Is there a difference between authentication and authorization?

Question

I see these two terms bandied about quite a bit (specifically in web-based scenarios but I suppose it\'s not limited to that) and I was wondering whether or not there was a

Answer 1

Authentication

Authentication verifies who you are. For example, you can login into your server using the ssh client, or access your email server using the POP3 and SMTP client.

Authorization

Authorization verifies what you are authorized to do. For example, you are allowed to login into your server via ssh client, but you are not authorized to browser /data2 or any other file system. Authorization occurs after successful authentication.