Dictionary · Cybersecurity Fundamentals
Security Control
Design · Beginner
A safeguard that reduces risk. It may be technical, administrative, or physical, and it may prevent, detect, or help correct a problem.
Policies, door locks, backups, and firewalls are all controls. The useful question is which risk the control reduces and whether you would notice if it failed.
Example: Multi-factor login is a preventive control. A log alert is a detective control. A restore from backup is a corrective control.
Common misconception
- A control is not only a piece of security software. A procedure or a locked door can be one too.