API Security Best Practices

API Security Best Practices

API Security Best Practices.

API Security Best Practices

1. Authentication. This is probably the most vital security measure. Always use secure and known authentication methods such as OAuth, JWTs, and API Keys. Using only basic HTTP authentication is not recommended, as user credentials are sent with each request to authenticate it. For this reason, basic HTTP authentication is considered the least secure method.

API Security Best Practices

2. Validate input. Input validation is a way to ensure incoming data to your API follows an expected format and is, therefore, not malicious. Incoming data not following the expected format could be improper entry attempts such as SQL injections or cross-site scripting. Validation can be implemented on syntactic (enforces syntax correctness) and semantic (enforces correctness of values) levels.

API Security Best Practices

3. Use an API Gateway. API Gateways are an all-in-one way to implement security, monitoring, and overall API management. They are a single entry point for all API calls and sit between the client and several backend services that handle requests appropriately.

API Security Best Practices

4. Use rate limiting. Rate limiting is a way to protect server infrastructure if an influx of calls occurs, such as in a DoS (Denial of Service) attack. With rate limiting, clients sending an influx of requests will have their access blocked after exceeding the maximum call rate, preventing the API from being overwhelmed.

API Security Best Practices

5. Only share required data. Your API should return the appropriate data only and nothing unnecessary. Double-check the data your endpoints return and ensure no security information, such as an API Key, is included. You can also remove 'X-Powered-By' response headers, as they leak server-side information that could potentially aid attackers in exploiting your API for valuable data.