diff --git a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_access_model.py b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_access_model.py
index c92a161fb137..41ee5440826a 100644
--- a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_access_model.py
+++ b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_access_model.py
@@ -93,11 +93,17 @@ async def can(
         if operation in role_access.check.keys():
             check = role_access.check[operation]
             try:
+                is_valid: bool
+
                 if inspect.iscoroutinefunction(check):
-                    return await check(context)
-                return check(context)
+                    is_valid = await check(context)
+                    return is_valid
+
+                is_valid = check(context)
+                return is_valid
+
             except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
-                _logger.exception(
+                _logger.debug(
                     "Check operation '%s', shall not raise [%s]", operation, check
                 )
                 return False
diff --git a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_authorization.py b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_authorization.py
index 866c45ffba0e..fe3402218895 100644
--- a/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_authorization.py
+++ b/services/web/server/src/simcore_service_webserver/security/_authorization.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import logging
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import TypedDict
 
-import attr
 import sqlalchemy as sa
 from aiohttp import web
 from aiohttp_security.abc import AbstractAuthorizationPolicy
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from tenacity import retry
 
 from ..db_models import UserStatus, users
-from ._access_model import RoleBasedAccessModel, check_access
+from ._access_model import ContextType, RoleBasedAccessModel, check_access
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@ class _UserIdentity(TypedDict, total=True):
     role: UserRole
 
 
-@attr.s(auto_attribs=True, frozen=True)
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
 class AuthorizationPolicy(AbstractAuthorizationPolicy):
     app: web.Application
     access_model: RoleBasedAccessModel
-    timed_cache: ExpiringDict = attr.ib(
+    timed_cache: ExpiringDict = field(
         init=False, default=ExpiringDict(max_len=100, max_age_seconds=10)
     )
 
@@ -43,10 +43,10 @@ def engine(self) -> Engine:
         # return self.app.config_dict[APP_DB_ENGINE_KEY]
         return self.app[APP_DB_ENGINE_KEY]
 
-    @retry(**PostgresRetryPolicyUponOperation(log).kwargs)
+    @retry(**PostgresRetryPolicyUponOperation(_logger).kwargs)
     async def _get_active_user_with(self, identity: str) -> _UserIdentity | None:
         # NOTE: Keeps a cache for a few seconds. Observed successive streams of this query
-        user: _UserIdentity | None = self.timed_cache.get(identity)
+        user: _UserIdentity | None = self.timed_cache.get(identity, None)
         if user is None:
             async with self.engine.acquire() as conn:
                 # NOTE: sometimes it raises psycopg2.DatabaseError in #880 and #1160
@@ -60,7 +60,9 @@ async def _get_active_user_with(self, identity: str) -> _UserIdentity | None:
             if row is not None:
                 assert row["id"]  # nosec
                 assert row["role"]  # nosec
-                self.timed_cache[identity] = user = dict(row.items())
+                self.timed_cache[identity] = user = _UserIdentity(
+                    id=row.id, role=row.role
+                )
 
         return user
 
@@ -72,13 +74,18 @@ async def authorized_userid(self, identity: str) -> int | None:
         """
         # TODO: why users.c.user_login_key!=users.c.email
         user: _UserIdentity | None = await self._get_active_user_with(identity)
-        return user["id"] if user else None
+
+        if user is None:
+            return None
+
+        user_id: int = user["id"]
+        return user_id
 
     async def permits(
         self,
         identity: str,
-        permission: str | tuple,
-        context: dict | None = None,
+        permission: str,
+        context: ContextType = None,
     ) -> bool:
         """Determines whether an identified user has permission
 
@@ -96,8 +103,8 @@ async def permits(
             return False
 
         user = await self._get_active_user_with(identity)
-        if user:
-            role = user.get("role")
-            return await check_access(self.access_model, role, permission, context)
+        if user is None:
+            return False
 
-        return False
+        role = user.get("role")
+        return await check_access(self.access_model, role, permission, context)