IT security and management glossary: key terms

Anyone who doesn't work directly in IT or information security frequently sits in meetings full of acronyms and technical terms with no clear translation. This glossary gathers, in plain language, the terms that come up most often — organized by topic.

Information security

CSP (Content Security Policy) — a rule a website defines telling the browser where it's allowed to load scripts, images, and other resources from, blocking anything from an unauthorized origin. Explained in detail here.

HTTPS — the secure, encrypted version of the protocol used to load websites (HTTP). Without it, data travels unprotected between the browser and the server.

HSTS — an instruction that forces the browser to always use HTTPS on a site, even if someone types the address without "https://" in front.

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) — a type of attack where an attacker injects malicious code into a page that other people will visit, usually to steal session data.

Clickjacking — a technique that tricks the user into clicking something different from what it appears to be, usually by hiding one site inside an invisible frame over another.

LGPD — Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Law No. 13,709/2018), the legislation that regulates how companies can collect, use, and store personal data. What it actually requires from an institutional website.

DPO / Data Protection Officer — the person (or role) responsible for a company's LGPD compliance and the contact point for questions about personal data.

Rate limiting — a limit on how many times an action (like submitting a form) can be repeated within a time window, used to prevent abuse and malicious automation.

Honeypot — an invisible field on a form, used to detect and block automated submissions by bots (real users never fill in a field they can't see).

Device management

MDM (Mobile Device Management) — a system that lets a company remotely manage a fleet of mobile devices: configuration, security, location, and locking. Full guide here.

Kiosk mode — a configuration that locks a device to run only one specific app, blocking access to any other function of the device.

Provisioning — the process of setting up a new device (apps, networks, restrictions) for corporate use, ideally automatically and at scale.

Inventory and operations management

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) — a central business management system, usually integrating finance, inventory, sales, and other processes into a single database. Inventory counting systems like PALETIN typically integrate with the ERP to keep that number always up to date.

Cycle counting — an inventory counting method that counts small batches frequently, instead of counting everything at once.

ABC analysis — a way of classifying stock items by importance (usually value or turnover), used to decide where to concentrate control effort.

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) — a unique code that identifies a specific inventory item, used to distinguish variations of the same product.

Business management and contracts

SLA (Service Level Agreement) — a formal agreement defining the level of service a vendor promises, usually with guaranteed response time and availability, with a penalty if not met.

Legacy system — an old system, still in use, generally with little or no recent updates, that sustains an important company process.

Traceability / Audit trail — the automatic record of who did what, when, and where in a system, used to investigate error, fraud, or simply confirm history.

Digital transformation — the process of replacing manual processes with digital systems, aiming to reduce error and increase efficiency — it doesn't need to be a big project to be valid.

How to use this glossary

Every term here has a full article linked when one exists — this glossary works as a quick entry point, not a substitute for the full content. If a term specific to your operation isn't here, it probably shows up in another article on the blog — it's worth browsing by category.