A
Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) Awareness is a national scheme to protect buildings, business areas and their surrounding neighbourhoods from the threat of terrorism
Project ASCEND was a programme of research to understand how and why people react during terrorist incidents and to identify issues with command and control in control rooms.
Outputs from ASCEND have informed NPSA's Marauding Terrorist Attacks guidance
A global professional membership body for security practitioners
An asset can be anything an organisation deems critical to its success or continued operation. Loss of assets would mean proper functioning becomes impaired or stops altogether. Assets need to be identified, prioritised and protected. They can be people, information, equipment, or places; assets can be tangible or intangible, for example reputation.
Essentially, an asset is what we are trying to protect.
Individuals who attend premises and outside spaces with the aim of capturing staff and property on camera, the content from which is often uploaded to social media and video platforms
Automatic Access Control System, or AACS, restricts access without the need for human supervision, they provide detection and audit to limit who can go where
B
British Transport Police is responsible for policing the railways in Great Britain
BIM is a combination of process, standards and technology through which it is possible to generate, visualise, exchange, assure and subsequently use and re-use information, including data, to form a trustworthy foundation for decision-making to the benefit of all those involved in any part of an asset’s lifecycle. This includes inception, capital phase procurement and delivery, asset and facility management, maintenance, refurbishment, and ultimately an asset’s disposal or re-use.
C
Helps security practitioners identify appropriate physical security equipment. The CSE provides a range of products that have been evaluated against specific NPSA security standards and the performance rating achieved.
CBRN: Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear
CBRNE: Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives
The UK's hub for behavioural and social science research into security threats
The Royal Chartered body for public relations professionals
Certification in security offered by the Company of Security Professionals (CSyP)
Government security groups, each a Centre of Excellence in a particular field
City of London Police
UK Government's counter terrorism strategy to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism. CONTEST comprises of four principal strands:
- Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
- Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
- Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
- Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack
CPD is the documentation of knowledge and experience and the development of skills within a chosen profession
Items which make up the device being tested, for example a Video Management System is made up of a video server, network data storage and a viewing computer
Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is a collaboration of UK police forces working with intelligence partners to prevent, deter and investigate terrorist activity.
Counter-terrorism (CT) is defined as deterring, detecting, preventing and protecting against terrorism.
The Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network (CTPN) is an international collaboration currently funded by the City of Stockholm
Trained police officers and police staff, who are qualified to deliver counter terrorism advice. They are tasked by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO)
For those working in proximity to public figures, or requires unescorted access to certain military, civil, industrial or commercial establishments assessed to be at particular risk from terrorist attack
Term used to describe a wide range of protective security measures and processes that can be used to mitigate the risk of hostile uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) activity.
Previously used terms include counter-drone, C-UAV (Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems.
The elements of national infrastructure the loss or compromise of which could result in major detrimental impact on essential services, significant loss of life or casualties, significant economic or social impacts, or have a significant impact on national security, national defence, or the functioning of the state
An NPSA evaluation programme that assesses physical security equipment against cyber mitigations
D
Ministry of Defence (MOD)’s in-government science and technology organisation, providing unique expertise, crucial insights and delivering innovative security solutions
The intelligent, co-ordinated promotion of protective security provision to the hostile that results in the perception and/or assessment that the reconnaissance or the attack itself will fail
Vetting level for those with long term, frequent and uncontrolled access to ‘Top Secret’ information
E
Term covering a rage of security measures such as alarms and CCTV
Materials that provide protection or mitigate the effects of blast and weapons
Search and screening measures, technologies and processes to detect explosives, weapons and CBRN materials
Terrorism and terrorist activities motivated by extreme right wing ideologies such as fascism and white supremacism
F
An investment made by a company or individual in one country in business interests in another country, the aim being to establish a controlling interest or acquiring business assets
G
H
Explosives that can be constructed from commercially available substances
Purposeful observation with the intention of collecting information to inform the planning of a hostile act against a specific target
I
A bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than a conventional military method
A person who exploits, or has the intention to exploit, their legitimate access to an organisation’s assets for unauthorised purposes
J
Part of the Home Office, JSaRC brings together government, academic and private sector expertise to deliver security solutions for the UK
K
L
M
Fast moving, violent incidents where assailants move through a location aiming to find and kill or injure as many people as possible
Officially called The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: Martyn’s Law will ensure the public are better protected from terrorism, by requiring certain public premises and events to be prepared and ready to keep people safe in the event of an attack. It is scheduled to come in to force in 2027.
ProtectUK provides a raft of guidance articles on Martyn's Law
Mitigation is reducing the severity, seriousness or impact of something - making it less likely to happen.
To mitigate risks, we apply protective security measures.
N
A police unit that supports the Protect (against terrorist attack) and Prepare (mitigate the effects of an attack) strands of CONTEST and administers the national CTSA network
The UK's national law enforcement agency, leading against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cyber crime; and economic crime that goes across regional and international borders
The UK government's National Technical Authority for cyber security.
NPSA and NCSC work closely together to provide holistic protective security guidance. Who NPSA work with
Joint NPSA/NCSC campaigns:
The process to provide a level of assurance as to a person's trustworthiness, integrity and reliability
O
Operational Technology (OT) is technology that interfaces with the physical world. OT monitors or controls industrial equipment to affect a change. Common OT systems include Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).
The NCSC has published the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) and guidelines around secure system design for organisations responsible for important services and activities.
P
Items which need to be added to a system to make it functionally work but in themselves are not assured (for example a CCTV camera connecting to a Video Management System: the CCTV camera itself is not assured, however the connecting of the camera does not adversely affect the cyber security of the Video Management System).
Guidance for high-risk individuals may be exposed to a range threats to their personal safety and security, or that of their family
Protecting people by shaping and controlling the environment to promote vigilance and an effective security culture, and to influence and deter those seeking to cause harm; including policies and procedures which seek to mitigate the risk of workers (insiders) exploiting their legitimate access to an organisation's assets for unauthorised purposes
Can provide resistance to forced entry and includes for example: doors, windows, walls, locks and locking systems, fences and containers
Refers to measures designed to ensure the physical protection of people, property and assets from actions and events that could cause damage or loss
One of the four strands of the UK Government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.
CONTEST is the UK Government's counter terrorism strategy to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism. CONTEST comprises of four principal strands:
- Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
- Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
- Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
- Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack
Preventing, Interdicting and Mitigating Extremist events
The UK's Prevent Strategy is an example of this in action
A method of policing to deter, detect and disrupt a wide range of criminal activity
One of the four strands of the UK Government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.
CONTEST is the UK Government's counter terrorism strategy to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism. CONTEST comprises of four principal strands:
- Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
- Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
- Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
- Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack
The term given to the act of managing the risks to an organisation's assets
NaCTSO's platform for free counter terrorism protective security and preparedness advice, guidance and learning for venues and public spaces across the United Kingdom.
ProtectUK is the lead for guidance on the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (also known as Martyn's Law)
Q
R
Administered by the Institution of Civil Engineers, RSES promotes excellence in security engineering by providing a benchmark of professional competence
Risk is a situation that could occur as a result of the threat and vulnerability, causing loss or damage to the asset. Risks are what your protective security measures are designed to reduce or remove – in other words, what those measures are designed to mitigate.
S
The Security Considerations Assessment (SCA) process ensures security-related vulnerabilities are considered across a range of activities and processes within an organisation. This includes physical, personnel, cyber and cross-cutting security measures.
A set of values, shared by everyone in an organisation, that determine how people are expected to think about and approach security
The design and application of physical, personnel and cyber protective security measures to protect assets and operations against malicious attacks such as terrorism, espionage and crime
Known as SIA, responsible for regulating the private security industry
The UK’s largest professional membership body for security professionals
In relation to built assets, security mindedness is the adoption of appropriate and proportionate measures to reduce the risk of loss or disclosure of information which could impact on the safety or security of: personnel and other occupants or users; the asset itself; asset information; the benefits the asset exists to deliver
A security training package to help businesses and organisations maximise safety and security using their existing resources
A method of policing to deter, detect and disrupt a wide range of criminal activity
Defined as companies with less than 250 employees and a turnover of less than £25 million
An urban community that integrates information and communication technologies (ICT), city-wide and other relevant data and intelligent solutions to optimise infrastructure, service delivery and governance in response to the citizens’ needs
Individuals who attend premises and outside spaces with the aim of capturing staff and property on camera, the content from which is often uploaded to social media and video platforms
Working for the benefit of a foreign country, state actors are responsible for actions that are detrimental to the security, democracy, or economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom
T
Commonly referred to as "Martyn’s Law", the Act will ensure the public are better protected from terrorism, by requiring certain public premises and events to be prepared and ready to keep people safe in the event of an attack. It is scheduled to come in to force in 2027.
ProtectUK provides a raft of guidance articles on Martyn's Law
Threat is an intention to cause harm. Threats can be to individuals, groups, organisations, sectors, nations, ideas – anything or anyone, tangible or intangible. The threat is what we are trying to protect against.
Those that would carry out the threat are threat actors.
The manifestation of an attack is the threat vector, which is done using various methodologies
Protective Security Risk Management
The methods use by threat actors to perpetrate an attack
The manifestation of an attack, carried out by a threat actor, using one or more methodologies
Potential threat vectors are listed on NPSA's site under the Protection From menu.
Measures to limit vehicle approach speeds to a manageable level; linked to Hostile Vehicle Mitigation guidance
Methods to control vehicle access to a location; linked to Hostile Vehicle Mitigation guidance
U
Part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), UKNACE is the UK government’s National Technical Authority for technical (counter eavesdropping) security
A remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned air vehicle (UAV); commonly referred to as drones
V
Provide proven vehicle impact protection and maintain blast stand-off
Vulnerability is how inherently prone an asset is to the threat.
It considers what measures are in place to protect the asset, as well as the state of those measures.
A vulnerability could be exploited by threat actors.