ISC2 CC Access Controls Concepts Practice Question
An organization requires that a financial transaction must be initiated by one employee and approved by a manager before processing. Which access control principle does this enforce?
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
Separation of duties ensures no single individual can complete a high-risk action alone, reducing fraud risk.
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
Why this is correct
Separation of duties prevents a single person from performing both initiation and approval.
- ✗
Defense in depth
Why it's wrong here
Defense in depth uses multiple layers of security.
- ✗
Least privilege
Why it's wrong here
Least privilege limits permissions to the minimum needed.
- ✗
Need-to-know
Why it's wrong here
Need-to-know restricts data access to only what is required for a specific job role, but the scenario describes a separation of duties requiring two distinct users to authorise a single transaction. It is tempting because need-to-know is often conflated with limiting privileges; however, it would be correct only if the policy were about preventing an employee from viewing transaction details unrelated to their function, not about enforcing dual-authorisation workflow.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Risk Management and Security Controls
Key term
Risk
Risk is the possibility that an event or action will negatively affect an organization's ability to achieve its goals, often measured in terms of likelihood and impact.
Key term
Least privilege
Least privilege is a security principle that means giving users, systems, or programs only the minimum permissions they need to do their job and nothing more.
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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.