Cyber Security Acronyms (U)

UAC   User Account Control.   A mandatory Windows security feature that helps improve overall protection against cyber threats by limiting software applications’ administrative privileges to mere standard levels unless elevated by a user with administrator credentials. UAP helps protect an IT system by preventing unauthorised programs from making admin-level changes to the computer.

UAT.   User Acceptance Testing.   The final step in the software testing process where the application is tested by its intended users in a real-world environment. UATs help validate whether the software application meets all its functional requirements and quality standards, and whether it is ready to be released to the market.

UBA.   User Behaviour Analytics.   A field and process in cybersecurity that focuses on the gathering and evaluation of user activity data for the purpose of detecting suspicious user behaviour, risk-spawning anomalies, and other cyber threats such as attempts to access/modify sensitive data by malicious insiders, external hackers, and active malware.

UC.   Unified Communications.   A collection of resources that integrates hardware, software, and networks to provide a cohesive suite of enterprise communication services such as fixed/wireless telephony, video conferencing, team collaboration and content sharing apps, instant messaging, and mobile device management. UC provides such packages to improve user experience and productivity, and to establish seamless connectivity anytime, anywhere, and across devices.

UDP.   User Datagram Protocol.   An internet communication protocol that serves as a contextual alternative to TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), especially for latency-sensitive and loss-tolerant data transmissions. Unlike TCP, UDP does not formally establish a connection before sending data packets to the destination, resulting to faster delivery but higher risk of data loss and greater vulnerability to cyber threats such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

UEBA.   User and Entity Behavior Analytics.   An expanded version of user behaviour analytics (UBA) that extends the field to include applications, network devices, bots, and other entities.

UPI.   Unified Payments Interface.   An instant, mobile-centric, and real-time payment application and financial ecosystem developed by the National Payments Corporation of India that enables users to make interbank, peer-to-peer, and user-to-merchant transactions via their smart phones. Regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, UPI is gaining international acceptance and is being adopted in other countries such as Singapore and the U.K.

UPS.   Uninterruptible Power Supply.   A hardware device that keeps power levels consistent, prevents potentially damaging power fluctuations, and provides emergency power supply to electrical devices for a limited time until they can be safely turned off, or until power is restored via the main or a secondary power source such as generators.

URI.   Uniform Resource Identifier.   A unique string of characters that identifies a physical or abstract resource used by web technologies. Together with Internet protocols, URIs help facilitate interactions among these diverse resources. A URL (uniform resource locator) and a URN (uniform resource name) are both subtypes of URI.

URL.   Uniform Resource Locator.   The address of a unique resource on the Internet (such as a web page, a  document, an image, or a video) and the specific protocol (such as http) used for accessing the resource.

URN.   Uniform Resource Name.   A persistent identifier for a unique resource on the Internet. A URN remains valid even if the resource it refers to ceases to exist or is moved to a different location.

USB.   Universal Serial Bus.   An industry-standard hardware interface — often a port on a desktop or laptop computer — where peripheral electronic devices such as a keyboard, audio speakers, cameras, portable memory drives, or a printer can be plugged in.

UTMS.   Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service.   A 3G (third-generation) mobile phone technology for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks that enable packet-based data transmission of text, audio, video, and multimedia at speeds of up to two megabits per second.

UUID.   Universally Unique Identifier.   A 128-bit label used to identify different types of unique Internet-based objects or a specific block of data in computer systems. UUIDs are generated by an algorithm based on a machine’s network address. Also, known as GUID (Globally Unique Idenitifer).