Translating Cybersecurity Jargon into Business Speak

A key responsibility for cybersecurity professionals is to help top management and decision-makers navigate the intersection of their business needs and security requirements. This includes translating terminology so that leaders before familiar with cybersecurity terminology to better understand how it can affect their organizations and businesses.

There is a vocabulary used in the industry that needs to be understood. What follows is a list of common words or phrases used by cybersecurity and IT teams and their definition in plain English. Any executive today should know the meaning of these so that they can ask smart questions, make wise decisions, and better support their IT teams who are always trying to keep the organization out of the crosshairs of cyberattackers.