Maker-checker approval is a dual-control process in which one person, the maker, creates or changes an action and a second person, the checker, independently reviews and approves it before it takes effect. It is a core segregation-of-duties control used in banking, software change management, and other high-risk environments.
In cyber security, maker-checker approval helps limit fraud, insider abuse, and accidental misconfiguration. If an attacker compromises one account, they should still be blocked from releasing a payment, changing an access rule, or approving a code deployment without a separate review. Defenders also use it to keep AI-assisted workflows safe: a model may draft a report, reconcile data, or propose a change, but a human reviewer must validate the result before it is committed. The control is only effective when the reviewer is truly independent and cannot be bypassed, rushed, or reduced to a rubber stamp.