What does NDA stand for?
NDA stands for Non-disclosure Agreement. A legal agreement that obliges the signer to keep specified information confidential.
An NDA is a legal contract in which a party agrees not to disclose specified confidential information and to use it only for the agreed purpose. Organizations have employees, contractors and vendors sign one before giving them access to sensitive data, designs or security findings. It does not stop a leak technically: it sets out what counts as confidential, how long the duty lasts and what the consequences of a breach are.
NDA in practice: an example
Before a penetration test starts, the testing firm signs an NDA with the client. The testers will see network diagrams and may find serious weaknesses; the agreement binds them to share the results only with the people the client names.
What NDA is confused with
NDA vs MOU: what is the difference?
An NDA is a binding contract about confidentiality. An MOU records what two parties intend to do together and is often not meant to be enforced in court. What MOU stands for
NDA vs AUP: what is the difference?
An acceptable use policy tells users what they may do with company systems. An NDA covers what they may reveal about company information. What AUP stands for
Which exams cover NDA?
NDA is on the official CompTIA acronym list for two of the four exams covered here.
- Security+ SY0-801: 5.3 (Security Program Management and Oversight).
- A+ 220-1201 and 220-1202: 220-1202 4.0 (Operational Procedures).
Each number is a CompTIA exam objective and the name in brackets is its domain. The exam puts the term in a scenario; it does not ask you to recite the expansion.
Check yourself: two practice questions
Written by CertSprint for this page. They are not taken from any exam.
1. A vendor's engineers need read access to a customer database to fix a fault. Which document should be signed before access is granted?
- A non-disclosure agreement
- A statement of work only
- A memorandum of understanding
- A change request
Show the answer
A. A non-disclosure agreement. The engineers will see confidential data, so the confidentiality obligation has to be in place first. A statement of work describes the job, not the duty of secrecy.
2. An employee who signed an NDA when hired leaves the company. What does the agreement still oblige them to do?
- Keep the covered information confidential for the period the agreement states
- Return to work on request
- Hand their passwords to a successor
- Nothing: it ended with the job
Show the answer
A. Keep the covered information confidential for the period the agreement states. Confidentiality duties in an NDA normally continue after employment ends, for the period written in the agreement. That is why offboarding reminds leavers of it.
Sources: NIST glossary: non-disclosure agreement; NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, control PS-6 (Access Agreements). The acronym and its expansion come from CompTIA's official acronym lists, linked from each exam glossary above. The explanation, example and questions are CertSprint's own, checked against these sources on 11 November 2026.