Secure API Design: Authentication, Authorization, Input Validation, and OWASP API Top 10

February 22, 2026

Security

Api-Authentication, Oauth2-Implementation, Input-Validation, Rate-Limit-Design

Api-Security, Oauth2, Jwt, Authentication, Authorization, Owasp, Rate-Limiting, Input-Validation

Oauth2, Jwt, Openapi, Envoy, Nginx

Secure API Design#

Every API exposed to any network — public or internal — is an attack surface. The difference between a secure API and a vulnerable one is not exotic cryptography. It is consistent application of known patterns: authenticate every request, authorize every action, validate every input, and limit every resource.

Authentication Schemes#

API Keys#

The simplest scheme. The client sends a static key in a header:

GET /api/v1/data HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
X-API-Key: sk_live_abc123def456

API keys are appropriate for: