What means that information can be accessed and modified by those authorized to do so?

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Definition: Authorization is a security mechanism to determine access levels or user/client privileges related to system resources including files, services, computer programs, data and application features. This is the process of granting or denying access to a network resource which allows the user access to various resources based on the user's identity.

Description: Most web security systems are based on a two-step process. The first step is authentication, which ensures about the user identity and the second stage is authorization, which allows the user to access the various resources based on the user's identity. Modern operating systems depend on effectively designed authorization processes to facilitate application deployment and management. Key factors contain user type, number and credentials, requiring verification and related actions and roles.

Access control in computer systems and networks relies on access policies and it is divided into two phases:

1) Policy definition phase where access is authorized.

2) Policy enforcement phase where access requests are permitted or not permitted.

Thus authorization is the function of the policy definition phase which precedes the policy enforcement phase where access requests are permitted or not permitted based on the previously defined authorizations. Access control also uses authentication to check the identity of consumers. When a consumer attempts to access a resource, the access control process investigates that the consumer has been authorized to use that resource. Authorization services are implemented by the Security Server which can control access at the level of individual files or programs.

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