Cyber Security Acronyms (B)

BAS.   Breach and Attack Simulation.   A category of cybersecurity solutions that safely replicates the tools and tactics of malicious threat actors to detect specific weaknesses in a computer system and evaluate the overall security posture of an IT network.

 

BAU.   Business As Usual.   To continue doing things normally or in the usual manner, often within the context of a disruptive event.

 

BBP.   Bug Bounty Program.   An initiative/scheme adopted by many organisations (such as software developers, website owners, product vendors, service providers, and government agencies) that incentivise the detection of system flaws/product defects by compensating individuals who report such bugs, especially when it comes to security flaws and network vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors.

 

BBS.   Bulletin Board System.   An application,  software service, or computer used for the sharing and exchange of messages, documents, and files on an electronic network.

 

BCC.   Blind Carbon Copy.   An email feature or functionality that allows the sender of the message to conceal the identity of a specific recipient from other recipients.

 

BCRs.   Binding Corporate Rules.   A framework that guides international organisations to legally make intra-organisational, cross-border exchanges of personal data that remain compliant with data and privacy protection standards in the EU.

 

BER.   Bit Error Rate.   The number of bit errors per unit time logged during an electronic data transmission, where bit errors refer to received bits of data that have been altered due to interference, noise, or synchronisation/distortion errors.

 

BGP.   Border Gateway Protocol.   The protocol behind the global routing system of the Internet that controls how data packets are exchanged among different networks through their respective edge routers.

 

BIA.   Burned-in Address.   Another term for MAC (Media Access Control) address. MAC addresses are device identifiers that are often embedded (i.e., “burned in” and unchangeable) by hardware manufacturers into a device. Typically, MAC addresses are represented as six groups of two hexadecimal digits. These alphanumeric digits are sometimes  separated by hyphens or colons, but they can appear as a continuous 12-character string without a separator.

 

BIA.   Business Impact Analysis.   A systematic process for evaluating the potential effects of a specific business disruption such as a serious cyber attack or natural disaster. BIAs are key elements of a business continuity plan (BCP).

 

BLOB.   Binary Large Object.   A data type that stores a collection of binary data and package it as a single entity. Blobs are often used to store images, videos, and other multimedia files.

 

BMP.   Bitmap (file format).   A device-agnostic image file format used for raster graphics.

 

BoF.   Buffer Overflow.   A software anomaly where a program bypasses a buffer’s boundary/restrictions while writing data, thereby overwriting data in nearby memory locations.

 

Botnet.   Robot Network.   A set of electronic devices that run one or more bots each and are connected to each other via the Internet. Botnets can be used for cybercrime such as data breaches and Distributed Denial-of_Service (DDOS) attacks.

 

BPDU.   Bridge Protocol Data Unit. A data message containing information about network elements that is transmitted across a local area network (LAN) to detect unwanted network loops.

 

BSD.   Berkeley Software Distribution.   A discontinued UNIX-based operating system that spawned a number of descendants such as FreeBSD and OpenBSD that remain in use and often noted for their stability and security.

 

BSOD.   Blue Screen of Death.   A sarcastic term that refers to the blue screen error display indicating a system crash in computers that use the Windows operating system.

 

BSS.   Basic Service Set.   Refers to a base station or an access point in a network, typically in a wireless local area network (WLAN)..

 

BSS.   Block Started by Symbol.   A programming block that contains allocated variables that are declared but have yet to be assigned values.

 

BSSID.   Basic Service Set Identifier.   More simply termed as “network name,” a service set identifier (SSID) is a string of characters that identifies a wireless local area network (WLAN). A Basic SSID (BSSID) identifies a subgroup within a service set whose wireless devices communicate with each other using a common medium or access point (AP).

 

BYOD.   Bring Your Own Device.   A trend, practice, or policy where individuals bring and use their personal computing devices (such as laptops, tablets, and mobile phones) to perform school- or work-related tasks.