ITGC: The invisible cost of not having well-structured IT controls

Have you ever wondered how much time and money your company may be wasting by not having efficient control of the IT infrastructure? Today, information security and regulatory compliance go far beyond being technical issues or restricted to the technology area. These factors have become strategic issues that directly affect corporate governance, stakeholder trust, and even the market value of your organization.

And that's where General IT Controls, or ITGC (Information Technology General Controls), comes in. They represent a set of essential practices and processes to ensure that your technological systems are secure, reliable, and integrated.

But are we really harnessing the full potential of the ITGC? How to make them more efficient, intelligent, and able to meet growing regulatory and strategic demands?

Let's deepen this discussion and explore how to audit, strengthen, and automate ITGCs, ensuring that your company doesn't just comply with standards such as SOX, ISO 27001, and LGPD.

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Real protection or a false sense of security?

Many companies believe that just having well-documented IT policies means being protected, but reality shows that this is far from enough. Controls that fail in practice can be costly, not only financially, but also in credibility and operational continuity.

The lack of efficient access management can allow employees to have permissions beyond what is necessary, exposing critical data to leak risks. Changes without traceability open loopholes for systemic failures that can compromise entire operations without anyone realizing it until it's too late.

Backups that have never been tested represent an invisible danger, as they can fail just when they are most needed, making data recovery unfeasible. And when monitoring is inefficient or sporadic, vulnerabilities can remain active for months, waiting to be exploited.

The result of this sum of weaknesses translates into severe financial impacts, greater exposure to fraud, and irreversible damage to corporate reputation.

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Where does your company need attention?

General IT Controls should not only be seen as a checklist for audits, but as a mechanism for security and operational efficiency. For them to fulfill this role, it is essential to ensure that access management is strict, allowing only authorized users to have permissions for critical systems. Changes to processes and infrastructure need to be documented and evaluated to avoid unexpected failures.

• The physical and logical security of data centers, networks, and servers must be treated as a priority, ensuring that no undue access compromises sensitive information.
• Backups can't just be a formality, but a reliable and regularly tested process to ensure that data recovery is possible and efficient in the event of incidents.
• Audits must be a recurring practice to validate the effectiveness of controls, avoiding unpleasant surprises when an incident occurs.

The big question is: if there were an external audit today, would your company be prepared to pass without reservations?

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The invisible cost of the lack of effective controls

Companies that don't invest in IT governance often only realize the real impact of that choice when faced with critical problems. The cost of non-compliance can be brutal, with high fines and penalties associated with standards such as SOX and ISO 27001. In addition, control failures can result in operational interruptions that affect productivity, generating chain losses.

Financial risks also increase when data security is not treated with the necessary seriousness, opening space for fraud, leaks, and improper access that can lead to millions of dollars in losses. But the hardest loss to recover is trust. Once clients and investors perceive weaknesses in a company's security and compliance, reputation can be irreversibly impacted.

Ultimately, when IT controls aren't well managed, the company may be spending a lot more than it imagines—and without realizing it.

How to save time and reduce risks

There are still many organizations that dedicate endless hours to manual access reviews, control tests, and compliance reporting. This process not only consumes time and resources, but it is also prone to human errors that compromise its effectiveness.

With automation, the scenario changes completely. Monitoring controls in real time allows you to identify flaws before they become serious problems, reducing operational risks and making audits faster and more accurate. The automatic generation of compliance reports makes it easier to comply with regulatory requirements, ensuring that the company is always one step ahead.

If your controls still rely on manual processes or on only one-off audits, it may be time to reevaluate your approach.

After all, the cost of not having an efficient ITGC can be far greater than the cost of implementing it the right way. Talk to a Vennx expert and optimize your risk management.