ISC2 CC Access Controls Concepts Practice Question
A security auditor is reviewing access controls at a financial institution. The auditor identifies a scenario where one employee can initiate a payment transaction, and the same employee can also approve it. Which access control principle is being violated, and what is the primary risk?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Separation of duties; risk of fraud
Separation of duties requires that no single person has the ability to complete a high-risk action without another person's involvement. The scenario describes a violation of this principle, which increases the risk of fraud because an individual could both initiate and approve a fraudulent payment without oversight.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Separation of duties; risk of fraud
Why this is correct
Correct. Separation of duties prevents a single person from performing conflicting tasks, reducing fraud risk.
- ✗
Defense in depth; risk of single point of failure
Why it's wrong here
Defense in depth involves multiple layers of control, not task segregation.
- ✗
Need-to-know; risk of data exposure
Why it's wrong here
Need-to-know limits access to data based on job necessity, not task segregation.
- ✗
Least privilege; risk of excessive permissions
Why it's wrong here
Least privilege is about granting minimum permissions, not about splitting tasks among individuals.
- ✗
Privileged access management; risk of account compromise
Why it's wrong here
PAM focuses on controlling and monitoring privileged accounts, not on dividing responsibilities.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Security Principles
Key term
Separation of duties
Separation of duties is a security principle that splits critical tasks and privileges among multiple people to prevent fraud, errors, and abuse of power.
Key term
Access control
Access control is the security practice of determining who or what is allowed to view, use, or enter a resource, and under what conditions.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CC exam.