Final answer:
The process of giving individual access to a system or resource is known as authorization. It follows authentication, where a user's identity is confirmed, and differs from accounting, which tracks activities, and auditing, which involves security reviews.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of giving an individual access to a system or resource is known as authorization. This is a critical step in the security protocols that help protect sensitive data within computer systems. After a user has been identified, which is known as authentication, they then go through the authorization process where the system determines what level of access the individual is granted based on predefined policies or rules.
Accounting refers to the tracking of user activities on the network and system resources, which helps in auditing and reporting. Auditing is the process of examining and reviewing activities to ensure compliance with policies, procedures, and regulations. However, to answer the student's question, authorization is the correct term for the process of granting specific access levels to a system or resource to users.