A user is mistakenly granted access to customer accounts not required for his duties. Which component of the AAA model is violated?

The correct answer is indeed authorization. The AAA model stands for Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting, which are critical components for managing user rights and access control in a network.

When a user is mistakenly granted access to more information or resources than is necessary for their specific role, this directly relates to authorization. Authorization is the process of determining what resources a user can access and what actions they can perform. If a user has access to customer accounts that are not required for their duties, it indicates a failure in properly defining or enforcing these access controls.

This could result from inadequate role definitions or poor implementation of access policies, leading to privilege escalation or overreach in user permissions. By ensuring strict adherence to authorization principles, organizations can reinforce the principle of least privilege, where users only have access to the information necessary for their specific tasks, thereby enhancing overall security.

The mention of authentication pertains to the process of verifying a user's identity, while accounting deals with tracking user actions and resource usage. Availability is focused on ensuring that resources are accessible when needed. None of these aspects are directly involved in the scenario described, which centers specifically on improper authorization.