Authorization Reference Library

Explore our authorization glossary to learn the key concepts, technologies, and standards behind modern access control.

What is authorization?

Authorization is the process of determining what an authenticated user, application, service, or AI agent is allowed to access or do within a system.

Modern authorization goes beyond static permissions. Organizations use approaches such as role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), and policy-driven authorization to enforce access decisions based on identity, relationships, resource sensitivity, and contextual conditions.

Explore the terms below to understand the technologies, standards, and approaches behind secure, fine-grained access control.

Policy Decision Point (PDP)

Learn how a Policy Decision Point (PDP) evaluates access requests in real time to make dynamic, fine-grained authorization decisions based on policies, attributes, and context.

7 min read

Externalized Authorization

Externalized authorization separates access control logic from application code, enabling centralized policy management and consistent access decisions.

7 min read

Policy-based Access Management (PBAM)

Policy-based access management (PBAM) uses centrally defined policies to manage access permissions and enforce consistent security across systems.

8 min read

OpenID AuthZEN

OpenID AuthZEN standardizes how applications request and receive authorization decisions, enabling interoperability between authorization systems.

6 min read

Relationship-based Access Control (ReBAC)

Relationship-based access control (ReBAC) determines access permissions based on relationships between users, resources, and other entities.

6 min read

Abbreviated Language for Authorization (ALFA)

Abbreviated Language for Authorization (ALFA) is a human-readable language for defining and managing fine-grained authorization policies.

5 min read

Fine-grained Access Control (FGAC)

Fine-grained access control (FGAC) enables precise access decisions based on user attributes, resource sensitivity, actions, and contextual conditions.

5 min read

Role-based Access Control (RBAC)

Role-based access control (RBAC) assigns permissions based on predefined roles, simplifying access management across users and systems.

6 min read

Policy-based Access Control (PBAC)

Policy-based access control (PBAC) uses centrally defined policies to determine access permissions based on attributes and contextual conditions.

7 min read

Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC)

Attribute-based access control (ABAC) evaluates user, resource, action, and environmental attributes to make dynamic authorization decisions.

8 min read

eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML)

eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) is an OASIS standard for defining and evaluating fine-grained authorization policies.

5 min read

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Authorization Reference Library

What is authorization?

Policy Decision Point (PDP)

Externalized Authorization

Policy-based Access Management (PBAM)

OpenID AuthZEN

Relationship-based Access Control (ReBAC)

Abbreviated Language for Authorization (ALFA)

Fine-grained Access Control (FGAC)

Role-based Access Control (RBAC)

Policy-based Access Control (PBAC)

Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC)

eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML)

Continue Learning about Authorization

Authentication and authorization: What’s the difference?

The best and simplest way to explain authorization

Identity vs. context security: Why teams must embrace authorization

The Zero Trust Hotel: A simple way to understand why policy-driven authorization is key to Zero Trust

The critical role of the Policy Engine in Zero Trust architecture

The Challenge Isn’t AI. The Challenge Is Authorization.

Explore the Platform Capabilities Behind Secure, Scalable Authorization

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