Can you explain what is meant by authorization in a security system?

Authorization is the process of determining a user's rights and access to system resources after they have been authenticated (identity verification). It answers the question: "What can this user do?".

For example, in a web application, after a user logs in (authentication), authorization checks whether they have permissions to view certain pages, edit data, or perform administrative tasks.

In Python, authorization is often implemented by checking user roles or permissions, for example:

user_roles = ['reader', 'editor']

if 'editor' in user_roles:
    print('The user can edit content')
else:
    print('Access denied')