🔤Alphabet Soup

Here are common acronyms in information security, and what they stand for.

Acronym	Stands for	Notes
AD	Active Directory
APT	Advanced Persistent Threat	An attacker targeting a specific organization or person with customized, sophisticated techniques
AV	Antivirus [software]
AWS	Amazon Web Services
BYOD	Bring Your Own Device
CIA	Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability	The three core principles of information security. The "triad".
CVSS	Common Vulnerability Scoring System	A system for rating new vulnerabilities from 0 (low risk) to 10 (high risk).
DDoS	Distributed Denial of Service
DLP	Data Loss Prevention
DMZ	Demilitarized Zone
GCP	Google Cloud Platform
GRC	Governance, Regulation, and Compliance
IAM	Identity and Access Management
IDS / IPS	Intrusion Detection System / Intrusion Protection System
IT	Information Technology
K8S	Kubernetes
MDR	Managed Detection and Response
MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication	Sometimes called "2FA"
NICE	National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
NIST	National Institute of Standards and Technology	US Govt organization that has a large (free!) cybersecurity framework
OPSEC	Operational Security
OSINT	Open Source Intelligence	Collecting information using open sources (search engines, public records)
PCI-DSS	Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard	The rules credit card companies want payment collectors to adhere to. Sometimes shorted to "PCI", as in "PCI compliant"
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure
POC	Proof of Concept	Proving an exploit is possible against a target, usually with documentation, screenshots or videos.
S3	Amazon S3	Refers to Amazon's cloud storage service.
SE	Social Engineering	Phishing, vishing, etc.
SIEM	Security Information and Event Management
SOAR
SOC	Security Operations Center
SSO	Single Sign-On
TLS	Transport Layer Security
VPN	Virtual Private Network
XDR	Extended detection and response	The more sophisticated version of MDR