Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the principle of separation of duties?
A. A single individual is responsible for both creating and auditing user access requests.
B. One team member assigns user access requests, while another team member reviews audit logs of account activities.
C. All employees in a department share the same administrative account for convenience.
D. A manager has unrestricted access to all system logs and user accounts.
Answer (2)
The scenario that best illustrates the principle of separation of duties is option B, where one team member assigns user access requests and another reviews audit logs. This division helps reduce the risk of fraud and errors. The other options fail to separate duties effectively.
;
The principle of separation of duties is a key concept in computer security and internal controls. It involves dividing tasks and responsibilities among different individuals or teams to prevent conflicts of interest, reduce the risk of error, and minimize the potential for fraud. By separating duties, an organization ensures that no single individual has control over all aspects of a critical task or process.
In the context of the given options:
(A) A single individual is responsible for both creating and auditing user access requests.
This option does not illustrate separation of duties because one person is performing both the creation and auditing tasks, which could lead to conflicts of interest or errors going unnoticed.
(B) One team member assigns user access requests, while another team member reviews audit logs of account activities.
This option best illustrates the principle of separation of duties. Here, the task of assigning user access is separated from the task of reviewing audit logs. This division ensures that no single individual has complete control over both the assignment of access and the monitoring of activities, thus reducing the risk of errors and increasing security.
(C) All employees in a department share the same administrative account for convenience.
This scenario illustrates poor security practice as it lacks accountability and does not follow the principle of separation of duties. If everyone uses the same account, it becomes impossible to trace actions back to individual users.
(D) A manager has unrestricted access to all system logs and user accounts.
This option also does not demonstrate separation of duties as it grants too much power and control to one person, increasing the risk of misuse.
Therefore, the correct answer is (B), where duties are appropriately divided between team members to enhance security and accountability.
