Glossary · Security & governance
Separation of Duties
Dividing conflicting responsibilities or authority across independent roles so one principal cannot complete a high-risk action without another authorized decision.
Why it matters
A compromised account or mistaken agent should not be able to propose, approve, execute, and conceal the same consequential change.
In practice
Separate artifact creation from release approval, use distinct identities, preserve both decisions in the audit log, and define emergency access with later review.
Common confusion
Separation of duties is about conflicting authority, not simply assigning work to several people or agents that share the same credentials.
Related terms
Sources
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