A technique is provided for controlling access by an application to data or a service supported by a computing system, a computer program product and an access control unit. The technique includes identifying a request from an application for access to data or a service supported by the system, determining whether access has been restricted to the data or service, and, if so, indicating to the application that the request for access has been granted by the system and emulating the data or service when the data or service is accessed by the application.