The establishing of who someone is and what they may do. Two questions bound together — identity, then permission.

To put meaning into a carrying form — writing a thing so it can travel and be read back true.

The turning of a thing into a form only the intended holder can read. Encryption protects contents and never the fact of sending.

The act of establishing who you are to a system. The threshold between anonymous and known.

What stays pointers, never contents — keys and credentials, held in .env files, referenced everywhere, exposed nowhere.

The condition of being protected from harm or intrusion. Security is a state maintained, never a state achieved.