General IT, Cloud, Networking & Operations Acronyms & Definitions (A–Z) – Paramify

This article consolidates common IT, security, networking, and risk-management acronyms and concepts used across Paramify workflows.

Acronyms

#	Acronym	Full Name	Definition
1	API	Application Programming Interface	A way for software systems to communicate.
2	BCP	Business Continuity Plan	A plan to maintain operations during disruptions.
3	BIA	Business Impact Analysis	Identifies critical processes and the impact of outages.
4	CI/CD	Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment	Practices for automating software build and release.
5	DDoS	Distributed Denial of Service	An attack that overwhelms services with traffic.
6	DNS	Domain Name System	Translates domain names into IP addresses.
7	IaaS	Infrastructure as a Service	Cloud computing where customers manage OS/apps on provider infrastructure.
8	MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication	Authentication using two or more verification methods.
9	OSINT	Open Source Intelligence	Information gathered from public sources.
10	PaaS	Platform as a Service	Cloud platforms for building and deploying applications.
11	SaaS	Software as a Service	Cloud-hosted software accessed via the internet.
12	SIEM	Security Information and Event Management	Tools that collect and analyze security logs.
13	SOC	Security Operations Center	A team responsible for monitoring and responding to security events.
14	VPN	Virtual Private Network	An encrypted tunnel for network communication.
15	VLAN	Virtual Local Area Network	Logical network segmentation within a switched network.
16	WAN	Wide Area Network	A network that spans large geographic areas.

Glossary

#	Term	Definition
1	Least Privilege	Granting only the access needed to perform a task.
2	Defense in Depth	Using multiple layers of security controls to reduce risk.
3	Segmentation	Separating networks/systems to limit blast radius.
4	Encryption	Protecting data by converting it into unreadable form without a key.
5	Logging	Recording events to support monitoring, investigation, and auditing.
6	Monitoring	Observing systems/events to detect issues or threats.
7	Incident	An event that could compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability.
8	Risk	The likelihood and impact of a negative event.
9	Vulnerability	A weakness that could be exploited to cause harm.
10	Patch	A software update that fixes bugs or security issues.

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