Split Knowledge

A security technique in which two or more entities separately hold data items that individually convey no knowledge of the information that results from combining the items. A condition under which two or more entities separately have key components that individually convey no knowledge of the plaintext key that will be produced when the key components are combined in the cryptographic module. Separation of data or information into two or more parts, each part constantly kept under control of separate authorized individuals or teams so that no one individual or team will know the whole data. The specific application of the ideas of separation of duties and two-man control into a single solution. The basic idea is that the information or privilege required to perform an operation is divided among multiple users. This ensures that no single person has sufficient privileges to compromise the security of the environment.