Authorization Memes

The eternal comedy of our industry: Manager wants a feature for "authorized paying users" but tells dev to "implement authentication." Dev with actual security knowledge asks the critical question – authentication or authorization? – only to be met with blank stares and "There's a difference?" For the uninitiated (and apparently the manager): Authentication is proving you are who you say you are (login/password). Authorization is determining what you're allowed to do once identified. The final panel showing the desperate Google search is the universal developer coping mechanism after 10 years of explaining this distinction to people who'll forget it by the next sprint planning.

Ah, the infamous triple authentication check! Because checking once if a user is authorized wasn't paranoid enough, so let's do it THREE times in nested if statements. It's like telling your crush "Are you sure? Are you really sure? Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?" before believing they actually like you. The funniest part? This code would functionally be identical to a single authorization check. It's the security equivalent of locking your door, then checking it's locked, then checking again... while leaving your windows wide open. Somewhere, a senior developer is having heart palpitations looking at this redundant security theater.