Information Security: Principles and Practices 2nd Edition by Jim Breithaupt, Mark S. Merkow

Exercise 10

Finding Analogies to Separation of Duties

1. Explain the principle of separation of duties.

2. How does this principle compare to checks and balances found within the U.S. government?

3. How does this principle compare to checks and balances found within your state government?

Step 1 of 3

Principle for separation of duties

1. The concept in which more than one human being is required for completion of a given task is known as separation of duty (SOD). The SOD principle says that the one single task is assigned to more than one person to minimize the errors and faults.

SOD is the key concept for internal controls. The main objective of this principle is to minimize the errors and faults. The best example is two people’s signatures on the same check.