Cybersecurity is a branch of technology that protects information that is stored digitally from online hackers, however, with such a vast subject, there is a plethora of unfamiliar words and acronyms that the everyday person would not know. As a company that knows A LOT about online security, we want to provide you with a few key acronyms and definitions that should help everyone speak our language.
Below is a list of common acronyms that we use every day, and they are categorized by topic rather than alphabetically.
SIEM – Security Information and Event Management
A SIEM is a deployable collector that provides a local network with real-time analysis of an environment’s activity.
ATP – Advanced Threat Protection
An alternative to the less-reliable anti-virus software that goes beyond point-in-time detection and analyzes files and traffic to find and counter advanced malware.
SOC – Security Operations Center
A focused area dedicated solely to customizing and enhancing the monitoring of a product like SIEM. The “place” where individuals combat serious threats with reliable remedial steps — something all companies need.
NON-CYBERSECURITY INDIVIDUALS STILL INVOLVED
CISO — Chief Information Security Offer
A company executive that ensures that their enterprise’s technology and information is not compromised by online hackers or other security threats.
MSP — Managed Service Provider
A managed service provider is an organization that handles the responsibility of maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions to improve operations and reduce expenses in terms of a business’s technology infrastructure.
MSSP — Managed Security Service Provider
Security providers for companies but unlike MSPs, MSSPs help the company prevent, detect, and/or respond to threats; MSPs simply provide a service and offer no remediation.
IT — Information Technology
An individual or group of individuals that have advanced expertise in technology in order to manage electronic-related problems of optimization opportunities.
COMPLIANCE
HIPAA — Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Compliance laws pertaining to the 1996 act that give provisions to protecting the privacy/data of patients.
FFIEC — Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
An institute that is concerned with the supervision of other financial institutions and their dealings between their services and their customers.
The list we’ve provided is not a comprehensive list and only covers some of the main acronyms we used in our day-to-day speech. If you were to step into our office, you might also hear us talking about VPNs, IDS/IDPs, MDR and more.