Glossary

IT terms, in plain English

The words you'll hear from IT people, explained in a sentence. If something still doesn't make sense, ask us. That's what we're here for.

The basics

Managed service provider (MSP): A company that looks after your IT for a fixed monthly fee, instead of you hiring and managing a full IT team yourself. Nostra is an MSP.
Fully outsourced IT: We act as your whole IT department: support, security, maintenance and planning.
Co-managed IT: We work alongside your own IT person or team. They keep what they know best and we fill the gaps, such as out-of-hours cover, security or projects.
Service desk: The team your people contact when something isn't working or they need help. Also called a help desk.
SLA: Service level agreement. The written promise of how quickly we'll respond to and fix problems.
Endpoint: Any device that connects to your systems: laptops, desktops, phones and tablets.
Onboarding: The first few weeks with a new IT partner, when they learn your setup and take over support.

Cyber security: Protecting your systems, data and people from being hacked, scammed or locked out.
MFA: Multi-factor authentication. A second check when you log in, such as a code on your phone, so a stolen password alone isn't enough.
Phishing: Fake emails or messages designed to trick someone into clicking a link, sharing a password or paying a false invoice.
Ransomware: Malicious software that locks your files or systems until a ransom is paid.
Firewall: A security gate between your network and the internet that blocks unwanted traffic.
EDR: Endpoint detection and response. Security software on each device that spots and stops suspicious activity.
SOC: Security operations centre. A team that watches for attacks around the clock and responds when something looks wrong.
MDR: Managed detection and response. A service where a security team monitors your systems 24/7 and acts on threats for you.
Penetration test: An authorised, controlled attempt to break into your systems, so weaknesses are found and fixed before a real attacker finds them.
Incident response: What happens when something goes wrong: contain the problem, find out what happened, recover and prevent a repeat.

GDPR: The EU law on how organisations collect, store and protect personal data.
NIS2: An EU cyber security law that sets security and reporting duties for organisations in important sectors and their suppliers.
DORA: The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act. Rules for financial firms, including credit unions, on managing IT and cyber risk.
ISO 27001: An international standard for managing information security. Nostra has been certified to it since 2021.
Cyber insurance questionnaire: The security questions an insurer asks before covering you, such as whether you use MFA and test your backups.

The cloud: Running software and storing files on secure servers in a data centre, reached over the internet, instead of on a server in your office.
Microsoft 365: Microsoft's subscription for Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive.
Azure: Microsoft's cloud platform for running servers, apps and backups.
SharePoint and OneDrive: Microsoft's tools for storing, sharing and working on documents together.
Entra ID: Microsoft's system for managing who can log in and what they can access.
Conditional Access: Rules that decide when a login is allowed, for example only from company devices or with MFA.
Intune: Microsoft's tool for setting up, securing and managing company laptops and phones remotely.
Copilot: Microsoft's AI assistant, built into Microsoft 365 apps.
AI agent: Software that uses AI to carry out a task or a series of steps on your behalf.

Backup: A copy of your data kept somewhere safe, so you can get it back if it's lost or locked.
Disaster recovery: The plan and tools to get your systems running again after a serious failure or attack.
Business continuity: Keeping the business working through a disruption, such as an outage, an attack or losing access to the office.
VLAN: A way of splitting one network into separate sections, so a problem in one part can't spread to the rest.
SAN: Storage area network. Shared, high-speed storage for servers, often set up so one failure doesn't stop the business.
Teams Phone: Making and taking business phone calls through Microsoft Teams, instead of a desk phone system.
SIP trunk: A phone line delivered over the internet that connects your phone system to the outside world.

Book a free 30-minute IT health check. We'll tell you what's working, what's at risk and what we'd fix first. No obligation.