Dictionary (Symbols, Numbers, A-B)

Term

Abbreviations

Definition

Labels

Synonyms

.NET

(formerly called .NET Core) An open-source, managed computer software framework for Windows, Linux, and MacOS operating systems. It is a cross-platform successor to the .NET Framework.

tech

.NET, .NET Core

2FA: Two-Factor Authentication

2FA

Two-factor authentication is a specific type of multi-factor authentication (MFA) that strengthens access security by requiring two methods (also referred to as authentication factors) to verify a user's identity. These factors can include something a user knows (e.g., username & password) plus something a user has (e.g., smartphone app) to approve authentication requests. 2FA protects against phishing, social engineering, and password brute-force attacks and secures a user's logins from attackers exploiting weak or stolen credentials.

tech

2FA, 2-FA, Two-Factor Authentication

3DS: 3D Secure

3DS

3D Secure is a protocol designed to be an additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions. The name refers to the “three domains” which interact using the protocol: the merchant/acquirer domain, the issuer domain, and the interoperability domain. This is the tool protecting the two of the most common chargeback codes a merchant will see are Fraud codes, mainly “Fraudulent Transaction” or “Cardholder Does Not Recognise”. 3Ds offers no protection for other chargeback reason codes, like “subscription cancelled”, “product not provided”, “duplicate” codes.

tech

3DS, 3D Secure, 3D-Secure

3rd-Party Payment Processor

A company that provides payment processing services on behalf of an Electronic Money Institution or merchant.

fin

Third-Party Payment Processor, 3rd-Party Payment Processor

5th AMLD: 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive

5th AMLD

The 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU.

aml, legal

5th AMLD, 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive

Abstraction

In computer science, an abstraction provides access while hiding details that otherwise might make access more challenging. Abstraction is the process of hiding complex implementation details and presenting only the essential features of a system or data. It simplifies a system by filtering out irrelevant information, allowing users to focus on higher-level functions or core concepts without getting bogged down in the intricate workings. This technique is crucial for managing complexity, improving efficiency & making systems easier to understand, use & maintain.

tech

Acceptance

This term has two meanings: In the field of transfer systems, it refers to the inclusion of a transfer order for funds or securities in a system’s operations for further processing, potentially following various checks (e.g. regarding technical standards or the availability of funds), as specified in the rules of the system. In the field of cards, it refers to the process whereby a particular brand of card is accepted by a terminal, merchant or other entity.

fin

Acceptor

A merchant or other entity that accepts a payment instrument presented by a client in order to transfer funds to that merchant or other entity.

fin

Accounting System

An accounting system is a set of accounting processes with integrated procedures and controls. The intent of an accounting system is to record business transactions, summarise those transactions into an aggregated form, and create reports that can be used by decision makers to monitor, analyse, and improve operations. Though an accounting system can be entirely paper-based, this situation is usually only found in quite small businesses. In most cases, accounting systems are largely based on off-the-shelf accounting software, supplemented by any procedures needed to input information into the software.

fin

Accounting Transaction

A transaction is the exchange of money between two or more parties for a product or service.

fin

Accounts Payable

A category of liabilities that represents funds due to creditors. Usually, accounts payable is due to trade creditors who have supplied goods or services without requiring immediate payment. Accounts payable is sometimes simply called payables. Accounts payable to trade creditors are sometimes called accounts payable trade, due to trade, or trade payables.

fin

Accounts Payable, Payables, Accounts Payable Trade, Trade Payables

Accounts Receivable

An asset account that reflects amounts due from private persons or organisations for goods and services furnished. For corporations, accounts receivable excludes funds due from departments, but may include funds due from affiliates. For governments and nonprofit organisations using fund accounting, it does not include funds due from other funds owned by the same entity.

fin

ACH: Automated Clearing House

ACH

An electronic clearing system in which payment orders are exchanged among participants (primarily via electronic media) and handled by a data-processing centre.

fin

ACH, Automated Clearing House

ACID: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation & Durability

ACID

Atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability describes a set of characteristics that database transactions are meant to provide. Atomicity guarantees that all operations in a transaction will complete successfully or will be rolled back. Consistency, often considered a property maintained by the application rather than the database, is often achieved through transactions to make sure that all related values are updated at once. Transaction isolation aims to allow simultaneous transactions to execute independently. Durability means that transactions are meant to be stored on non-volatile storage when committed.

tech

ACID, Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability, Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation & Durability

Acquirer

In point-of-sale (POS) transactions, the entity (usually a credit institution) to which the acceptor (usually a merchant) transmits the information necessary in order to process the card payment. In automated teller machine (ATM) transactions, the entity (usually a credit institution) which makes banknotes available to the cardholder (whether directly or via the use of third-party providers).

fin

Merchant Bank, Acquirer, Card Acquirer

Acquis communautaire

The body of EU legislation, including its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union, by which all EU Member States are bound.

legal, gen

AF: Authentication Factor

AF

An authentication factor is a category of credential that is intended to verify, sometimes in combination with other factors, that an entity involved in some kind of communication or requesting access to some system is who, or what, they are declared to be. Each category of credential is considered a factor. For example, usernames and passwords are the same type of factor, so their combined use is single-factor authentication (SFA), despite the fact that there are two elements involved.

tech

AF, Authentication Factor

Affinity Card

An affinity card is a type of co-branded payment card. Co-branded payment cards are issued by a bank and a business (such as a retailer or airline) and offer the cardholder personal benefits that might include discounts, cashback, and reward points. An affinity card is a payment card that is offered jointly by two organisations. One is a payment card issuer and the other is a professional association, special interest group or other non-bank company. Cardholders may receive additional benefits from their affinity card—such as a low introductory interest rate, cash back on purchases, or bonus airline miles.

fin

AI: Artificial Intelligence

AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence by software-coded heuristics. AI technology allows computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities. Algorithms are part of the structure of AI, where simple algorithms are used in simple applications, while more complex ones help frame strong artificial intelligence. AI technology is apparent in computers that play chess, self-driving cars, and banking systems to detect fraudulent activity.

tech

AI, Artificial Intelligence

AISP: Account Information Service Provider

AISP

An Account Information Service Provider is authorised to access bank account data to provide info & advice to customers.

fin

AISP, Account Information Service Provider

AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript & XML

AJAX

Asynchronous JavaScript And XML is a set of web development techniques that uses various web technologies on the client side to create asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send and retrieve data from a server asynchronously without interfering with the display and behaviour of the existing page.

tech

AJAX, Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, Asynchronous JavaScript & XML

Algorithm

A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer. Every computerised device uses algorithms, which cut the time required to do things manually.

tech

Algorithmic paradigm

An algorithmic paradigm or algorithm design paradigm is a generic model or framework which underlies the design of a class of algorithms. An algorithmic paradigm is an abstraction higher than the notion of an algorithm, just as an algorithm is an abstraction higher than a computer program.

tech

algorithmic paradigm, algorithm design paradigm

AML: Anti-Money Laundering

AML

Anti-Money Laundering refers to the web of laws, regulations, and procedures aimed at uncovering efforts to disguise illicit funds as legitimate income.

aml

AML, Anti-Money Laundering

AMLCO: Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer

AMLCO,MLRO

The Anti-Money Laundering Officer is the person charged by the board of directors with ensuring that the company meets its AML obligations under regulation. The Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) is the UK and Maltese equivalent of an AMLCO.

aml, legal

AMLCO, Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer, Money Laundering Reporting Officer, MLRO

Amortisation

The systematic reduction in the accounts of the value of assets over a period of time or of the value of a premium/discount.

fin

ANCOVA: Analysis of Covariance

ANCOVA

ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance) is a statistical technique that combines elements of ANOVA and regression analysis. It's used to analyse the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable while controlling for the influence of other, potentially confounding variables (covariates). ANCOVA helps isolate the specific impact of an independent variable by removing the variance attributable to these other factors. It can be useful for understanding within-group variance that ANOVA tests do not explain.

stats

ANCOVA, Analysis of Covariance

AND

A Boolean operation that outputs True if both input values are True.

tech

Angular

Angular is a TypeScript-based free and open-source single-page web application framework. AngularJS extends HTML with new attributes.

tech

Angular, AngularJS, Angular 2+

ANOVA: Analysis of Variance

ANOVA

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical method for determining whether differences in group means are statistically significant or likely due to random variation. A one-way ANOVA uses one independent variable. A two-way ANOVA uses two independent variables. By partitioning total variance into components, ANOVA unravels relationships between variables and identifies true sources of variation. ANOVA can handle multiple factors and their interactions, providing a robust way to better understand intricate relationships.

stats

ANOVA, Analysis of Variance

API Call

The process of sending a request to an API after setting up the right endpoints. Upon receiving the data, it is processed, and feedback is received. For example, by entering a login and password into a website and pressing the ‘Enter’ key, a user made an API call.

tech

API Endpoint

The end of a communication channel. When APIs interact with other systems, each touchpoint of interaction is considered an endpoint. For example, an API endpoint could include a server, a service, or a database where a resource lives. API endpoints specify where resources live and who can access them.

tech

API Gateway

An API management tool that serves as an intermediary between a client and a set of different backend services. API gateways act as gatekeepers and proxies that moderate all API calls, aggregate required data, and return result. Gateways are used to handle common tasks such as API identification, rate limiting, and usage metrics.

tech

API Integration

Connects two or more applications to exchange data between them and connect to the outside world.

tech

API Key

A unique identifier that enables other software to authenticate a user, developer, or API calling software to an API to ensure that this person or software is who it says it is. API keys authenticate the API instead of a user and offer a certain degree of security to API calls.

tech

API Layer

A proxy that joins together all service offerings using a graphic UI to provide greater user interactivity. API layers are language-agnostic ways of interacting with apps and help describe the services and data types used to exchange data.

tech

API Lifecycle

An approach to API management and development that aims at providing a holistic view of how to manage APIs across its different life stages, from creation to retirement. The API lifecycle is often divided into three stages: creation, control, and consumption.

tech

API Portal

A bridge between the API provider and the API consumer. An API portal provides information about the APIs at every stage of the API lifecycle. API portals serve to make APIs public and offer content to educate developers about them, their use, and how to make the most of them.

tech

API Request

Occurs when a developer adds an endpoint to a URL and uses that endpoint to call the server or the database.

tech

API Throttling

Refers to the process of limiting the number of API requests a user can make in a certain period.

tech

API: Application Programming Interface

API

Application Programming Interface is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an API specification. A computer system that meets this standard is said to implement or expose an API. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation.

tech

API, Application Programming Interface

APM: Alternative Payment Method

APM

An alternative payment method is any option that is not cash, debit card, or credit card—anything that is not one of the traditional payment options. More specifically, an alternative payment method is a cashless, cardless way of transferring funds.

fin

APM, Alternative Payment Method

APM: Application Performance Management

APM

Application Performance Management, in the fields of information technology and systems management, refers to the monitoring and management of the performance and availability of software applications. APM strives to detect and diagnose complex application performance problems to maintain an expected level of service. Basically, APM is “the translation of IT metrics into business meaning”.

tech

APM, Application Performance Management

Array

An array is a collection of elements, each identified by at least one array index or key. This data structure allows for the storage of multiple items of the same type together in a contiguous block of memory, making it easy to access and manipulate these items using their indices. Arrays provide a foundation for more complex data structures and algorithms, impacting performance and memory usage in various computational tasks.

tech

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASCII

A character encoding standard for electronic communications. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment & other devices. Most modern character-encoding schemes are based on ASCII, although they support many additional characters.

tech

ASCII, American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One

ASN.1

Abstract Syntax Notation One is a standard interface description language for defining data structures that can be serialised and deserialised in a cross-platform way. It is broadly used in telecommunications and computer networking, and especially in cryptography. Protocol developers define data structures in ASN.1 modules, which are generally a section of a broader standards document written in the ASN.1 language. The advantage is that the ASN.1 description of the data encoding is independent of a particular computer or programming language. Because ASN.1 is both human-readable and machine-readable, an ASN.1 compiler can compile modules into libraries of code, codecs, that decode or encode the data structures. Some ASN.1 compilers can produce code to encode or decode several encodings, e.g., packed, BER, or XML.

tech

ASN.1, Abstract Syntax Notation One

ASPSP: Account Servicing Payment Service Provider

ASPSP

Account Servicing Payment Service Provider (ASPSP) is a financial institution that provides a payment account with online access. ASPSPs use APIs with “read-write” access to financial data.

fin

ASPSP, Account Servicing Payment Service Provider

Assembler

An assembler program creates object code by translating combinations of mnemonics and syntax for operations and addressing modes into their numerical equivalents. This representation typically includes an operation code ('opcode') as well as other control bits and data. The assembler also calculates constant expressions and resolves symbolic names for memory locations and other entities. The use of symbolic references is a key feature of assemblers, saving tedious calculations and manual address updates after program modifications. Most assemblers also include macro facilities for performing textual substitution – e.g., to generate common short sequences of instructions as inline, instead of called subroutines.

tech

Assembly programming languages

Assembly programming language is a low-level language that is closely related to machine code, providing a way to write instructions that a computer can directly execute. It is essentially a human-readable version of machine language that is made up of built-in or user-defined mnemonic codes. Because assembly languages specifically correspond to a particular computer architecture, they offer more control & speed compared to high-level languages but require detailed knowledge of the underlying hardware in order to write them. Examples: ARM A64 assembly language x86 assembly language MIPS assembly language Use cases: Systems programming (i.e., embedded systems, real-time systems) Low-level software development

tech

Asset

An asset is an expenditure that has utility through multiple future accounting periods. If an expenditure does not have such utility, it is instead considered an expense. For example, a company pays its electrical bill. This expenditure covers something (electricity) that only had utility during the billing period, which is a past period; therefore, it is recorded as an expense. Conversely, the company buys a machine, which it expects to use for the next five years. Since this expenditure has utility through multiple future periods, it is recorded as an asset.

fin

Asset Flight

The illegal practice of moving assets from one jurisdiction to another for the purpose of avoiding fines, confiscation, or other penalties.

aml

Asset Mingling

The illegal practice of purchasing assets, such as real estate properties, using a blend of legal and illegal funds as a means of making matches more complicated.

aml

Asymmetric Encryption

Asymmetric encryption allows users to encrypt information using shared keys. A user needs to send a message across the internet, but the user does not want anyone but the intended recipient to see what is written. Asymmetric encryption can help you achieve that goal.

tech

Asymmetric Encryption, Asymmetric Cryptography

ATM: Automated Teller Machine

ATM

An electromechanical device that allows authorised users, typically using machine-readable plastic cards, to withdraw cash from their accounts and/or access other services (allowing them, for example, to make balance enquiries, transfer funds or deposit money).

fin

ATM, Automated Teller Machine

Atomicity

Atomicity is a quality mainly associated with database transactions that means that the operations encapsulated in the transaction are handled in an all-or-nothing fashion. This prevents partial updates from occurring where some operations were performed before an error condition arose, leading to inconsistent data. In the case of transactions, either all of the operations are committed or every operation is rolled back to leave the database in the same state that it was in when the transaction began.

tech

Audit Trail

A record of all customer verification checks for auditing purposes.

fin

Authentication

A security mechanism for verifying: 1) the identity of an individual or other entity (including verification by means of a computer or computer application); and 2) the level of authority of that person or entity (i.e. the ability of that person or entity to perform specific tasks or activities).

tech, fin

authentication, payment authentication

Authorisation

The consent given by a participant (or a third party acting on behalf of that participant) in order to transfer funds or securities.

fin

authorization, authorisation, payment authorizaton, payment authorisation, transaction authorization, transaction authorisation

Autonomous Sanctions

A single entity, whether a government or a coalition of governments, such as the EU, acting to implement and enforce a sanctions regime.

aml

Avro

Apache Avro is a row-based, open-source data serialisation framework, primarily used in Hadoop and streaming pipelines for efficient data storage and exchange. It uses JSON to define data schemas, providing strong typing and enabling schema evolution (forward/backward compatibility). Data is serialised in a compact, fast binary format.

tech

AVS: Address Verification Service

AVS

Address Verification Service is an identity verification tool that allows businesses to detect and prevent potentially fraudulent credit or debit card transactions by comparing the billing address provided by a customer with the billing address on file for the card, to confirm they match.

aml

AVS, Address Verification Service

Backtracking

Backtracking is a class of algorithms for finding solutions to some computational problems, notably constraint satisfaction problems, that incrementally builds candidates to the solutions, and abandons a candidate ('backtracks') as soon as it determines that the candidate cannot possibly be completed to a valid solution.

tech

BACS: Bankers' Automated Clearing Services

BACS

BACS is the UK's payment system for direct debit and direct credit transactions. It facilitates bulk, non-time-critical payments, commonly used for payroll, mortgage repayments, and utility bills. BACS offers lower transaction fees and allows high-volume transactions up to £20 million.

fin

BACS, Bankers' Automated Clearing Services

Bandwidth

The amount of data being sent over the network between the two systems that are communicating.

tech

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that is licensed to accept checking and savings deposits and make loans. Banks also provide related financial services such as wealth management, currency exchange and safe deposit boxes. In most countries, banks are regulated by the national government or by the central bank. Banks make a profit by charging more interest for loans than they pay on savings accounts. Note that an EMI is not a bank.

fin

Bank Account

A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or another financial institution in which the financial transactions between a bank & a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets terms & conditions for each type of account that it offers. Accounts are classified in commonly understood types, e.g., deposit accounts, credit card accounts, current accounts, loan accounts or several other types. A customer may have more than one account. Once an account is opened, funds entrusted by a customer to a financial institution on deposit are recorded in an account designated by a customer. The financial transactions which have occurred on a bank account within a given period are reported to a customer on a bank statement. Each bank account is identified by a unique bank account number.

fin

Basel III

A global regulatory framework for banks and banking systems, developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in response to the financial crisis of 2008. Basel III builds upon the Basel II rulebook. Its aim is to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector. The measures aim to improve the banking sector's ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, improve risk management and governance, and strengthen banks' transparency and disclosures.

fin

Basel III, B3, Basel Accord III, Basel Accord 3, Basel Framework

Batch

A group of orders (payment orders and/or securities transfer orders) to be processed together.

fin

Batch, Bulk Payments

Batching

Once an issuer has granted authorization, a merchant can complete a purchase. A request for authorization is still not a request for payment. A merchant must now send an issuer a request for funds to cover a transaction. This is usually not done immediately. Merchants save their authorized transactions in a batch to be transmitted later (i.e., end of business day). A merchant can put an authorization hold in place until transactions can be sent in batch. Once a batch is complete, a merchant sends all authorized transactions to a processor for sorting. The processor then forwards them through to an acquirer.

fin

BBAN: Basic Bank Account Number

BBAN

A Basic Bank Account Number (BBAN) is a bank account number that includes the domestic bank code, branch identifier & account number.

fin

BBAN, Basic Bank Account Number

Beneficiary

A recipient of funds (payee) or securities. Depending on the context, a beneficiary can be a direct participant in a payment system and/or a final recipient.

fin

Receiver, Payee, Beneficiary

BER: Basic Encoding Rules

BER

Basic Encoding Rules specifies, in general terms, a partially self-describing and self-delimiting protocol for encoding ASN.1 data structures. Each data element is to be encoded as a type identifier, a length description, the actual data elements, and, where necessary, an end-of-content marker. These types of encodings are commonly called type–length–value (TLV) encodings. However, in BER's terminology, it is identifier-length-contents. This type of format would allow a receiver to decode the ASN.1 information from an incomplete stream, without requiring any pre-knowledge of the size, content, or semantic meaning of the data, though some specifics of the protocol would need to be provided or reverse-engineered from representative samples of traffic or software.

tech

BER, Basic Encoding Rules

Bernoulli Distribution

The Bernoulli distribution, named after Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, is the discrete probability distribution of a random variable which takes the value 1 with probability and the value 0 with probability. The Bernoulli distribution essentially models a single trial of flipping a weighted coin. A Bernoulli distribution models a single trial with 2 possible outcomes, while a Binomial distribution models the number of successes in a fixed number of independent Bernoulli trials. So, a Binomial distribution can be thought of as a sum of multiple Bernoulli distributions.

stats

BFF: Backend for Frontend

BFF

A Backend for Frontend (BFF) is an architectural design pattern that creates a dedicated backend service for a specific frontend (e.g., a web app, mobile app, or smart device). Instead of using one general-purpose API, the system customises data formatting and logic for each unique client experience.

tech

BFF, Backend for Frontend

BI: Business Intelligence

BI

Business intelligence (BI) represents the technical infrastructure that collects, stores, and analyses company data. BI translates raw data into actionable insights, providing managers with reports and information to make informed business decisions. BI tools and software come in various forms such as spreadsheets, reporting/query software, data visualisation software, data mining tools, and online analytical processing (OLAP).

tech

BI, Business Intelligence

BIC: Bank Identifier Code

BIC

An international standard for identification of institutions within the financial services industry. The registration authority for BICs, which consist of eight or eleven contiguous characters, comprising a financial institution code (four characters), a country code (two characters), a location code (two characters) and, optionally, a branch code (three characters), is SWIFT.

fin

BIC, Bank Identifier Code

Big Data

Big data involves a large quantity of diverse data that arrives in increasing volumes and with ever-higher velocity. Big data can be either structured (often numeric, easily formatted, and stored) or unstructured (more free-form, less quantifiable). Nearly every department in a company can utilise findings from big data analysis, but handling its clutter and noise can pose problems. Big data can be collected from social networks and websites, from personal electronics, through questionnaires, product purchases, and electronic check-ins, among many other sources. It is sometimes collected with the user's consent, and sometimes not, often raising privacy concerns. Big data is typically stored electronically and analysed using software specifically designed to handle large, complex datasets.

tech

Bilateral exposure

One party’s exposure to another party. See also exposure .

fin

BIN: Bank Identification Number

BIN

The Bank Identification Number (BIN) is the first four to six numbers that appear on payment cards. BINs are found on credit cards, charge cards, prepaid cards, debit cards, and gift cards. The BIN helps merchants evaluate and assess their payment card transactions. The number allows merchants to accept multiple forms of payment and allows transactions to be processed faster. BINs can help financial institutions identify fraudulent or stolen cards and prevent identity theft.

fin

BIN, Bank Identification Number

Binomial Distribution

A binomial distribution is used to determine the probability of a pass or fail outcome in a survey or an experiment. A binomial distribution describes binary outcomes such as a yes/no answer or an on/off condition. The mean of a binomial distribution is calculated by multiplying the number of trials by the probability of success. A binomial distribution is a discrete distribution used in statistics, unlike a continuous distribution, such as a normal distribution.

stats

Biometrics

Biometrics refers to digitally encoding physical attributes of a user to gain access to data or computer systems. Fingerprints, facial recognition, and voice patterns are among some of the most widespread uses of biometrics today in both consumer and commercial use. By using physical identifiers that are unique to individuals, biometrics seeks to make hacking or gaining unauthorized access to computer systems much more difficult. Biometrics are used across business including in accounting, tax, human resources, and marketing.

tech

Black Box Testing

Black box testing is a type of software testing in which the functionality of the software is not known. The testing is done without the internal knowledge of the products. It is also called functional testing. Black box testing focuses on software’s external attributes and behaviour. This type of testing looks at an application’s software's expected behaviour from a user’s point of view.

tech

Black Box Testing, Functional Testing

Blacklist

An internal list of names (including places, persons, entities, and individuals) that are screened to identify any sanctions exposure, in addition to government and vendor-maintained sanctions lists. Other potential additions to a firm's internal blacklist may come from OFAC advisories and other warnings that list entities that did not merit being placed on the SDN list, but are still considered high risk. The FATF blacklist is a list of countries that FATF has determined are noncooperative in the international fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

aml

Block

A package of data containing multiple transactions over a given period of time.

tech

Blockchain

Blockchain is a type of shared database that differs from a typical database in the way it stores information; blockchains store data in blocks linked together via cryptography. Blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that securely stores records across a network of computers in a way that is transparent, immutable, and resistant to tampering. Each 'block' contains data, and blocks are linked in a chronological 'chain'.

tech

Blocking

A process preventing the transfer of a specified amount of funds or a specified quantity of a security.

fin, aml

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limited to 2.5 milliwatts, giving it a very short range of up to 10 metres (33 ft). It employs UHF radio waves in the ISM bands, from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz. It is mainly used as an alternative to wired connections to exchange files between nearby portable devices and connect cell phones and music players with wireless headphones, wireless speakers, HIFI systems, car audio and wireless transmission between TVs and soundbars.

tech

BNF: Backus-Naur form

BNF

A formal notation for describing a context-free language such as a programming language.

tech

BNF, Backus-Naur form

Boolean expression

A logical statement, made up of Boolean variables, Boolean constants, and Boolean operators that will always evaluate as True or False.

tech

Boolean identity

A relation between two elements that always holds true for all possible values of the variable(s).

tech

Boolean Logic

Boolean logic refers to a system of logical thought developed by English mathematician and philosopher George Boole in 1854. Boolean logic is a result that can only have one of two possible values: true or false, yes or no, on or off, and 1 or 0. Boolean logic takes two statements or expressions and applies a logical operator to generate a Boolean value that can be either true or false, yes or no, on or off, and 1 or 0. To return the result, operators like AND, OR, NOT, etc. are used. Boolean algebra is the branch of algebra in which the values of the variables are the truth values true & false , usually denoted 1 & 0, respectively. Contrary to elementary algebra, where the values of the variables are numbers & the prime operations are addition & multiplication, the main operations of Boolean algebra are the conjunction and (denoted as ∧), the disjunction or (denoted as ∨), & the negation not (denoted as ¬). It is thus a formalism for describing logical relations in the same way that elementary algebra describes numeric relations.

tech

Boolean logic, Boolean algebra

Boolean operator

An operator that perform a logical comparison, such as AND, NOT, or OR.

tech

Boolean operator, logical operator

Boolean variable

A variable that takes one of only two values: True or False. These values are represented in binary as 1 or 0. Some systems will display the values as Yes or No.

tech

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a free and open-source CSS framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development. It contains HTML, CSS and (optionally) JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components.

tech

Bot Fraud

Bot fraud occurs when automated software programs, or bots, are used to perform fraudulent activities online, such as generating fake ad clicks or creating fake accounts. Identifying and stopping bot fraud is essential for businesses to maintain the integrity of their online platforms.

aml

Branch & bound

BB,B&B,BnB

A method for solving optimisation problems by breaking them down into smaller subproblems & using a bounding function to eliminate subproblems that cannot contain the optimal solution. It is an algorithm design paradigm for discrete & combinatorial optimisation problems, as well as mathematical optimisation. A branch and bound algorithm consists of a systematic enumeration of candidate solutions by means of state-space search: the set of candidate solutions is thought of as forming a rooted tree with the full set at the root. The algorithm explores branches of this tree, which represent subsets of the solution set. Before enumerating the candidate solutions of a branch, the branch is checked against upper & lower estimated bounds on the optimal solution, & is discarded if it cannot produce a better solution than the best one found so far by the algorithm. The algorithm depends on efficient estimation of the lower & upper bounds of regions/branches of the search space. If no bounds are available, then the algorithm degenerates to an exhaustive search.

tech

branch & bound, branch-&-bound, branch and bound, branch-and-bound, BB, B&B, BnB

Breakpoint

In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause. More generally, a breakpoint is a means of acquiring knowledge about a program during its execution. During the interruption, a programmer inspects the test environment (general-purpose registers, memory, logs, files, etc.) to find out whether the program is functioning as expected. In practice, a breakpoint consists of one or more conditions that determine when a program's execution should be interrupted.

tech

breakpoint, pause

Brute-force attack

In cryptography, a brute-force attack or exhaustive key search is a cryptanalytic attack that consists of an attacker submitting many possible keys or passwords with the hope of eventually guessing correctly. This strategy can theoretically be used to break any form of encryption that is not information-theoretically secure. However, in a properly designed cryptosystem the chance of successfully guessing the key is negligible. When cracking passwords, this method is very fast when used to check all short passwords, but for longer passwords other methods such as the dictionary attack are used because a brute-force search takes too long. Longer passwords, passphrases & keys have more possible values, making them exponentially more difficult to crack than shorter ones due to diversity of characters. Brute-force attacks can be made less effective by obfuscating the data to be encoded making it more difficult for an attacker to recognise when the code has been cracked or by making the attacker do more work to test each guess. One of the measures of the strength of an encryption system is how long it would theoretically take an attacker to mount a successful brute-force attack against it. Brute-force attacks are an application of brute-force search, the general problem-solving technique of enumerating all candidates and checking each one. The word 'hammering' is sometimes used to describe a brute-force attack, with 'anti-hammering' for countermeasures. Brute-force attacks work by calculating every possible combination that could make up a password and testing it to see if it is the correct password. As the password's length increases, the amount of time, on average, to find the correct password increases exponentially.

tech

Brute-force search

Brute-force search is a very general problem-solving technique & algorithmic paradigm that consists of systematically checking all possible candidates for whether or not each candidate satisfies the problem's statement. A brute-force algorithm that finds the divisors of a natural number n would enumerate all integers from 1 to n, and check whether each of them divides n without remainder. While a brute-force search is simple to implement & will always find a solution if it exists, implementation costs are proportional to the number of candidate solutions – which in many practical problems tends to grow very quickly as the size of the problem increases. Therefore, brute-force search is typically used when the problem size is limited, or when there are problem-specific heuristics that can be used to reduce the set of candidate solutions to a manageable size. The method is also used when the simplicity of implementation is more important than processing speed.

tech

brute-force search, exhaustive search, generate and test, generate-and-test, generate & test, generate-&-test, brute force search

Buffer overflow

In programming and information security, a buffer overflow or buffer overrun is an anomaly whereby a program writes data to a buffer beyond the buffer's allocated memory, overwriting adjacent memory locations. Buffers are areas of memory set aside to hold data, often while moving it from one section of a program to another, or between programs. Buffer overflows can often be triggered by malformed inputs; if one assumes all inputs will be smaller than a certain size and the buffer is created to be that size, then an anomalous transaction that produces more data could cause it to write past the end of the buffer. If this overwrites adjacent data or executable code, this may result in erratic program behaviour, including memory access errors, incorrect results, and crashes. Exploiting the behaviour of a buffer overflow is a well-known security exploit. On many systems, the memory layout of a program, or the system as a whole, is well-defined. By sending in data designed to cause a buffer overflow, it is possible to write into areas known to hold executable code and replace it with malicious code, or to selectively overwrite data pertaining to the program's state, therefore causing behaviour that was not intended by the original programmer. Buffers are widespread in operating system code, so it is possible to create attacks that perform privilege escalation and gain unlimited access to the computer's resources. The famed Morris worm in 1988 used this as one of its attack techniques. Programming languages commonly associated with buffer overflows include C and C++, which provide no built-in protection against accessing or overwriting data in any part of memory and do not automatically check that data written to an array (the built-in buffer type) is within the boundaries of that array. Bounds checking can prevent buffer overflows, but requires additional code and processing time. Modern operating systems use a variety of techniques to combat malicious buffer overflows, notably by randomising the layout of memory, or deliberately leaving space between buffers and looking for actions that write into those areas (\"canaries\").

tech

buffer overflow, buffer overrun

Business Transaction

A business transaction is an economic event with a third party that is recorded in an organisation's accounting system. Such a transaction must be measurable in money. Once a business transaction has been recorded, it will flow through the accounting system and appear in a firm’s financial statements.

fin

Bytecode

Bytecode, also called portable code or p-code, is a form of instruction set designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter. Unlike human-readable source code, bytecodes are compact numeric codes, constants, and references (normally numeric addresses) that encode the result of compiler parsing and performing semantic analysis of things like type, scope, and nesting depths of program objects. The name bytecode stems from instruction sets that have one-byte opcodes followed by optional parameters. Intermediate representations such as bytecode may be output by programming language implementations to ease interpretation, or it may be used to reduce hardware and operating system dependence by allowing the same code to run cross-platform, on different devices. Bytecode may often be either directly executed on a virtual machine (a p-code machine, i.e., interpreter), or it may be further compiled into machine code for better performance.

tech

bytecode, portable code, p-code