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CompTIA Acronyms

Make sure you know these common CompTIA acronyms before taking your exam. We have grouped the acronyms together by exam.

Our CompTIA Acronym Flashcard Sets

Choose which flashcard set you want to study for:

  1. CompTIA A+ Acronyms
  2. CompTIA Security+ Acronyms
  3. CompTIA Network+ Acronyms
  4. CompTIA ITF+ Acronyms

CompTIA A+ Acronyms

AAA | Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting

AC | Alternating Current

ACL | Access Control List

ADF | Automatic Document Feeder

AES | Advanced Encryption Standard

AP | Access Point

APFS | Apple File System

APIPA | Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing

APK | Android Package

ARM | Advanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Machine

ARP | Address Resolution Protocol

ATA | Advanced Technology Attachment

ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode

ATX | Advanced Technology Extended

AUP | Acceptable Use Policy

BIOS | Basic Input/Output System

BSOD | Blue Screen of Death

BYOD | Bring Your Own Device

CAD | Computer-aided Design

CAPTCHA | Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart

CD | Compact Disc

CDFS | Compact Disc File System

CDMA | Code-Division Multiple Access

CERT | Computer Emergency Response Team

CIFS | Common Internet File System

CMD | Command Prompt

CMOS | Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

CPU | Central Processing Unit

CRL | Certificate Revocation List

DC | Direct Current

DDoS | Distributed Denial of Service

DDR | Double Data Rate

DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DIMM | Dual Inline Memory Module

DKIM | DomainKeys Identified Mail

DMA | Direct Memory Access

DMARC | Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance

DNS | Domain Name System

DoS | Denial of Service

DRAM | Dynamic Random-Access Memory

DRM | Digital Rights Management

DSL | Digital Subscriber Line

DVI | Digital Visual Interface

DVI-D | Digital Visual Interface-Digital

ECC | Error Correcting Code

EFS | Encrypting File System

EMI | Electromagnetic Interference

EOL | End-of-Life

eSATA | External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

ESD | Electrostatic Discharge

EULA | End-User License Agreement

exFAT | Extensible File Allocation Table

ext | Extended File System

FAT | File Allocation Table

FAT12 | 12-bit File Allocation Table

FAT16 | 16-bit File Allocation Table

FAT32 | 32-bit File Allocation Table

FSB | Front-Side Bus

FTP | File Transfer Protocol

GFS | Grandfather-Father-Son

GPS | Global Positioning System

GPT | GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) Partition Table

GPU | Graphics Processing Unit

GSM | Global System for Mobile Communications

GUI | Graphical User Interface

GUID | Globally Unique Identifier

HAL | Hardware Abstraction Layer

HAV | Hardware-assisted Virtualization

HCL | Hardware Compatibility List

HDCP | High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection

HDD | Hard Disk Drive

HDMI | High-Definition Multimedia Interface

HSM | Hardware Security Module

HTML | Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS | Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

I/O | Input/Output

IaaS | Infrastructure as a Service

ICR | Intelligent Character Recognition

IDE | Integrated Drive Electronics

IDS | Intrusion Detection System

IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IMAP | Internet Mail Access Protocol

IOPS | Input/Output Operations Per Second

IoT | Internet of Things

IP | Internet Protocol

IPS | Intrusion Prevention System

IPS | In-plane Switching

IPSec | Internet Protocol Security

IR | Infrared

IrDA | Infrared Data Association

IRP | Incident Response Plan

ISO | International Organization for Standardization

ISP | Internet Service Provider

ITX | Information Technology eXtended

KB | Knowledge Base

KVM | Keyboard-Video-Mouse

LAN | Local Area Network

LC | Lucent Connector

LCD | Liquid Crystal Display

LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

LED | Light-emitting Diode

MAC | Media Access Control/Mandatory Access Control

MAM | Mobile Application Management

MAN | Metropolitan Area Network

MBR | Master Boot Record

MDM | Mobile Device Management

MFA | Multifactor Authentication

MFD | Multifunction Device

MFP | Multifunction Printer

MMC | Microsoft Management Console

MOU | Memorandum of Understanding

MSDS | Material Safety Data Sheet

MSRA | Microsoft Remote Assistance

MX | Mail Exchange

NAC | Network Access Control

NAT | Network Address Translation

NDA | Non-disclosure Agreement

NetBIOS | Networked Basic Input/Output System

NetBT | NetBIOS over TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

NFC | Near-field Communication

NFS | Network File System

NIC | Network Interface Card

NTFS | New Technology File System

NVMe | Non-volatile Memory Express

OCR | Optical Character Recognition

OLED | Organic Light-emitting Diode

ONT | Optical Network Terminal

OS | Operating System

PaaS | Platform as a Service

PAN | Personal Area Network

PC | Personal Computer

PCIe | Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

PCL | Printer Command Language

PE | Preinstallation Environment

PII | Personally Identifiable Information

PIN | Personal Identification Number

PKI | Public Key Infrastructure

PoE | Power over Ethernet

POP3 | Post Office Protocol 3

POST | Power-on Self-Test

PPP | Point-to-Point Protocol

PRL | Preferred Roaming List

PSU | Power Supply Unit

PXE | Preboot Execution Environment

RADIUS | Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service

RAID | Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks

RAM | Random-access Memory

RDP | Remote Desktop Protocol

RF | Radio Frequency

RFI | Radio-Frequency Interference

RFID | Radio-Frequency Identification

RJ11 | Registered Jack Function 11

RJ45 | Registered Jack Function 45

RMM | Remote Monitoring and Management

RTO | Recovery Time Objective

SaaS | Software as a Service

SAN | Storage Area Network

SAS | Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)

SATA | Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

SC | Subscriber Connector

SCADA | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

SCP | Secure Copy Protection

SCSI | Small Computer System Interface

SDN | Software-defined Networking

SFTP | Secure File Transfer Protocol

SIM | Subscriber Identity Module

SIMM | Single Inline Memory Module

S.M.A.R.T. | Self-monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology

SMB | Server Message Block

SMS | Short Message Service

SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol

SNTP | Simple Network Time Protocol

SODIMM | Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module

SOHO | Small Office/Home Office

SPF | Sender Policy Framework

SQL | Structured Query Language

SRAM | Static Random-access Memory

SSD | Solid-State Drive

SSH | Secure Shell

SSID | Service Set Identifier

SSL | Secure Sockets Layer

SSO | Single Sign-on

ST | Straight Tip

STP | Shielded Twisted Pair

TACACS | Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System

TCP | Transmission Control Protocol

TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TFTP | Trivial File Transfer Protocol

TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

TLS | Transport Layer Security

TN | Twisted Nematic

TPM | Trusted Platform Module

UAC | User Account Control

UDP | User Datagram Protocol

UEFI | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

UNC | Universal Naming Convention

UPnP | Universal Plug and Play

UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply

USB | Universal Serial Bus

UTM | Unified Threat Management

UTP | Unshielded Twisted Pair

VA | Vertical Alignment

VDI | Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

VGA | Video Graphics Array

VLAN | Virtual LAN (Local Area Network)

VM | Virtual Machine

VNC | Virtual Network Computer

VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol

VPN | Virtual Private Network

VRAM | Video Random-access Memory

WAN | Wide Area Network

WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy

WISP | Wireless Internet Service Provider

WLAN | Wireless LAN (Local Area Network)

WMN | Wireless Mesh Network

WPA | WiFi Protected Access

WWAN | Wireless Wide Area Network

XSS | Cross-site Scripting

You can practice for this exam with our CompTIA A+ practice exams.

CompTIA Security+ Acronyms

3DES | Triple Data Encryption Standard

AAA | Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting

ABAC | Attribute-based Access Control

ACL | Access Control List

AD | Active Directory

AES | Advanced Encryption Standard

AES256 | Advanced Encryption Standards 256bit

AH | Authentication Header

AI | Artificial Intelligence

AIS | Automated Indicator Sharing

ALE | Annualized Loss Expectancy

AP | Access Point

API | Application Programming Interface

APT | Advanced Persistent Threat

ARO | Annualized Rate of Occurrence

ARP | Address Resolution Protocol

ASLR | Address Space Layout Randomization

ASP | Active Server Pages

ATT&CK | Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge

AUP | Acceptable Use Policy

AV | Antivirus

BASH | Bourne Again Shell

BCP | Business Continuity Planning

BGP | Border Gateway Protocol

BIA | Business Impact Analysis

BIOS | Basic Input/Output System

BPA | Business Partnership Agreement

BPDU | Bridge Protocol Data Unit

BSSID | Basic Service Set Identifier

BYOD | Bring Your Own Device

CA | Certificate Authority

CAPTCHA | Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart

CAR | Corrective Action Report

CASB | Cloud Access Security Broker

CBC | Cipher Block Chaining

CBT | Computer-based Training

CCMP | Counter-Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol

CCTV | Closed-Circuit Television

CERT | Computer Emergency Response Team

CFB | Cipher Feedback

CHAP | Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol

CIO | Chief Information Officer

CIRT | Computer Incident Response Team

CIS | Center for Internet Security

CMS | Content Management System

CN | Common Name

COOP | Continuity of Operations Planning

COPE | Corporate-owned Personally Enabled

CP | Contingency Planning

CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check

CRL | Certificate Revocation List

CSA | Cloud Security Alliance

CSIRT | Computer Security Incident Response Team

CSO | Chief Security Officer

CSP | Cloud Service Provider

CSR | Certificate Signing Request

CSRF | Cross-Site Request Forgery

CSU | Channel Service Unit

CTM | Counter-Mode

CTO | Chief Technology Officer

CVE | Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures

CVSS | Common Vulnerability Scoring System

CYOD | Choose Your Own Device

DAC | Discretionary Access Control

DBA | Database Administrator

DDoS | Distributed Denial-of-Service

DEP | Data Execution Prevention

DER | Distinguished Encoding Rules

DES | Data Encryption Standard

DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DHE | Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral

DKIM | Domain Keys Identified Mail

DLL | Dynamic-link Library

DLP | Data Loss Prevention

DMARC | Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance

DNAT | Destination Network Address Transaction

DNS | Domain Name System

DNSSEC | Domain Name System Security Extensions

DoS | Denial-of-Service

DPO | Data Protection Officer

DRP | Disaster Recovery Plan

DSA | Digital Signature Algorithm

DSL | Digital Subscriber Line

EAP | Extensible Authentication Protocol

ECB | Electronic Code Book

ECC | Elliptic-curve Cryptography

ECDHE | Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral

ECDSA | Elliptic-curve Digital Signature Algorithm

EDR | Endpoint Detection and Response

EFS | Encrypted File System

EIP | Extended Instruction Pointer

EOL | End of Life

EOS | End of Service

ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning

ESN | Electronic Serial Number

ESP | Encapsulating Security Payload

ESSID | Extended Service Set Identifier

FACL | File System Access Control List

FDE | Full Disk Encryption

FIM | File Integrity Monitoring

FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array

FRR | False Rejection Rate

FTP | File Transfer Protocol

FTPS | Secured File Transfer Protocol

GCM | Galois/Counter Mode

GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation

GPG | GNU Privacy Guard

GPO | Group Policy Object

GPS | Global Positioning System

GPU | Graphics Processing Unit

GRE | Generic Routing Encapsulation

HA | High Availability

HDD | Hard Disk Drive

HIDS | Host-based Intrusion Detection System

HIPS | Host-based Intrusion Prevention System

HMAC | Hash-based Message Authentication Code

HOTP | HMAC-based One-time Password

HSM | Hardware Security Module

HSMaaS | Hardware Security Module as a Service

HTML | Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS | Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

HVAC | Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning

IaaS | Infrastructure as a Service

IAM | Identity and Access Management

ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol

ICS | Industrial Control Systems

IDEA | International Data Encryption Algorithm

IDF | Intermediate Distribution Frame

IdP | Identity Provider

IDS | Intrusion Detection System

IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IKE | Internet Key Exchange

IM | Instant Messaging

IMAP4 | Internet Message Access Protocol v4

IoC | Indicators of Compromise

IoT | Internet of Things

IP | Internet Protocol

IPS | Intrusion Prevention System

IPSec | Internet Protocol Security

IR | Incident Response

IRC | Internet Relay Chat

IRP | Incident Response Plan

ISA | Interconnection Security Agreement

ISFW | Internal Segmentation Firewall

ISO | International Organization for Standardization

ISP | Internet Service Provider

ISSO | Information Systems Security Officer

ITCP | IT Contingency Plan

IV | Initialization Vector

KDC | Key Distribution Center

KEK | Key Encryption Key

L2TP | Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

LAN | Local Area Network

LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

LEAP | Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol

MaaS | Monitoring as a Service

MAC | Media Access Control

MAM | Mobile Application Management

MAN | Metropolitan Area Network

MBR | Master Boot Record

MD5 | Message Digest 5

MDF | Main Distribution Frame

MDM | Mobile Device Management

MFA | Multifactor Authentication

MFD | Multifunction Device

MFP | Multifunction Printer

ML | Machine Learning

MMS | Multimedia Message Service

MOA | Memorandum of Agreement

MOU | Memorandum of Understanding

MPLS | Multiprotocol Label Switching

MSA | Measurement Systems Analysis

MS-CHAP | Microsoft Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol

MSP | Managed Service Provider

MSSP | Managed Security Service Provider

MTBF | Mean Time Between Failures

MTTF | Mean Time to Failure

MTTR | Mean Time to Repair

MTU | Maximum Transmission Unit

NAC | Network Access Control

NAS | Network-attached Storage

NAT | Network Address Translation

NDA | Non-disclosure Agreement

NFC | Near-field Communication

NFV | Network Function Virtualization

NGFW | Next-generation Firewall

NG-SWG | Next-generation Secure Web Gateway

NIC | Network Interface Card

NIDS | Network-based Intrusion Detection System

NIPS | Network-based Intrusion Prevention System

NIST | National Institute of Standards & Technology

NOC | Network Operations Center

NTFS | New Technology File System

NTLM | New Technology LAN Manager

NTP | Network Time Protocol

OCSP | Online Certificate Status Protocol

OID | Object Identifier

OS | Operating System

OSI | Open Systems Interconnection

OSINT | Open-source Intelligence

OSPF | Open Shortest Path First

OT | Operational Technology

OTA | Over-The-Air

OTG | On-The-Go

OVAL | Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language

OWASP | Open Web Application Security Project

P12 | PKCS #12

P2P | Peer-to-Peer

PaaS | Platform as a Service

PAC | Proxy Auto Configuration

PAM | Privileged Access Management

PAM | Pluggable Authentication Modules

PAP | Password Authentication Protocol

PAT | Port Address Translation

PBKDF2 | Password-based Key Derivation Function 2

PBX | Private Branch Exchange

PCAP | Packet Capture

PCI DSS | Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

PDU | Power Distribution Unit

PE | Portable Executable

PEAP | Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol

PED | Portable Electronic Device

PEM | Privacy Enhanced Mail

PFS | Perfect Forward Secrecy

PGP | Pretty Good Privacy

PHI | Personal Health Information

PII | Personally Identifiable Information

PIN | Personal Identification Number

PIV | Personal Identity Verification

PKCS | Public Key Cryptography Standards

PKI | Public Key Infrastructure

PoC | Proof of Concept

POP | Post Office Protocol

POTS | Plain Old Telephone Service

PPP | Point-to-Point Protocol

PPTP | Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

PSK | Preshared Key

PTZ | Pan-Tilt-Zoom

PUP | Potentially Unwanted Program

QA | Quality Assurance

QoS | Quality of Service

RA | Registration Authority

RAD | Rapid Application Development

RADIUS | Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service

RAID | Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

RAM | Random Access Memory

RAS | Remote Access Server

RAT | Remote Access Trojan

RC4 | Rivest Cipher version 4

RCS | Rich Communication Services

RFC | Request for Comments

RFID | Radio Frequency Identification

RIPEMD | RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest

ROI | Return on Investment

RPO | Recovery Point Objective

RSA | Rivest, Shamir, & Adleman

RTBH | Remotely Triggered Black Hole

RTO | Recovery Time Objective

RTOS | Real-time Operating System

RTP | Real-time Transport Protocol

S/MIME | Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

SaaS | Software as a Service

SAE | Simultaneous Authentication of Equals

SAML | Security Assertions Markup Language

SCADA | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

SCAP | Security Content Automation Protocol

SCEP | Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol

SDK | Software Development Kit

SDLC | Software Development Life Cycle

SDLM | Software Development Life-cycle Methodology

SDN | Software-defined Networking

SDP | Service Delivery Platform

SDV | Software-defined Visibility

SED | Self-Encrypting Drives

SEH | Structured Exception Handling

SFTP | SSH File Transfer Protocol

SHA | Secure Hashing Algorithm

SIEM | Security Information and Event Management

SIM | Subscriber Identity Module

SIP | Session Initiation Protocol

SLA | Service-level Agreement

SLE | Single Loss Expectancy

SMB | Server Message Block

SMS | Short Message Service

SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SMTPS | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Secure

SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol

SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol

SOAR | Security Orchestration, Automation, Response

SoC | System on Chip

SOC | Security Operations Center

SPF | Sender Policy Framework

SPIM | Spam over Instant Messaging

SQL | Structured Query Language

SQLi | SQL Injection

SRTP | Secure Real-time Transport Protocol

SSD | Solid State Drive

SSH | Secure Shell

SSID | Service Set Identifier

SSL | Secure Sockets Layer

SSO | Single Sign-on

STIX | Structured Threat Information eXpression

STP | Shielded Twisted Pair

SWG | Secure Web Gateway

TACACS+ | Terminal Access Controller Access Control System

TAXII | Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information

TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TGT | Ticket Granting Ticket

TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

TLS | Transport Layer Security

TOTP | Time-based One Time Password

TPM | Trusted Platform Module

TSIG | Transaction Signature

TTP | Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

UAT | User Acceptance Testing

UDP | User Datagram Protocol

UEBA | User and Entity Behavior Analytics

UEFI | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

UEM | Unified Endpoint Management

UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply

URI | Uniform Resource Identifier

URL | Universal Resource Locator

USB | Universal Serial Bus

USB OTG | USB On-The-Go

UTM | Unified Threat Management

UTP | Unshielded Twisted Pair

VBA | Visual Basic for Applications

VDE | Virtual Desktop Environment

VDI | Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network

VLSM | Variable-length Subnet Masking

VM | Virtual Machine

VoIP | Voice over IP

VPC | Virtual Private Cloud

VPN | Virtual Private Network

VTC | Video Teleconferencing

WAF | Web Application Firewall

WAP | Wireless Access Point

WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy

WIDS | Wireless Intrusion Detection System

WIPS | Wireless Intrusion Prevention System

WORM | Write Once Read Many

WPA | WiFi Protected Access

WPS | WiFi Protected Setup

XaaS | Anything as a Service

XML | Extensible Markup Language

XOR | Exclusive OR

XSRF | Cross-site Request Forgery

XSS | Cross-site Scripting

You can practice for this exam with our CompTIA Security+ practice exams.

CompTIA Network+ Acronyms

AAAA | Authentication, Authorization, Accounting, Auditing

ACL | Access Control List

AES | Advanced Encryption Standard

AH | Authentication Header

AP | Access Point

APC | Angled Physical Contact

APIPA | Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing

ARP | Address Resolution Protocol

AUP | Acceptable Use Policy

BGP | Border Gateway Protocol

BNC | British Naval Connector/Bayonet Neill-Concelman

BYOD | Bring Your Own Device

CAM | Content Addressable Memory (table)

CAN | Campus Area Network

CDMA | Code Division Multiple Access

CIA | Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

CIDR | Classless Inter-Domain Routing

CLI | Command-Line Interface

CNAME | Canonical Name

CPU | Central Processing Unit

CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check

CSMA/CA | Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance

CSMA/CD | Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection

CSU | Channel Service Unit

CVE | Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures

CWDM | Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing

DaaS | Desktop as a Service

dB | Decibel

DDoS | Distributed Denial-of-Service

DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DLP | Data Loss Prevention

DNS | Domain Name System

DoS | Denial-of-Service

DSL | Digital Subscriber Line

DSU | Data Service Unit

DWDM | Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing

EAP | Extensible Authentication Protocol

EIA | Electronic Industries Association

EIGRP | Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

EIRP | Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

ESP | Encapsulating Security Payload

EUI | Extended Unique Identifier

FCoE | Fibre Channel over Ethernet

FHRP | First Hop Redundancy Protocol

FTP | File Transfer Protocol

GBIC | Gigabit Interface Converter

GRE | Generic Routing Encapsulation

GSM | Global System for Mobile Communications

HA | High Availability

HDMI | High-Definition Multimedia Interface

HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS | Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

HVAC | Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

IaaS | Infrastructure as a Service

ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol

ICS | Industrial Control System

IDF | Intermediate Distribution Frame

IDS | Intrusion Detection System

IGMP | Internet Group Management Protocol

IMAP | Internet Message Access Protocol

IoT | Internet of Things

IP | Internet Protocol

IPS | Intrusion Prevention System

IPSec | Internet Protocol Security

IPv4 | Internet Protocol version 4

IPv6 | Internet Protocol version 6

iSCSI | Internet Small Computer Systems Interface

ISP | Internet Service Provider

LACP | Link Aggregation Control Protocol

LAN | Local Area Network

LC | Local Connector

LDAP | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

LDAPS | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (over SSL)

LED | Light-Emitting Diode

LTE | Long-Term Evolution

MAC | Media Access Control/Medium Access Control

MAN | Metropolitan Area Network

MDF | Main Distribution Frame

MDIX | Medium Dependent Interface Crossover

mGRE | Multipoint Generic Routing Encapsulation

MIB | Management Information Base

MIMO | Multiple Input, Multiple Output

MU-MIMO | Multiuser – Multiple Input, Multiple Output

MOU | Memorandum of Understanding

MPLS | Multiprotocol Label Switching

MTBF | Mean Time Between Failure

MT-RJ | Mechanical Transfer – Registered Jack

MTTR | Mean Time to Repair

MTU | Maximum Transmission Unit

MX | Mail Exchange

NAC | Network Access Control

NAS | Network Attached Storage

NAT | Network Address Translation

NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement

NFV | Network Function Virtualization

NGFW | Next-Generation Firewall

NIC | Network Interface Card

NS | Name Server

NTP | Network Time Protocol

OID | Object Identifier

OSI | Open Systems Interconnection

OSPF | Open Shortest Path First

OTDR | Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

PaaS | Platform as a Service

PAN | Personal Area Network

PAT | Port Address Translation

PDU | Power Distribution Unit

PoE | Power over Ethernet

POP3 | Post Office Protocol version 3

PSK | Pre-Shared Key

PTR | Pointer Record

QoS | Quality of Service

QSFP | Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable

RA | Router Advertisements

RADIUS | Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

RAID | Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks

RDP | Remote Desktop Protocol

RF | Radio Frequency

RFC | Request for Comment

RG | Radio Guide

RIP | Routing Internet Protocol

RJ | Registered Jack

RPO | Recovery Point Objective

RSSI | Received Signal Strength Indication

RTO | Recovery Time Objective

RTSP | Real Time Streaming Protocol

SaaS | Software as a Service

SAN | Storage Area Network

SC | Standard Connector/Subscriber Connector

SCADA | Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

SDN | Software-Defined Network

SDWAN | Software-Defined WAN

A | SPELLED OUT

SFP | Small Form-factor Pluggable

SFTP | Secure File Transfer Protocol

SIEM | Security Information and Event Management

SIP | Session Initiation Protocol

SLA | Service Level Agreement

SLAAC | Stateless Address Auto-Configuration

SMB | Server Message Block

SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol

SOA | Start of Authority

SOHO | Small Office Home Office

SQL | Structured Query Language

SRV | Service Record

SSD | Solid-State Drive

SSH | Secure Shell

SSID | Service Set Identifier

SSL | Secure Sockets Layer

SSO | Single Sign-On

ST | Straight Tip or Snap Twist

STP | Spanning Tree Protocol

SYSLOG | System Log

TACACS+ | Terminal Access Controller Access Control System Plus

TCP | Transmission Control Protocol

TFTP | Trivial File Transfer Protocol

TIA/EIA | Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Alliance

TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

TLS | Transport Layer Security

TTL | Time to Live

TX/RX | Transmit and Receive

UDP | User Datagram Protocol

UPC | Ultra-Physical Contact

UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply

URL | Uniform Resource Locator

USB | Universal Serial Bus

UTP | Unshielded Twister Pair

VIP | Virtual IP

VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network

VM | Virtual Machine

VNC | Virtual Network Computing

vNIC | virtual Network Interface Card

VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol

VPN | Virtual Private Network

VRRP | Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol

WAN | Wide Area Network

WAP | Wireless Access Point

WDM | Wavelength Division Multiplexing

WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network

WPA | WiFi Protected Access

You can practice for this exam with our CompTIA Network+ practice exams.

CompTIA ITF+ Acronyms

AC | Alternating Current

ACL | Access Control List

AES | Advanced Encryption Standard

AIO | All In One

APIPA | Automatic Private Internet Protocol Addressing

ARM | Advanced RISC Machines

ARP | Address Resolution Protocol

ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange

BD-ROM | Blu-ray Disc-Read-Only Memory

BIOS | Basic Input/Output System

CAD | Computer-Aided Design

CAM | Computer-Aided Manufacturing

CD | Compact Disc

CD-ROM | Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory

CD-RW | Compact Disc-Rewritable

CPU | Central Processing Unit

CRUD | Create, Read, Update, Delete

CSS | Cascading Style Sheets

DC | Direct Current

DDL | Data Definition Language

DDoS | Distributed Denial of Service

DDR | Double Data-Rate

DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DIMM | Dual Inline Memory Module

DLL | Dynamic Link Layer

DLP | Data Leak Prevention

DML | Data Manipulation Language

DNS | Domain Name Service or Domain Name Server

DoS | Denial of Service

DSL | Digital Subscriber Line

DVD | Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc

DVD-R | Digital Video Disc-Recordable

DVD-RW | Digital Video Disc-Rewritable

DVI | Digital Visual Interface

EMI | Electromagnetic Interference

eSATA | External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

ESD | Electrostatic Discharge

EULA | End-User License Agreement

FAT | File Allocation Table

FAT32 | 32-bit File Allocation Table

FTP | File Transfer Protocol

FTPS | File Transfer Protocol over Secure Sockets Layer

Gb | Gigabit

GB | Gigabyte

Gbps | Gigabit per second

GHz | Gigahertz

GPS | Global Positioning System

GPU | Graphics Processing Unit

GUI | Graphical User Interface

HDD | Hard Disk Drive

HDMI | High-Definition Media Interface

HFS | Hierarchical File System

HTML | Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS | Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

ICMP | Internet Control Message Protocol

IDS | Intrusion Detection System

IMAP | Internet Mail Access Protocol

IOPS | Input/Output Operations Per Second

IoT | Internet of Things

IP | Internet Protocol

IPS | Intrusion Prevention System

IR | Infrared

ISP | Internet Service Provider

Kb | Kilobit

KB | Kilobyte or Knowledge Base

Kbps | Kilobit per second

LAN | Local Area Network

MAC | Media Access Control

Mb | Megabit

MB | Megabyte

Mbps | Megabit per second

MHz | Megahertz

MITM | Man in the Middle

MP3 | Moving Picture Experts Group Layer 3 Audio

MP4 | Moving Picture Experts Group Layer 4

NAS | Network Attached Storage

NDA | Non-Disclosure Agreement

NFC | Near Field Communications

NIC | Network Interface Card

NTFS | New Technology File System

OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer

OS | Operating System

PB | Petabyte

PC | Personal Computer

PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect

PCIe | Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

PII | Personally Identifiable Information

PIN | Personal Identification Number

POP | Post Office Protocol

POP3 | Post Office Protocol 3

PSU | Power Supply Unit

PXE | Preboot Execution Environment

RAID | Redundant Array of Independent Disks

RAM | Random Access Memory

RF | Radio Frequency

RJ | Registered Jack

RJ-11 | Registered Jack Function 11

RJ-45 | Registered Jack Function 45

ROM | Read-Only Memory

SaaS | Software as a Service

SATA | Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

SD Card | Secure Digital Card

SFTP | Secure File Transfer Protocol

SID | System Identifier

SMB | Server Message Block

SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol

SOHO | Small Office, Home Office

SQL | Structured Query Language

SSD | Solid State Drive

SSID | Service Set Identifier

SSO | Secure Sign-On

SSL | Secure Sockets Layer

Tb | Terabit

TB | Terabyte

Tbps | Terabits per second

TCP | Transmission Control Protocol

TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

TLS | Thread Local Storage

UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply

URL | Uniform Resource Locator

USB | Universal Serial Bus

VGA | Video Graphics Array or Video Graphics Adapter

VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol

VPN | Virtual Private Network

WAN | Wide Area Network

WAP | Wireless Access Point

WEP | Wired Equivalency Privacy

WIFI | Wireless Fidelity

WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network

WPA | Wireless Protected Access

WPA2 | Wireless Protected Access 2

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Ahmed Sheikh
Ahmed is our CompTIA expert. He has his master's degree in electrical engineering and has published books on different CompTIA topics.