Dual approval is a control that requires two independent sign-offs before a sensitive action can proceed. The two approvals should come from different people or roles, so one compromised account, one careless employee, or one impersonated executive cannot complete the request alone.
In cyber security, dual approval matters because many attacks target the approval process rather than the technology itself. Fraudsters who use executive impersonation or business email compromise often pressure staff to send money, change bank details, or reveal data quickly. Requiring a second reviewer slows that pressure down and creates a chance to detect mismatched identities, unusual urgency, or policy violations. In defense, dual approval is commonly paired with out-of-band verification, documented payment workflows, and least-privilege access so that high-risk actions are both traceable and harder to fake.