Explore Terms: A List of Common Cybersecurity Acronyms

The NICCS website is intended to serve public and private sector cybersecurity communities. Below is a list of commonly used acronyms throughout NICCS including the NICE Framework and Training Catalog.

Acronym
Meaning

A C D E F G H I K M N O P S T U

Letter: A

Acronym
Meaning
AMCIS
Americas Conference on Information Systems
AP
Advanced Placement
ATE
Advanced Technological Education

Letter: C

CAE
Centers of Academic Excellence
CBP
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
CCP
Cyber Competitions Project
CEO
Cybersecurity Education Office
CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
CIO
Chief Information Officer
CIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
CISSE
Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education
CMM
Capability Maturity Model
CNAP
Cybersecurity National Action Plan
CNCI
Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative
CNO
Computer Network Operations
CompTIA
Computing Technology Industry Association
COP
Community of Practice
CS
Computer Science
CSEC
Cyber Security Education Consortium
CSSIA
Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance
CWI
Cyber Workforce Initiative

Letter: D

DEF CON
Defense Readiness Condition
DHS
Department of Homeland Security
DoD
Department of Defense
DoED
Department of Education

Letter: E

EBK
Security Essential Body of Knowledge
EHRI
Enterprise Human Resources Integration

Letter: F

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
FedVTE
Federal Virtual Training Environment
FedVTE Live!
Federal Virtual Training Environment Live!
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FISMA
Federal Information Security Management Act
FISSEA
Federal Information Systems Security Educators' Association
FLETC
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
FOIA
Freedom of Information Act

Letter: G

GAO
Government Accountability Office
GFIRST
Government Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams

Letter: H

HC
Human Capital
HCAAF
Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework
HICSS
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
HQ
Headquarters
HR
Human Resources
HTML
HyperText Markup Language

Letter: I

IA
Information Assurance
IC
Intelligence Community
ICC
Interagency Coordinating Council
ICE
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
ICEC
Integrated Cybersecurity Education Communities
I-Corps
Innovation Corps
ICT
Information and Communication Technology
IDP
Individual Development Plan
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
ISC²
International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium
IT
Information Technology
ITWAC
IT Workforce Assessment for Cybersecurity

Letter: K

KSA
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Letter: M

MDC3
MD Cyber Challenge and Conference
MS-ISAC
Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center

Letter: N

NAS
National Academy of Sciences
NCEC
National Cybersecurity Education Council
NCS
National Cryptologic School
NCSA
National Cyber Security Alliance
NCSAM
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
NCSD
National Cyber Security Division
NICE
National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education
NICCS
National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies
NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology
No FEAR
Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation
NPPD
National Protection and Programs Directorate
NRD
National Resource Directory
NSA
National Security Agency
NSF
National Science Foundation
NVD
National Vulnerability Database

Letter: O

ODNI
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
OPM
Office of Personnel Management

Letter: P

PCAST
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
PII
Personally Identifiable Information

Letter: S

SA
Specialty Area
SAC
Senate Appropriations Committee
SANS
System Administration, Networking, and Security Institute
SFS
Scholarship for Service
SIGSE
Special Interest Group on Software Engineering
SME
Subject Matter Expert
SO/DEV
Supervisory Office / NICCS Development Team
SRD
System Reference Document
STEM
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Letter: T

TMI
Talent Management Institute
TRB
Technical Review Board
TSA
Transportation and Security Administration

Letter: U

URL
Uniform Resource Locator
US CERT
United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
USCG
U.S. Coast Guard
USDA
Department of Agriculture
USSS
U.S. Secret Service