Authorization is the process of determining what an authenticated principal is permitted to do.
Authorization is the decision step that follows authentication. It evaluates policies and context to determine whether a request should be allowed (e.g., which resources, actions, and conditions apply).
A process of determining, by evaluating applicable access control information, whether a subject is allowed to have the specified types of access to a particular resource.
The process or act of granting access privileges or the access privileges as granted.
An approval that is granted to a system entity to access a system resource. (Compare: permission, privilege.)
Usage: Some synonyms are "permission" and "privilege". Specific terms are preferred in certain contexts:
Tutorial: The semantics and granularity of authorizations depend on the application and implementation (see: "first law" under "Courtney's laws"). An authorization may specify a particular access mode -- such as read, write, or execute -- for one or more system resources.
A process for granting approval to a system entity to access a system resource.
"The process by which a properly appointed person or persons grants permission to perform some action on behalf of an organization. This process assesses transaction risk, confirms that a given transaction does not raise the account holder's debt above the account's credit limit, and reserves the specified amount of credit. (When a merchant obtains authorization, payment for the authorized amount is guaranteed -- provided, of course, that the merchant followed the rules associated with the authorization process.)" [SET2]