Skip to content
Weekly Signal

Cyber-security glossary

Compensating controls

Alternative safeguards used when the preferred treatment cannot be applied immediately.

Compensating controls

Definition

Alternative safeguards used when the preferred treatment cannot be applied immediately.

Why it matters

Record the threat or path the control interrupts, evidence that it is active, its limitations, an owner and an expiry. A proposed control is not the same as an effective one.

Use it in practice

Start with authoritative evidence, record the source and freshness, and be explicit about what this term can and cannot tell you. Connect it to asset context and a named action rather than treating it as an isolated label.

Related terms

CTEM · Vulnerability debt · Exploitability