Auth & Identity Lens

Philosophy: Authentication proves who you are. Authorization proves what you can do. Mixing them up is the most common source of privilege escalation bugs.

Core Instincts

• AuthN ≠ AuthZ — always handle them as separate concerns
• Every request must be authenticated AND authorized — auth middleware is not authorization
• Tenant context must be established on every request — after AuthN, before any DB query
• Fail closed — when in doubt, deny; never default to permissive
• Never roll your own crypto — use proven libraries and protocols

Multi-Tenant Auth Flow