Which of the following best describes the term "authorization"?

Authorization is a critical component of security processes that involves defining specific access levels and permissions for users regarding various resources. It determines what a user is allowed to do after they have been authenticated, which confirms their identity. This process ensures that users only have access rights to the resources necessary for their roles within an organization.

By specifying the levels of access, authorization helps enforce security policies and protect sensitive data from unauthorized use. For example, it can ensure that an employee in the finance department has access to financial records while restricting an employee in human resources from accessing those records.

This focus on delineating user access to resources underscores the importance of authorization in the broader context of identity and access management. In contrast, other options mention functions such as verifying identity, creating user accounts, or managing identities, which are parts of the identity and access management lifecycle but do not specifically address the framework of granting access rights to already authenticated users.