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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Separation of Duties (SoD)

Dividing a critical task among multiple people so no single individual can complete it alone.

Definition

Separation of duties (segregation of duties) prevents fraud and errors by requiring collusion to misuse a process. Typical examples split request and approval, or development and production deployment. It is a preventive administrative control audited in financial and IT environments.

Example

The employee who creates a vendor in the payment system cannot also approve payments to that vendor.

Exam tip

SoD requires collusion to commit fraud; job rotation and mandatory vacation are detective controls that complement it.

Don't confuse it with

Related terms