Everything About ___
Live briefing

Everything about Authorization

Function of specifying access rights and privileges to resources

Authorization or authorisation, in information security, computer security and IAM, is the function of specifying rights/privileges for accessing resources, in most cases through an access policy, and then deciding whether a particular subject has privilege to access a particular resource. Examples of subjects include human users, computer software and other hardware on the computer. Examples of resources include individual files or an item's data, computer programs, computer devices and functionality provided by computer applications. For example, user accounts for human resources staff are typically configured with authorization for accessing employee records. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: AuthorizationA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Not all AI health tools with regulatory authorization are clinically validatedInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: The ProphetThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Remdesivir: A Review of Its Discovery and Development Leading to Emergency Use Authorization for Treatment of COVID-19Cited 855 times
  5. Go sideways: OAuthA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Web API securityA closely related topic

📖 Definitions

Noun An act of authorizing.

Noun The state of being authorized to do something or to be somewhere; formally granted permission.

Noun A document giving formal sanction, permission or warrant.

Noun Permission, possibly limited, to spend funds for a specific budgetary purpose.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Overview
  2. Implementation
  3. Related interpretations

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics