GENERAL IT CONTROLS

 General IT Controls

“General IT controls are policies and procedures that relate to many applications and support the effective functioning of application controls. They apply to mainframe, miniframe, and end-user environments.

General IT-controls that maintain the integrity of information and security of data commonly include controls over the following:” (SA 315)

•  Data center and network operations 
•  Program change 
•  Access security 
•  Application system acquisition, development, and maintenance (Business Applications) 

These are IT controls generally implemented to mitigate the IT specific risks and applied commonly across multiple IT systems, applications and business processes. Hence, General IT controls are known as “pervasive” controls or “indirect” controls. Let us now learn about each of the General IT controls in more detail.