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NAC - Network Access Control (Network Admission Control) (A technological approach to network access which uses a set of predefined protocols to require devices seeking access to a sytem to comply with various standards, such as antivirus updates installation, before being allowed access.)
NAC - Network Admission Control (Network Access Control) (A security control which can permit or deny access to a network based on characteristics of the device seeking admission, rather than just checking user credentials (Operating System (OS) or antivirus version update requirements) Called a posture assessment.)
NAS - Network Access Server (A server (computer that provides services to another computer) that controls access to a network by authenticating the request source or origin, by validating or comparing the requestor against a list of approved requestors, and by allowing or rejecting access. )
NAT - Network Address Translation (A system capability which allows a private IP (Internet Protocol) address - the numeric address assigned to a device inside an organization - to be translated into an Internet-routable (public) IP address - allows an organization to hide the true IP address of a device. The system router will translate traffic message addresses and forward them to the correct device.)
NBS - National Bureau of Standards (Federal agency, founded in 1901, within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to deal with industrial standards. Predecessor agency to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which sets standards and provides guidelines related to information systems and security.)
NCCIC - National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (Unit/division of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), concerned with cyber defense, incident response, and acting as an operational integration center. Serves as an information resource for cyber and communications information, technical expertise, and operational integration, as well as operating a situational awareness, analysis, and incident response center.)
NCET - National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (Team created within the U.S. Justice Department to tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering infrastructure actors.)
NCF - National Critical Functions (Categories of services or economic sectors deemed essential to a nation's survival or functioning, such as food supply, electrical power, water, or healthcare.)
NCPs - Network Control Protocols (Protocols which configure a network so that different network layer protocols can communicate.)
NCSA - National Cyber Security Alliance (Nonprofit organization which focuses on cyber security issues and threats to users, such as malware, involving Internet use.)
NCSC - National Counterintelligence and Security Center (Agency within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) which deals with national security issues, provides advice on policy, collects and analyzes threat data, and partners with the private sector to educate about security issues and to alert companies about serious and immediate threats.)
NCSC - National Cyber Security Centre (United Kingdom (UK) organization launches in October 2016, headquartered in London, which provides cyber security guidance and support to a broad range of people and organizations, working in cooperation with the public sector, industry, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as the general public.)
NDA - nondisclosure agreement (Contractual arrangement between a business or organization and an employee or contractor in which the employee or contractor agrees not to disclose sensitive or confidential information about the organization they learn about or are exposed to in the course of their employment or service.)
NDLP - network data leak prevention (Measures taken to implement data protection policies related to data in motion. NDLP products normally take the form of appliances that are deployed at the perimeter of an organization's networks and, due to their high cost, are usually deployed at traffic choke points rather than throughout a network.)
NDP - Neighbor Discovery Protocol (sometimes Network Discovery Protocol) (Protocol, within IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) intended to provide addressing capabilities by adding more IP addresses and allowing for discovery (mapping) of network nodes (neighbors) and is intended to be a replacement for ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), when fully adopted.)
NDR - nondelivery report (Notification received that an e-mail was not delivered to the recipient. Nondelivery can occur for a number of reasons, such as the e-mail address not existing or the address was misspelled or entered incorrectly.)
NEF - National Essential Function (Functions considered essential to the survival of the U.S., which are the responsibility of the federal government.)
NERC - North American Electric Reliability Commission (Oversight body representing U.S. bulk electricity suppliers/providers tasked with setting security control guidelines.)
NERC - North American Electric Reliability Corporation (Transnational organization of North American bulk electric system operators located in the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico which can enforce compliance with its rules covering bulk power system infrastructure on owners, operators, and users of the system.)
NERC CIP - North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Plan (Set of requirements designed to secure/protect the assets required for operating North America's bulk electric system operators located in the U.S., Canada, and Northern Mexico.)
NetBIOS - Network Basic Input/Output System (An application programming interface (API) which allows applications to communicate with each other over local area networks (LANs).)
NGA - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Combat Support Agency which provides geospatial (geographic-location-distance) intelligence to military forces, as well as civilian agencies involved in flood and fire disasters, as well as peacekeeping.)
NGF - Next-Generation Firewall (Firewall technology with enhanced capabilities over traditional firewalls. Next-generation capabilities can vary, but generally will include a more active Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to deal with discovered threats, rather than just a passive Intrusion Detection System (IDS), greater network-wide awareness and visibility involving unusual system activity, faster detection time for threats and breaches - seconds, minutes, or hours, rather than days or months, and the addition of external intelligence capabilities, or the ability to draw on outside worldwide intelligence gathering about emerging threats.)
NGFW - Next-Generation Firewall (Firewall technology with enhanced capabilities over traditional firewalls. Next-generation capabilities can vary, but generally will include a more active Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to deal with discovered threats, rather than just a passive Intrusion Detection System (IDS), greater network-wide awareness and visibility involving unusual system activity, faster detection time for threats and breaches - seconds, minutes, or hours, rather than days or months, and the addition of external intelligence capabilities, or the ability to draw on outside worldwide intelligence gathering about emerging threats.)
NIAC - National Infrastructure Advisory Council (U.S. body of government agencies and industry heads tasked with reviewing infrastructure security and reporting.)
NIACAP - National Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (Framework/documentation statement providing guidance for compliance with security guidelines for national security systems. NIACAP applied to non-military intelligence agencies or other non-military agency operators of national security systems.)
NIC - network interface card (A wired Ethernet (short-distance wired connection connecting a computer to a LAN (local area network)) adapter integrated into the motherboard during manufacture - an NIC is used for both wired and wireless network connections and is necessary to allow a computer to communicate with a network and, through the local network, to the Internet. A "card" refers to a printed circuit board or chip. An NIC is sometimes referred to simply as a network card. Each NIC has a unique hardware (physical) address burned into the chip during manufacture, known as the MAC (media access control) address, which identifies both the manufacturer and the individual chip.)
NICE - National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (Program intended to encourage development of a cybersecurity workforce and increase awareness of cybersecurity by providing guidelines and setting standards for educational programs in cybersecurity.)
NIDS - Network Intrusion Detection System (A network-based device placed at strategic places on a network to monitor and analyze all network traffic traversing the subnet and comparing it against signatures for known vulnerabilities and attacks. A NIDS is a passive device which focuses on detection alone, in contrast to a Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS), which is an active device which tries to prevent or stop attacks by taking action, such as blocking traffic from a certain address or domain.)
NIDS/NIPS - Network Intrusion Detection System/Network Intrusion Prevention System (Category of network devices which deal with attacks against a network at large, in contrast to attacks on an individual host. NIDS/NIPS may describe two types of defense systems or may be incorporated into a single system. A NIDS is a passive device which focuses on detection alone, in contrast to a Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS), which is an active device which tries to prevent or stop attacks by taking action, such as blocking traffic from a certain address or domain.)
NIPS - Network Intrusion Prevention System (Category of network devices or software which deal with attacks against a network at large, in contrast to attacks on an individual host. A Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS) is an active device or software which tries to prevent or stop attacks by taking action, such as blocking traffic from a certain address or domain, in contrast to a NIDS, which is a passive device which focuses on detection alone.)
NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology (Agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce which conducts federal physical science research and provides guidance/standards in the technological and scientific areas - formerly the National Bureau of Standards, agency created in 1901.
NISTIR - National Institute of Standards and Technology Interagency Report (Report prepared by NIST on behalf of or for use by a federal agency or agencies, which may provide guidance related to similar problems or issues likely to be encountered by agencies.)
NITTF - National Insider Threat Task Force (Agency under the joint leadership of the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, which focuses on threats by malicious insiders which might compromise classified information and works to establish programs to protect federal classified networks.)
NMS - Network Management System (also called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)) (A system used by network administrators for monitoring network resources, such as network servers, routers, and switches, with the capability of obtaining information about activity by sending information to, requesting information from, and receiving unsolicited information and reports from a managed device.)
NNTP - Network News Transport Protocol (Protocol supporting the posting and reading of articles on Usenet news servers.)
NOC - network operations center (A centralized unit or team that's focused on monitoring and managing the enterprise network and the devices on it. An NOC is typically staffed with IT personnel focused on system maintenance rather than security and often is concerned with managing data backups, ensuring network availability and performance, and rolling out patches.)
NPP - nuclear power plants (Utility generation facilities producing electricity using nuclear energy.)
NRO - National Reconnaisance Office (Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) which designs, builds, and operates the U.S. reconnaissance satellite system and provides intelligence and analysis services to the military and civilian agencies.)
NSA - National Security Agency (Agency within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), founded in 1952, which deals with intelligence gathering and analysis, particularly in the area of information systems, communications, and information technology, and provides support, not only to the military, but also to legislators, and intelligence community.)
NSD - National Security Directive (A formal statement, instruction, or authorization relating to national security activities or the authority of federal intelligence agencies, signed by the president, considered to be law, but without the involvement of Congress or the voting formalities, such as passage by the House and Senate, required for general legislation and statutes.)
NSDD - National Security Decision Directive (A formal statement, instruction, or authorization relating to national security activities or the authority of federal intelligence agencies, signed by the president, considered to be law, but without the involvement of Congress or the voting formalities, such as passage by the House and Senate, required for general legislation and statutes.) (The terms National Security Directive (NSD), National Security Decision Directive (NSDD), and National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) appear to have been used interchangably by various administrations, so it is unclear whether any carries more weight or importance, although the different termms may suggest greater or lesser involvement by the National Security Council (NSC) and/or the Director of National Intelligence.)
NSM - network security monitoring (Term for various network monitoring methods and devices, which focus on security.)
NSPD - National Security Presidential Directive (A formal statement, instruction, or authorization relating to national security activities or the authority of federal intelligence agencies, signed by the president, considered to be law, but without the involvement of Congress or the voting formalities, such as passage by the House and Senate, required for general legislation and statutes.) (The terms National Security Directive (NSD), National Security Decision Directive (NSDD), and National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) appear to have been used interchangably by various administrations, so it is unclear whether any carries more weight or importance, although the different termms may suggest greater or lesser involvement by the National Security Council (NSC) and/or the Director of National Intelligence.)
NSS - national security system (Security system of a federal agency involved in intelligence or military activities, inluding: intelligence gathering and analysis, command and control systems of military forces, weapons or weapons-control equipment, cryptography related to national security, systems critical to military or intelligence missions, systems involving information which must be kept classifiedd for national defense or foreign policy purposes.)
NSTB - National SCADA (Supervisory CoIntr (NSTISSC) ol and Data Acquisition) Test ed (Facility within the Idaho National Lab (INL) devoted to analyzing and (Body which develops standards for educational training courses and certifications.) testing grid infrastructure components for exploitable weaknesses.)
NSTIC - National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (Public-private sector initiative intended to enhance the privacy and security of online services and improve confidence in the overall online environment.)
NSTISS (NSTISSC) - National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Committee (Body which develops standards for educational training courses and certifications.)
NTFS - New Technology File System (File system used by the Windows NT operating system and its successors.)
NTP - Network Time Protocol (Client server model where the server acts as a trusted system clock for other systems.)