API security protects services from unauthorized access, data breaches, and malicious attacks. Implementing authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and encryption ensures APIs remain secure while maintaining usability.

Security Fundamentals

• Authentication: Verify user identity through OAuth 2.0, JWT tokens, or API keys.

• Authorization: Control access to resources based on user roles and permissions.

• Encryption: Use TLS/SSL for data in transit and encrypt sensitive data at rest.

• Input Validation: Sanitize and validate all user inputs to prevent injection attacks.

• Rate Limiting: Prevent abuse by throttling requests from individual clients.

Common Vulnerabilities

Broken authentication allows unauthorized access, excessive data exposure leaks sensitive information, lack of rate limiting enables DDoS attacks, injection vulnerabilities compromise data, and insecure configurations expose systems to threats.

Best Practices

Implement least privilege access principles, use API gateways for centralized security, log and monitor API usage for anomalies, regularly update dependencies and patches, conduct security audits and penetration testing, and document security requirements clearly.

Compliance Considerations

Meet regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS, implement data retention and deletion policies, provide audit trails for sensitive operations, and ensure third-party integrations meet security standards.