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PaaS - Platform-as-a-Service (Cloud computing service model in which the provider creates a shared platform which a customer can access to develop their own Web applications - building, testing, deploying, managing, and updating - while the cloud service provider maintains the servers and provides storage.)
PAM - privileged access management (System/application which controls access to computing assets by authorized (privileged) IT personnel, and is capable of monitoring/tracking the activities of privileged users, such as installing patches or inspecting problem areas, while using the system.)
PAP - Password Authentication Protocol (A protocol using a username and password to authenticate users attempting to make a remote connection to a network over a Point-to_Point Protocol (PPP) (one connection between one device (point) and another device (point)) PAP is not considered a secure connection method because the credentials are sent in cleartext (unenrypted).)
PAT - port address translation (A method of storing multiple inside organization IP addresses in a table, without disclosing the inside addresses to external parties. The organization uses a single publicly routable IP address for addressing purposes, and uses the table to translate received or transmitted messages into the correct inside address.)
PBX - Private Branch Exchange (A private, or internal, telephone switch that is controlled and managed by an organization. The PBX has a dedicated connection to its local telephone company's central office and uses digital switching devices that can control analog and digital signals.)
PC - personal computer (A computer designed to be used by one person, small and compact enough to be portable, but with enough computing power to carry out basic mathematical and word editing functions, and capable of operating simple programs. Most are used at home or in a business setting.)
PC - program counter (The register containing the address of the instruction in the program being executed.)
PCI - Payment Card Industry (The business sector and companies within it which provide credit cards, grant or extend credit to individuals and businesses, maintain records of credit card transactions and credit, and process credit card transactions.)
PCI DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (International standard for handling transactions involving payment cards (credit cards), such as system security measures requirements, measures to protect stored data, encryption measures for data transmission, testing, and restrictions on access.)
PCI SSC - Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (Organization of the major payment card vendors, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and the Japan Credit Bureau, formed in 2004, to set standards for handlig transactions involving credit cards.)
PCR - Platform Configuration Registers (Registers used to store cryptographic hashes of data used for Trusted Platform Module (TPM)'s "sealing" (values used to verify configurations) functionality.)
PDoS - Permanent Denial-of-Service (Fast-moving Bot attacks designed to make a "Denial of Service" permanent, often by stopping hardware from functioning. PDoS attacks systems so severely that the hardware must be reinstalled or replaced, for example, by instructing the physical cooling system to shut down.)
PDU - protocol data unit (Groupings of bits organized together as data is readied for transmission over the network. A packet is the most-used generic term for such groupings, but bits, frames, and segments are also names given to PDU's.)
PE - portable executable file (A file with a series of structures and sub-structures that contain the information required by the operating system to load the file into memory.)
PEAP - Protective Extensible Authentication Protocol (Type of Extensible Authentication Protocol (Framework to enable many types of authentication techniques to be used when establishing network connections) where only the server uses a digital certificate.)
PGP - Pretty Good Privacy (Freeware e-mail security program released in 1991, which was the first widespread public key encryption program. Considered sufficiently secure encryption for some e-mail messages (better than nothing or sending plaintext messages), or at least provides minimal encryption protection, but has not been adopted as a standard, and is not considered sufficiently secure for complete encryption of all network communication traffic.)
PHA - Process Hazards Analysis (Safety analysis of industrial production facilities/processes which involve a high risk of injury or death, such as chemicals or steelmaking, and the availability of safeguards or processes to prevent accidents.)
PHI - personal health information (Any information about an individual's health or medical conditions.)
PHI - protected health information (Information about an idividual's medical records/conditions deserving of special protection under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It includes information about a patient which can be used to identify an individual and relates to physical or medical conditions, health care received, and even medical payment information.)
PHUKD - Programmable human interface device (HID) USB Keystroke Dongle (A very small USB microcontroller board which can be embedded in a USB hardware device which can be used to create a system to deploy a backdoor to compromise any Windows computer the device is connected to.)
PIA - Privacy Impact Assessment (A privacy analysis required by the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) for federal agencies which involves an assessment of how they handle information to ensure they comply with privacy requirements in the collection, maintaining, and disseminating of electronic information, the steps or processes they have taken to protect information, and what changes they might need to make to their systems to protect privacy.)
PID - process identification value (Unique ID value assigned to individual process steps involved in computer operating system operations in order to distinguish one process from another. The operating system uses the PID to call the process when it needs to use it.)
PIDAS - Perimeter Intrusion Detection and Assessment System (In the area of physical security, a type of fencing that contains sensors located on the wire mesh and at the base of the fence, capable of detecting attempts to cut or climb the fence, plus a passive cable vibration sensor that sets off an alarm if an intrusion is detected.)
PII - personal identification information (Information used to identify an individual within an organization or system - usually information assigned by the organization to the individual, such as U.S. military or governmental organizations, in order to grant access to systems or to track access.)
PII - personally identifiable information (any information that can be used to identify a specific person, such as driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers, or credit card numbers.)
PIN - Personal Identification Number (Numeric identification code used by bank customers when making transactions at a self-service electronic banking terminal, such as an automated teller machine (ATM).)
PING - Packet Internet Groper (A method of verification using the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo-request and echo-reply communications to verify end-to-end connectivity.)
PIR - passive infrared system (A system which identifies changes in heat waves in an area configured to monitor. Temperature increases could be an indication of an intruder, causing an alarm to sound.)
PIV - Personal Identity Verification card (Method of authentication using identification assigned to an individual.)
PKCS - Public Key Cryptography Standards (One of the standards governing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), in the area of cryptography, developed by RSA Security relating to digital certificate construction and use.)
PKI - public key infrastructure (Umbrella term for all the functions or infrastructure supporting or involving key cryptography, from creation and transmission through receipt and decryption. An infrastructure or framework based on public key cryptography, consisting of programs, data formats, procedures, communication protocols, security policies, and public key mechanisms working together to enable people to communicate in a secure and predictable fashion.)
PLC - Programmable Logic Controller (Computer designed to control electromechanical processes, such as assembly lines, elevators, roller coasters, and nuclear centrifuges.)
PMBOK - Project Management Body of Knowledge (A collection of the knowledge and best practices of the project management profession maintained by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a nonprofit international organization of project managers that promotes the field of project management.)
PMEF - Primary Mission Essential Function (Function considered to be the responsibility of the federal government which is given a higher priority, or considered of primary importance, than other essential functions. Essential functions generally involve vital services, such as civil order and public safety, delivery of food services, or the operation of electricity suppliers or water delivery systems. Primary mission essential functions include those that need to be continuously performed during an event or resumed within 12 hours after an event or maintained for 30 days after an event.)
PMI - Privilege Management Infrastructure (The system organization processes and structure which determines how privileges (access authorization level) are assigned and maintained. PMI is often used in the context of the system of key certificates and key systems.)
PMI - Project Management Institute (A nonprofit international organization of project managers that promotes the field of project management and maintains the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), a collection of knowledge writings and best practices guidelines.)
POA & M - Plan of Action and Milestones (A planning document used by federal agencies under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) for information system projects which documents the tasks to be done, the resources required, the measurements used to determine task completion, and a schedule for completion of each step.)
PoE - Power over Ethernet (Type of switch device/switch feature which provides electrical power to attached devices, such as security cameras and IP phones, and has the capability of determining the power limitations of the device and supplying the level of power required by the device.)
POODLE - Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption attack (Type of cyber attack against the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol which allowed an attacker to force hosts to fall back to an unsecure version of SSL, so that the attacker could make malformed SSL requests to the client to break encrypted communications between the client and the server.)
POP3 - Post Office Protocol Version 3 (Version of the Internet mail server protocol which retrieves e-mail from an e-mail server and supports incoming and outgoing messages.)
POTS - plain old telephone service (also plain old telephone system) (Term for conventional telephone service, prior to the breakup of AT&T, involving voice communication of phone calls over analog copper-wired transmission lines.)
POTS - plain old telephone system (also plain old telephone service) (Term for conventional telephone service, prior to the breakup of AT&T, involving voice communication of phone calls over analog copper-wired transmission lines.)
PP - protection profile (A description of a needed security solution. The protection profile is a mechanism within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Common Criteria, used to describe types of products independent of their actual implementation. It provides a means for customers, or others, to identify specific security needs, list the functionality products must have to address those needs, and determine the specific requirements a product must possess in order to solve the problems identified.)
PPP - Point-to-Point Protocol (A protocol that carries out data packet framing and encapsulation for point-to-point (device-to-device) connections.)
PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (A commonly used protocol between a digital subscriber line (DSL), a group of technologies that provide high-speed data transmission over existing telephone wiring, modem in a home (or business) and a service provider. PPPoE encapsulates PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) frames within Ethernet frames.)
PPTP - Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (A connection protocol to implement a virtual private network (VPN) - a secure connection within an unsecure network - connection between two computers. Was originally developed by Microsoft to include VPN connection technologies within Microsoft operating systems.)
PRADS - Passive Real-Time Asset Detection System (Physical security system which provides real-time monitoring of assets, such as a building or facility through closed-circuit TV, but does not take active measures to prevent or stop intruders.)
PRM - Performance Reference Model (Framework for performance measurement providing common output measurements throughout the Federal Government. Provides a means for using an agency's enterprise architecture (EA) to measure the success of information systems investments and their impact on strategic outcomes.)
PS - Personnel Security (Term which can either mean measures taken by an organization to protect itself from illegal or malicious acts by its employees, such as theft or embezzlement, or can also refer to safety or security measures to protect its employees from physical attacks, hazards, dangerous conditions, or disasters.)
PsychoDoS - Psychological Manipulation Denial of Service (Denial of service through psychological manipulation. Use of fear or intimidation tactics to cause individuals to avoid websites or topics and, in effect, deny service.)
PtaaS - Pentest-as-a-Service (Software capable of automating a pen (penetration) test, normally done by contracted teams or companies, a method of testing system security for vulnerabilities.)
PTR - Pointer Records (Record type within the Domain Name System (DNS) which returns a canonical name record (CNAME) - an alias for another host record - record for a given IP address.)
PVI - Passive Vulnerability Identification (Method of analyzing inbound and outbound system data, to look for patterns or activities, which might indicate application flaws or vulnerabilities, but without taking disruptive actions to interfere with traffic.)