What is authentication vs authorization in data sources?

< 1 min read

Authentication verifies who is accessing the data source, authorization controls what they are allowed to access.
For example, while connecting to a CRM API, we used an API key to authenticate the system identity.
After login, role permissions decided whether we could read customer data or only metadata.
In a database, username/password is authentication, table-level access is authorization.
Our reporting service account had read-only access to production tables.
This prevented accidental updates or deletions during ETL loads.
When access failed, we checked whether it was credential issue or permission restriction.
Separating both improved security and audit compliance.
It ensures only approved users can access sensitive business data.

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