Introduction

No matter how secure your systems are, a lack of clear separation in duties can open the door to fraud, error, and misuse of power. That’s why ISO 27001 Control 5.3 mandates “Segregation of Duties” ensuring no single person has too much control over critical security tasks.

Think of it as the cybersecurity version of “checks and balances.”

Summary of Control 5.3: Segregation of Duties

🔒 Control Title: Segregation of Duties
📘 Source: ISO/IEC 27002:2022, Section 5.3
🧩 Control Category: Organizational
🔍 Attributes:

• Control Type: #Preventive
• Security Properties: #Integrity, #Confidentiality
• Cybersecurity Concepts: #Protect
• Operational Capabilities: #Governance
• Security Domain: #Governance_and_Ecosystem

Control Objective

To reduce the risk of unauthorized, unintentional, or fraudulent activity by dividing tasks and responsibilities among multiple people or systems particularly where critical or sensitive actions are involved.

Implementation Guidance

1) Identify Sensitive Functions and Risky Tasks:

• Examples: approving payments, user access provisioning, system development changes, backup/restoration
• Focus on areas where fraud or misuse could occur if one person has full control

2) Split Responsibilities:

• Separate roles such as:
  • Developer vs. Production Deployment
  • Requester vs. Approver
  • Administrator vs. Auditor

3) Use Role-Based Access Control (RBAC):

• Enforce separation technically through access permissions
• Ensure system roles align with policy-defined duties

4) Implement Compensating Controls (if full segregation isn’t possible):

• Independent reviews, audit trails, monitoring, approvals from a second person

5) Document and Review Regularly:

• Keep a record of segregated functions and review during internal audits or changes in the business process

Why This Control Matters

Without segregation, individuals may gain too much power risking data manipulation, fraud, or even sabotage. Segregation helps reduce the chance of insider threats and improves transparency across processes.

This control is especially critical for:

• Financial transactions
• Access control
• Software development lifecycle
• Change management

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• One admin doing everything: provisioning, approving, and auditing
• No oversight in sensitive business processes
• Not updating segregation strategies as teams or tech stacks change

Canadian Cyber’s Take

At Canadian Cyber, we often help clients restructure their security responsibilities to enforce proper checks and balances. Whether it’s your access management process, DevOps pipeline, or approval workflows we make sure duties are clearly divided and technically enforced.

Time to Add Real Separation Between Your Critical Functions?

Let’s implement role-based access, approval workflows, and monitoring systems to reduce risk and meet ISO 27001 requirements.
👉 Click here to speak with our compliance consultants.

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