What is authorization?

In computing systems, authorization is the process of determining which permissions a person or system is supposed to have. In multi-user computer systems, a system administrator defines which users are allowed access to the system, as well as the privileges of use for which they are eligible (e.g., access to file directories, hours of access, amount of allocated storage space). Authorization can be seen as both the preliminary setting of permissions by a system administrator, and the actual checking of the permission values when a user obtains access. Authorization is usually preceded by authentication.

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