When pharmacologists talk about"toxic combinations," they mean two separate drugs that, when combined, can negatively impact a patient’s health. In the world of cybersecurity, it refers to the combination of multiple roles held by a single individual that presents a significant risk to the organization.
What’s more, toxic role combinations create vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit or result in internal malicious activities. This is why the principle of segregation of duties is so important: It splits apart roles so that two or more separate entities have to coordinate their actions to achieve a certain task.If an individual has control over both purchasing and financial approval, they are able to authorize fraudulent transactions without any third-party oversight.
A sales manager who also handles credit approvals could approve risky deals to boost sales figures, potentially leading to financial losses.If one person has both the ability to create a user identity and to grant privileges to an identity, then they can grant themselves or someone else full administrative privileges in the IT system.