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Security Intermediate

What is API Security?

Practices and mechanisms for protecting APIs from unauthorized access, data breaches, and abuse.

API security encompasses authentication (verifying identity — API keys, OAuth tokens, JWTs), authorization (verifying permissions — scopes, RBAC), transport security (HTTPS/TLS), input validation (preventing injection), rate limiting (preventing abuse), and monitoring (detecting anomalies). Common vulnerabilities include Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA — accessing other users' data by changing IDs), excessive data exposure (returning more fields than needed), and mass assignment (accepting unexpected fields). The OWASP API Security Top 10 lists the most critical API risks. Best practices include using short-lived tokens, validating all inputs, implementing proper error handling without leaking details, and logging all API access for audit.

Related Terms

Penetration Testing
An authorized simulated cyberattack on a system to evaluate its security defenses and identify vulnerabilities.
WAF (Web Application Firewall)
A security solution that filters and monitors HTTP traffic between a web application and the internet, blocking common attacks.
Session Hijacking
An attack where an adversary takes over a legitimate user session by stealing or predicting the session identifier.
SOC (Security Operations Center)
A centralized team and facility responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity threats 24/7.
Encryption
The process of converting readable data into an unreadable format using algorithms, reversible only with the correct key.
Vulnerability Scanning
Automated testing that identifies known security weaknesses in systems, applications, and network infrastructure.
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