSA	Cloud Security Alliance
28	CSO	Chief Security Officer
29	CSP	Content Security Policy
30	CTI	Cyber Threat Intelligence
31	CVE	Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
32	DAST	Dynamic Application Security Testing
33	DC	Domain Controller
34	DLP	Data Loss Prevention
35	DoS	Denial of Service
36	DDoS	Distributed Denial of Service
37	DNS	Domain Name System
38	DRP	Disaster Recovery Plan
39	EDR	Endpoint Detection & Response
40	ERM	Enterprise Risk Management
41	FDE	Full Disk Encryption
42	FWaaS	Firewall as a Service
43	GDPR	General Data Privacy Regulation
44	GRC	Governance, Risk, & Compliance
45	HTTPS	Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
46	IAM	Identity and Access Management
47	IBE	Identity-Based Encryption
48	IDS	Intrusion Detection System
49	IDPS	Intrusion Detection and Prevention System
50	IoT	Internet of Things
51	IPS	Intrusion Prevention System
52	IRP	Incident Response Plan
53	ISO	International Organization for Standardization
54	ISSE	Information Systems Security Engineer
55	ISSO	Information Systems Security Officer
56	ISSPM	Information Systems Security Project Manager
57	ITAM	IT Asset Management
58	ITSM	IT Service Management
59	MDR	Managed Detection and Response
60	MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication
61	MSP	Managed Service Provider
62	MSSP	Managed Security Service Provider
63	NAC	Network Access Control
64	NCSA	National Cyber Security Alliance
65	NGFW	Next Generation Firewall
66	NIST	National Institutes of Standards and Technology
67	PAOBOAU	Process Acting On Behalf Of an Authorized User
68	OPSEC	Operational Security
69	OSINT	Open Source intelligence
70	PAM	Privileged Access Management
71	PCI-DSS	Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
72	RM	Risk Management
73	RMF	Risk Management Framework
74	RPO	Recovery Point Objective
75	RTO	Recovery Time Objective
76	SA	Situational Awareness
77	SASE	Secure Access Service Edge
78	SD-WAN	Software Defined Wide Area Network
79	SECaaS	Security as a Service
80	SIEM	Security Information and Event Management
81	SIM	Security Information Management
82	SOAR	Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response
83	SOC	Security Operations Center
84	SSL	Secure Sockets Layer
85	SSO	Single Sign-On
86	SWG	Secure Web Gateway
87	TCP	Transport Control Protocol
88	TLS	Transport Layer Security
89	TPRM	Third-Party Risk Management
90	UDP	User Datagram Protocol
91	UEBA	User and Entity Behavior Analytics
92	VPN	Virtual Private Network
93	WAF	Web Application Firewall
94	WAP	Wireless Access Point
95	WAAPaaS	Web Application and API Protection as a Service
96	WPA	WiFi Protected Access
97	WPS	WiFi Protected Setup
98	WTLS	Wireless Transport Layer Security
99	XDR	Extended Detection and Response
100	ZTNA	Zero Trust Network Access

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About the author

Kaiti Norton

Kaiti Norton is a Nashville-based Content Writer for TechnologyAdvice, a full-service B2B media company. She is passionate about helping brands build genuine connections with their customers through relatable, research-based content. When she's not writing about technology, she's sharing her musings about fashion, cats, books, and skincare on her blog.