IT Glossary
Key Terms To Know In The IT Industry

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IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

A form of cloud computing that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet.

You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing

IaaS Cloud Providers

Companies that offer Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), providing customers with cloud-based alternatives to on-premise infrastructure, allowing businesses to purchase resources on-demand.

You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing, Networking

IAM (Identity and Access Management)

A framework of policies and technologies ensuring that the right users have the appropriate access to technology resources.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals)

Specializes in certifications for privacy and data protection, offering credentials for privacy professionals worldwide.

You will find this term commonly used in Privacy, Data Protection

iBeacon

A protocol developed by Apple that allows mobile apps to listen for signals from beacons in the physical world and react accordingly, often used for location-based content and services.

You will find this term commonly used in Mobile Development, Networking

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)

A network protocol used by network devices to diagnose network communication issues.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

ICMP Flood

A type of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack where the attacker overwhelms the target with ICMP Echo Request (ping) packets, typically to disrupt service.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

A software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development, including a code editor, compiler, debugger, and sometimes a GUI builder.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)

A standard interface for connecting storage devices like hard drives and optical drives to the motherboard.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware, Storage

Identity Columns

In database management, columns in a table that are used for storing unique identifiers automatically generated by the database system. These are often used as primary keys.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Management, Development

Identity Federation

A system of trust that extends authentication and authorization across multiple IT systems and organizations. It allows users to access multiple systems with one set of credentials, streamlining the login process across cloud services.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cloud Computing

Identity Management Systems

Frameworks and solutions designed to manage individual identities, their authentication, authorization, roles, and privileges within or across system and enterprise boundaries.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Identity Provider (IdP)

A system that creates, maintains, and manages identity information for principals and provides authentication services to relying applications within a federation or distributed network.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Identity Verification

The process of ensuring that a person is who they claim to be, often involving the verification of various credentials such as usernames, passwords, biometric data, or other identification methods.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

IDS (Intrusion Detection System)

A device or software application that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

A professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Engineering

IEEE 802.11

A set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication in various frequencies, including but not limited to 2.4, 5, and 60 GHz frequency bands.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Wireless Technology

IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol)

A type of protocol used within a single autonomous system for routing purposes, facilitating data transmission within the network. Examples include RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

IL (Intermediate Language)

A low-level, high-level programming language used as the output of a compiler and the input to a virtual machine runtime, common in environments like .NET's Common Language Runtime.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

ILM (Information Lifecycle Management)

Policies, processes, practices, and tools used to align the business value of information with the most appropriate and cost-effective IT infrastructure from the time information is conceived through its final disposition.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Management, General IT

Image Processing

A method to perform operations on an image in order to enhance it or extract useful information. It involves techniques that apply mathematical operations to images for various applications like enhancement, analysis, and reconstruction.

You will find this term commonly used in Computer Vision, AI

Image Recognition

The ability of software to identify objects, places, people, writing, and actions in images. It involves machine learning and pattern recognition algorithms to interpret the visual world.

You will find this term commonly used in AI, Machine Learning

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)

A standard email protocol that stores email messages on a mail server but allows the end user to view and manipulate them as though they were stored locally on the end user's computing device(s).

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

Immutable Data

Data that cannot be modified after it has been created. This concept is often used in software development and database management to ensure data integrity and security.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Security

Immutable Infrastructure

An approach to managing services and software deployments on IT resources wherein components are replaced rather than changed. This approach aims for system consistency and reliability.

You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing, General IT

Immutable Object

An object whose state cannot be modified after it is created, enhancing predictability and thread safety in code.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, General IT

Impact Printer

A type of printer that operates by striking an ink ribbon against paper, commonly used for multipart forms.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware, Peripheral Devices

Impedance Mismatch

A problem in software development where there is a conflict between the database model and the programming language model.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Database Management

Impersonation Attack

A form of unauthorized access where an attacker pretends to be another user or device to steal data, gain access to systems, or spread malware.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Implementation Phase

The stage in a project where the system is developed, tested, and installed.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Project Management

Implicit Authentication

A security approach that continuously authenticates users based on their actions and behaviors, such as typing patterns or device handling characteristics, rather than explicit authentication mechanisms like passwords.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Implicit Conversion

Automatic type conversion by the compiler, also known as type coercion.

You will find this term commonly used in Programming, Software Development

Implicit Grant

A simplified authorization flow in OAuth that allows clients to obtain access tokens directly from the authorization server.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Web Development

Implicit Intent

In Android development, an intent that does not name a specific component, but instead declares an action to perform, allowing a component from another app to handle it.

You will find this term commonly used in Development, Mobile Development

Implicit Security

Security measures that are built into systems and processes by design, providing protection without requiring explicit action by users or administrators.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Implicit Type Conversion

Also known as type coercion, it's the automatic or implicit conversion of values from one data type to another (e.g., from int to float). It's a feature in many programming languages to ease the development process.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

Import Library

A file used in software development that specifies the functions that are to be imported from a DLL.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Windows Programming

In-Memory Computing

Technology that allows the processing of data stored in RAM, rather than in traditional databases. It enables faster data processing and analysis.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Databases

Incident Forensics

The investigation of security incidents with the goal of uncovering how a breach occurred, the extent of the damage, and how similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Incident Management

The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all incidents to ensure that normal service operation is restored as quickly as possible and the business impact is minimized.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Security

Incident Response

A set of procedures developed by an organization to respond to and manage a cyberattack. An incident response plan aims to reduce damage, recover data, and prevent future breaches.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Increment Operator

A programming operator that increases the value of a variable by a fixed amount, usually one.

You will find this term commonly used in Programming, Software Development

Incremental Backup

A type of backup that only saves the changes made to the data since the last backup. This method is more efficient than full backups because it reduces the amount of time and storage space required.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Management, Security

Independent Component Analysis (ICA)

A computational method for separating a multivariate signal into additive, independent non-Gaussian signals.

You will find this term commonly used in AI, Data Analysis

Index

In databases, an index is a data structure that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table at the cost of additional writes and storage space to maintain the index data structure.

You will find this term commonly used in Databases, General IT

Index Fund

While not directly an IT term, in the context of tech companies, it refers to a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund designed to follow certain preset rules so that the fund can track a specified basket of underlying investments.

You will find this term commonly used in Financial Technology

Index Optimization

The process of improving database index efficiency by selecting the appropriate index types, configuring index properties, and organizing data to speed up query response times and reduce storage requirements.

You will find this term commonly used in Databases, General IT

Index Scan

A database operation that reads through an index to find records, used when a query cannot take full advantage of an index to directly retrieve data.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Management, Development

Indexing

The process of organizing data in a database in a way that improves speed and efficiency of information retrieval.

You will find this term commonly used in Databases, General IT

Indicator of Compromise (IoC)

Artifacts observed on a network or in an operating system that with high confidence indicate a computer intrusion.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

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