Dual authorization is a payment control that requires two separate people to approve a sensitive financial action, such as changing beneficiary details, updating an IBAN, or releasing a transfer. It is often called a maker-checker or four-eyes control. The goal is to prevent one employee, or one compromised account, from moving money on their own.
This matters in cyber security because many fraud attacks target the approval workflow rather than the mailbox or bank system itself. In business email compromise and invoice redirection scams, an attacker may send a convincing request for an urgent payment or account change. Dual authorization slows that attack by forcing review and making it harder for a forged instruction to succeed. It works best with independent verification, clear procedures, and enforcement on every transaction, not just the unusual ones.