Foundations lessons

Foundations · Lesson 3

Core IGA terminology

A working vocabulary: entitlements, SoD, certification, least privilege, and more.

Use this vocabulary when reading policies, RFPs, or product docs:

  • Entitlement — a permission, role, group, or privilege granted to an identity in a system.
  • Least privilege — only the access required for the job, nothing more.
  • Segregation of Duties (SoD) — preventing toxic combinations (e.g. create vendor + approve payment) that enable fraud or error.
  • Access certification — periodic or continuous review where owners confirm or revoke entitlements.
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) — permissions packaged into roles mapped to job functions.
  • Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) — decisions based on user, resource, and context attributes.
  • Orphaned account — an account with no active owner, often left after incomplete offboarding.

Browse the Knowledge Center glossary for A–Z definitions, and the comparisons section for side-by-side explainers like IGA vs IAM.

When these terms feel natural, continue to Core Concepts for RBAC vs ABAC, SoD depth, lifecycle, and access request flows.

Segregation of Duties: toxic combinations

When two permissions become a fraud risk

Classic SoD conflicts that create fraud and error risk — and the controls that catch them. Create Vendor combined with Approve Payment creates SoD conflict: One person can invent a vendor and pay them — classic fraud path. Control: block the combination, require dual control, or alert in real time.

Create Vendor

AP clerk entitlement

Safe alone

Click to reveal

Approve Payment

Finance approver entitlement

Safe alone

  • Safe aloneEach entitlement is fine in isolation
  • Toxic togetherCombined in one identity = SoD violation

Learn more: Open related lesson →

Interactive game

Spot the SoD Conflict

Find the toxic entitlement combination in each round.

Score 0/5·Round 1/5

Which pair creates a Segregation of Duties conflict?

Mark complete

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