CompTIA SY- 701 (Security+) Acronyms

 CompTIA SY0-701 Acronyms

This is a video option for the flashcards for the acronyms for Security+ (SY0-701)


Below is the full written list so you can study it as text, not just flashcards. CompTIA doesn’t officially sort the SY0-701 acronym appendix by exam domain — it’s alphabetical — so I’ve grouped every acronym under the domain where it’s most likely to come up, following the five SY0-701 objectives:

  • 1.0 General Security Concepts (12%)
  • 2.0 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations (22%)
  • 3.0 Security Architecture (18%)
  • 4.0 Security Operations (28%)
  • 5.0 Security Program Management and Oversight (20%)

A handful of terms show up in more than one domain in real life (TLS shows up everywhere, for example) — I’ve placed each one where it’s most commonly tested so the list stays usable as a single study pass.

1.0 General Security Concepts

Core cryptography, PKI building blocks, and access control models.

  • AAA – Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting
  • ACL – Access Control List
  • AES – Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES-256 – Advanced Encryption Standard 256-bit
  • AH – Authentication Header
  • CA – Certificate Authority
  • CAPTCHA – Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
  • CBC – Cipher Block Chaining
  • CCMP – Counter Mode/CBC-MAC Protocol
  • CFB – Cipher Feedback
  • CIA – Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
  • CRL – Certificate Revocation List
  • CSR – Certificate Signing Request
  • CTM – Counter Mode
  • DAC – Discretionary Access Control
  • DES – Digital Encryption Standard
  • DHE – Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral
  • DSA – Digital Signature Algorithm
  • ECB – Electronic Code Book
  • ECC – Elliptic Curve Cryptography
  • ECDHE – Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral
  • ECDSA – Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
  • ESP – Encapsulated Security Payload
  • GCM – Galois Counter Mode
  • GPG – GNU Privacy Guard
  • HMAC – Hashed Message Authentication Code
  • IDEA – International Data Encryption Algorithm
  • IKE – Internet Key Exchange
  • IV – Initialization Vector
  • KDC – Key Distribution Center
  • KEK – Key Encryption Key
  • MAC – Mandatory Access Control
  • MAC – Message Authentication Code
  • MD5 – Message Digest 5
  • OCSP – Online Certificate Status Protocol
  • OID – Object Identifier
  • P12 – PKCS #12
  • PBKDF2 – Password-based Key Derivation Function 2
  • PEM – Privacy Enhanced Mail
  • PFS – Perfect Forward Secrecy
  • PGP – Pretty Good Privacy
  • PKCS – Public Key Cryptography Standards
  • PKI – Public Key Infrastructure
  • PSK – Pre-shared Key
  • RA – Recovery Agent
  • RA – Registration Authority
  • RBAC – Role-based Access Control
  • RBAC – Rule-based Access Control
  • RC4 – Rivest Cipher version 4
  • RIPEMD – RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest
  • RSA – Rivest, Shamir, & Adleman
  • S/MIME – Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
  • SAN – Subject Alternative Name
  • SHA – Secure Hashing Algorithm
  • SSL – Secure Sockets Layer
  • TGT – Ticket Granting Ticket
  • TLS – Transport Layer Security
  • XOR – Exclusive Or

2.0 Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations

Threat actors, attack types, indicators, and the tools/techniques used to catch or stop them.

  • APT – Advanced Persistent Threat
  • ARP – Address Resolution Protocol
  • ASLR – Address Space Layout Randomization
  • ATT&CK – Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge
  • AV – Antivirus
  • CRC – Cyclical Redundancy Check
  • CSRF – Cross-site Request Forgery
  • CVE – Common Vulnerability Enumeration
  • CVSS – Common Vulnerability Scoring System
  • DDoS – Distributed Denial of Service
  • DEP – Data Execution Prevention
  • DoS – Denial of Service
  • IoC – Indicators of Compromise
  • OSINT – Open-source Intelligence
  • OVAL – Open Vulnerability Assessment Language
  • PUP – Potentially Unwanted Program
  • RAT – Remote Access Trojan
  • RTBH – Remotely Triggered Black Hole
  • SCAP – Security Content Automation Protocol
  • SEH – Structured Exception Handler
  • SQL – Structured Query Language
  • SQLi – SQL Injection
  • STIX – Structured Threat Information eXchange
  • TAXII – Trusted Automated eXchange of Indicator Information
  • TOC – Time-of-check
  • TOU – Time-of-use
  • TTP – Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
  • VBA – Visual Basic for Applications
  • XSRF – Cross-site Request Forgery
  • XSS – Cross-site Scripting

3.0 Security Architecture

Cloud, network, and infrastructure design — plus the physical hardware it runs on.

  • API – Application Programming Interface
  • BIOS – Basic Input/Output System
  • CASB – Cloud Access Security Broker
  • CCTV – Closed-circuit Television
  • DNAT – Destination Network Address Translation
  • FPGA – Field Programmable Gate Array
  • GRE – Generic Routing Encapsulation
  • HA – High Availability
  • HDD – Hard Disk Drive
  • HIDS – Host-based Intrusion Detection System
  • HIPS – Host-based Intrusion Prevention System
  • HSM – Hardware Security Module
  • IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
  • IaC – Infrastructure as Code
  • ICS – Industrial Control Systems
  • IDS – Intrusion Detection System
  • IoT – Internet of Things
  • IPS – Intrusion Prevention System
  • IPSec – Internet Protocol Security
  • L2TP – Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
  • MaaS – Monitoring as a Service
  • MBR – Master Boot Record
  • MPLS – Multi-protocol Label Switching
  • NAC – Network Access Control
  • NAT – Network Address Translation
  • NGFW – Next-generation Firewall
  • NIDS – Network-based Intrusion Detection System
  • NIPS – Network-based Intrusion Prevention System
  • OT – Operational Technology
  • PaaS – Platform as a Service
  • PAT – Port Address Translation
  • PPTP – Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
  • PTZ – Pan-tilt-zoom
  • RAID – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
  • RTOS – Real-time Operating System
  • SaaS – Software as a Service
  • SAN – Storage Area Network
  • SASE – Secure Access Service Edge
  • SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
  • SD-WAN – Software-defined Wide Area Network
  • SDN – Software-defined Networking
  • SED – Self-encrypting Drives
  • SoC – System on Chip
  • SSD – Solid State Drive
  • SWG – Secure Web Gateway
  • TPM – Trusted Platform Module
  • UEFI – Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
  • UTM – Unified Threat Management
  • VDE – Virtual Desktop Environment
  • VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
  • VLAN – Virtual Local Area Network
  • VLSM – Variable Length Subnet Masking
  • VM – Virtual Machine
  • VPC – Virtual Private Cloud
  • VPN – Virtual Private Network
  • WAF – Web Application Firewall

4.0 Security Operations

Hardening, identity & access management, monitoring, protocols, and incident response — the biggest domain on the exam.

  • AP – Access Point
  • BASH – Bourne Again Shell
  • BPDU – Bridge Protocol Data Unit
  • BYOD – Bring Your Own Device
  • CERT – Computer Emergency Response Team
  • CHAP – Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
  • CIRT – Computer Incident Response Team
  • CMS – Content Management System
  • COPE – Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled
  • CYOD – Choose Your Own Device
  • DBA – Database Administrator
  • DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
  • DKIM – DomainKeys Identified Mail
  • DLL – Dynamic Link Library
  • DLP – Data Loss Prevention
  • DMARC – Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance
  • DNS – Domain Name System
  • DSL – Digital Subscriber Line
  • EAP – Extensible Authentication Protocol
  • EDR – Endpoint Detection and Response
  • EFS – Encrypted File System
  • ESN – Electronic Serial Number
  • FACL – File System Access Control List
  • FDE – Full Disk Encryption
  • FIM – File Integrity Management
  • FRR – False Rejection Rate
  • FTP – File Transfer Protocol
  • FTPS – Secured File Transfer Protocol
  • GPO – Group Policy Object
  • GPS – Global Positioning System
  • GPU – Graphics Processing Unit
  • HOTP – HMAC-based One-time Password
  • HTML – Hypertext Markup Language
  • HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • HTTPS – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
  • IAM – Identity and Access Management
  • IdP – Identity Provider
  • IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • IM – Instant Messaging
  • IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol
  • IR – Incident Response
  • IRC – Internet Relay Chat
  • IRP – Incident Response Plan
  • ISP – Internet Service Provider
  • LAN – Local Area Network
  • LDAP – Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
  • LEAP – Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol
  • MAC – Media Access Control
  • MAN – Metropolitan Area Network
  • MDF – Main Distribution Frame
  • MDM – Mobile Device Management
  • MFA – Multifactor Authentication
  • MFD – Multifunction Device
  • MFP – Multifunction Printer
  • ML – Machine Learning
  • AI – Artificial Intelligence
  • MMS – Multimedia Message Service
  • MSCHAP – Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
  • MTU – Maximum Transmission Unit
  • NFC – Near Field Communication
  • NTFS – New Technology File System
  • NTLM – New Technology LAN Manager
  • NTP – Network Time Protocol
  • OAUTH – Open Authorization
  • OS – Operating System
  • OSPF – Open Shortest Path First
  • OTA – Over the Air
  • P2P – Peer to Peer
  • PAC – Proxy Auto Configuration
  • PAM – Privileged Access Management
  • PAM – Pluggable Authentication Modules
  • PAP – Password Authentication Protocol
  • PBX – Private Branch Exchange
  • PCAP – Packet Capture
  • PDU – Power Distribution Unit
  • PEAP – Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol
  • PED – Personal Electronic Device
  • PIV – Personal Identity Verification
  • POP – Post Office Protocol
  • POTS – Plain Old Telephone Service
  • PPP – Point-to-Point Protocol
  • RAD – Rapid Application Development
  • RADIUS – Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service
  • RAS – Remote Access Server
  • RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol
  • RFID – Radio Frequency Identifier
  • RTP – Real-time Transport Protocol
  • SAE – Simultaneous Authentication of Equals
  • SAML – Security Assertions Markup Language
  • SCEP – Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol
  • SDK – Software Development Kit
  • SDLC – Software Development Lifecycle
  • SDLM – Software Development Lifecycle Methodology
  • SE Linux – Security-enhanced Linux
  • SFTP – Secured File Transfer Protocol
  • SHTTP – Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • SIEM – Security Information and Event Management
  • SIM – Subscriber Identity Module
  • 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 – Security Operations Center
  • SPF – Sender Policy Framework
  • SPIM – Spam over Internet Messaging
  • SRTP – Secure Real-Time Protocol
  • SSH – Secure Shell
  • SSO – Single Sign-on
  • TACACS+ – Terminal Access Controller Access Control System
  • TKIP – Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
  • TOTP – Time-based One-time Password
  • TSIG – Transaction Signature
  • UAT – User Acceptance Testing
  • UAV – Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
  • UDP – User Datagram Protocol
  • 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
  • UTP – Unshielded Twisted Pair
  • VoIP – Voice over IP
  • VTC – Video Teleconferencing
  • WAP – Wireless Access Point
  • WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy
  • WIDS – Wireless Intrusion Detection System
  • WIPS – Wireless Intrusion Prevention System
  • WPA – Wi-Fi Protected Access
  • WPS – Wi-Fi Protected Setup
  • WTLS – Wireless TLS
  • XDR – Extended Detection and Response
  • XML – Extensible Markup Language

5.0 Security Program Management and Oversight

Governance, risk management, third-party agreements, compliance, and the roles behind the policies.

  • ALE – Annualized Loss Expectancy
  • ARO – Annualized Rate of Occurrence
  • AUP – Acceptable Use Policy
  • BCP – Business Continuity Planning
  • BIA – Business Impact Analysis
  • BPA – Business Partners Agreement
  • CAR – Corrective Action Report
  • CIO – Chief Information Officer
  • COOP – Continuity of Operation Planning
  • CP – Contingency Planning
  • CSO – Chief Security Officer
  • CSP – Cloud Service Provider
  • CTO – Chief Technology Officer
  • DPO – Data Privacy Officer
  • DRP – Disaster Recovery Plan
  • ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
  • GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation
  • HVAC – Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning
  • ISO – International Standards Organization
  • ISSO – Information Systems Security Officer
  • MOA – Memorandum of Agreement
  • MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
  • MSA – Master Service Agreement
  • MSP – Managed Service Provider
  • MSSP – Managed Security Service Provider
  • MTBF – Mean Time Between Failures
  • MTTF – Mean Time to Failure
  • MTTR – Mean Time to Recover
  • NDA – Non-disclosure Agreement
  • NIST – National Institute of Standards & Technology
  • PCI DSS – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
  • PHI – Personal Health Information
  • PII – Personally Identifiable Information
  • ROI – Return on Investment
  • RPO – Recovery Point Objective
  • RTO – Recovery Time Objective
  • SLA – Service-level Agreement
  • SLE – Single Loss Expectancy
  • SOW – Statement of Work
  • WO – Work Order

Security+ Exam Tip

You won’t be handed a glossary on exam day — performance-based questions often expect you to recognize an acronym cold and apply it in a scenario (e.g., picking RADIUS vs. TACACS+ for a given authentication scenario, or RPO vs. RTO in a disaster-recovery question). Don’t just memorize the expansion; know what each term does and which domain it tends to show up in.

Key Takeaways

  • SY0-701 draws from roughly 280 acronyms across its official appendix — this list groups them by the domain they’re most associated with.
  • Domain 4.0 (Security Operations) carries the most exam weight (28%) and also the most acronyms here, especially around IAM, protocols, and monitoring.
  • A few terms (like MAC, PAM, RA, RBAC, and SAN) have more than one valid expansion on CompTIA’s own list — context in the question tells you which one applies.
  • Use the video above for active recall, then come back to this list to fill in anything you missed.

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