1. In infosec, the concept of authorization validates that someone has the rights to access something. For example, you are authorized to read files from my webserver, but I don't authorize you to change anything. Contrast: The first stage of authorization is generally authentication. Before you decide what an individual is allowed to do, you must first establish who they are. In some cases, authorization is independent from authentication, such as not allowing anybody to logon after midnight. From Hacking-Lexicon