SECAI Core · phase 10 of 15 · noun

Authorization

The process of determining what rights and privileges a particular entity has.

The Explain card

Plain English
Authorization is determining what rights and privileges a particular entity has once it is authenticated. It answers "what are you allowed to do?"
Example
A finance analyst is logged into an AI assistant. Authorization rules let the assistant retrieve finance reports for them but deny requests for engineering source code, however cleverly the question is phrased. The model's tools check permissions on every call.
Why it matters
An LLM cannot be trusted to enforce permissions itself; it can be talked into anything. Authorization must live in the tools and data layer, where a prompt cannot rewrite it.
Hook
Through the door, but which rooms?

Word knowledge

How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.

In a sentence

The API gateway checks authorization before allowing a model-serving account to read encrypted customer records.

How it is built
  • author- base authority or one who originates or warrants
  • -iz- verb-forming suffix make, cause, or give a status
  • -ation noun-forming suffix action, process, or result
Where it came from
Origin
Middle English autorisation, from Old French autorisation and Medieval Latin auctorizare, ultimately from Latin auctor
Entered the language
c. 1400
What changed
It first referred to formal sanction or official permission and later became a standard term for access decisions in computing and security.
How it is spelled
Pattern
Verbs ending in -ize commonly form nouns in -ization.
Pattern
The letters ti before a vowel in -tion represent the sound /sh/.
Breaks the pattern
The final e of authorize disappears when -ation is added.

Spelled like

  • organization
  • specialization
  • realization
Broken into chunks
  • author
    • authorize
    • authority
    • authoritative
  • ization
    • organization
    • specialization
    • realization
What it sits beside

Same subject

Same shape

  • organization
  • specialization
  • standardization

access-control models

word family

  • authorize
  • authorized
  • authorizing

Where it sits in the deck

Phase 10: Identity, Access, and Cryptographic Foundations

Before examining threats to systems, establish the foundational security primitives — identity, authentication, authorisation, and the cryptography underpinning them.

Neighbours in this phase