A Change Advisory Board is a governance body composed of representatives from IT, security, operations and business stakeholders who evaluate proposed changes to IT systems and infrastructure. Following ITIL best practices, the CAB assesses the risk, impact and readiness of each change request before granting or denying approval.
The CAB plays a vital role in maintaining system stability and security by preventing poorly planned changes from introducing vulnerabilities or causing outages. In the context of ISO 27001 and SOC 2, a functioning change management process with CAB oversight provides auditors with evidence that changes are controlled, documented and traceable.