Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Separation of Duties

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security

  • 429 Accesses

Synonyms

Dynamic separation of duties; History-based separation of duties; Operational separation of duties; Segregation of duties; Static separation of duties; Strong exclusion; Weak exclusion

Related Concepts

Least Privilege; RBAC; Roles

Definition

Separation of Duty is a security principle used to formulate multi-person control policies, requiring that two or more different people be responsible for the completion of a task or set of related tasks. The purpose of this principle is to discourage fraud by spreading the responsibility and authority for an action or task over multiple people, thereby raising the risk involved in committing a fraudulent act by requiring the involvement of more than one individual. A frequently used example is the process of creating and approving purchase orders. If a single person creates and approves purchase orders, it is easy and tempting for them to create and approve a phony order and pocket the money; if different people must create and approve...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Baldwin RW (1990) Naming and grouping privileges to simplify security management in large databases. In: Proceedings of the 1990 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Oakland, May 1990, pp 116–132

    Google Scholar 

  2. Clark DD, Wilson DR (1987) A comparison of commercial and military computer security policies. In: Proceedings of the 1987 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Oakland, April 1987, pp 184–194

    Google Scholar 

  3. Department of Defense National Computer Security Center (1985) Department of Defense Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation Criteria. DoD 5200.28-STD

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ferraiolo D, Cugini J, Kuhn DR (1995) Role-based access control (RBAC): features and motivations. In: Proceedings of the 1995 computer security applications conference, New Orleans, Dec 1995, pp 241–248

    Google Scholar 

  5. Frode H, Oleshchuk V (2003) SRBAC: a spatial role-based access control model for mobile systems. Nordsec 2003, Gjøvik, Norway, 15–17 Oct 2003, pp 129–141

    Google Scholar 

  6. Gligor V, Gavrila S, Ferraiolo D (1998) On the formal definition of separation-of-duty policies and their composition. In: Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Rockport, May 1998, pp 172–183

    Google Scholar 

  7. Nash MJ, Poland KR (1990) Some conundrums concerning separation of duty. In: Proceedings of the 1990 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Oakland, May 1990, pp 201–207

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Saltzer JH, Schroeder MD (1975) The protection of information in computer systems. Proc IEEE 63(9):1278–1308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sandhu R (1990) Separation of duties in computerized information systems. In: Proceedings of the IFIP WG11.3 workshop on database security, Halifax, UK, Sept 1990

    Google Scholar 

  10. Sandhu R (1998) Transaction control expressions for separation of duties. In: Proceedings of the fourth aerospace computer security conference, Orlando, Dec 1988, pp 282–286

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sandhu R, Coyne E, Feinstein H, Youman C (1994) Role-based access control: a multi-dimensional view. In: Proceedings of the 10th annual computer security applications conference, Orlando, Dec 1994, pp 54–62

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sandhu R, Feinstein H (1994) A three tier architecture for role-based access control. In: Proceedings of the 17th NIST-NCSC national computer security conference, Baltimore, Oct 1994, pp 138–149

    Google Scholar 

  13. Simon RT, Zurko M (1997) Separation of duty in role-based environments. In: 10th IEEE computer security foundations workshop, June 1997

    Google Scholar 

  14. Thomas RK, Sandhu RS (1994) Conceptual foundations for a model of task-based authorizations. In: Proceedings of the computer security foundations workshop VII, Franconia, June 1994

    Google Scholar 

  15. Wainer J, Barthelmess P, Kumar A (2001) “W-RBAC – a workflow security model incorporating controlled overriding of constraints” Instituto de Computacao, Universidade Estual de Campinas, Technical Report IC-01-013, October 2001

    Google Scholar 

  16. Zurko M, Simon RT (1996) User centered security. In: Proceedings of the new security paradigms workshop, Lake Arrowhead, Sept 1996

    Google Scholar 

  17. Zurko M, Simon R, Sanfillipo T (1999) A user-centered, modular authorization service built on an RBAC foundation. In: Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Oakland, May 1999, pp 57–71

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Software Group Lotus Live Security Architecture and Strategy, 5 Technology Park Drive, 01886, Westford, MA, USA

    Mary Ellen Zurko M.sc.

  2. Harvard Medical School, Center for Biomedical Informatics, One Kendall Square, 02139, ​Cambridge, MA, USA

    Richard T. Simon (Dr.)

Authors
  1. Mary Ellen Zurko M.sc.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard T. Simon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Henk C. A. van Tilborg

  2. Center for Secure Information Systems, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4422, USA

    Sushil Jajodia

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Ellen Zurko, M., Simon, R.T. (2011). Separation of Duties. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_830

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics