Definition

Control

A control is a specific safeguard, process, or activity a company puts in place to reduce a risk to an acceptable level. Controls come in different shapes: preventive ones stop a problem before it happens, like blocking unauthorized logins, while detective ones catch issues after the fact, like reviewing access logs. In any audit or certification, controls are the unit of measurement, since assessors test whether each one is designed well and operating as intended. A single control rarely stands alone; strong programs layer several so that if one fails, another still catches the risk before it causes real harm.