Which concept involves dividing responsibilities to reduce fraud risk?

• A. Access Review
• B. Segregation of Duties
• C. Centralized Repository
• D. User Identities

Answer: (B)

Segregation of Duties is the practice of dividing responsibilities among different people to prevent fraud and errors. In identity and access management, this means separating steps like requesting access, approving that request, and provisioning or modifying access so no single person controls all parts of a critical process. By having different roles handle each step, checks and balances are built in, making it harder for someone to abuse the system or conceal improper actions. For example, one person can initiate a provisioning request, another must approve it, and a separate administrator carries out the provisioning. This separation also supports auditability, since ownership and actions are clearly delineated.

Access Review focuses on verifying who currently has access, but it doesn’t inherently enforce the division of duties. A centralized repository is about where identities are stored, not about splitting responsibilities. User identities pertain to the identities themselves, not to the process controls that reduce fraud risk. So segregation of duties best matches the goal of dividing responsibilities to curb fraud risk.