Never expose APIs without authentication. Use JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for stateless authentication with short expiration times and refresh token rotation. For third-party API access, implement API keys with per-key rate limits and usage tracking. Always transmit credentials over HTTPS. Store tokens server-side in Redis with TTL-based expiration. Implement proper CORS headers to prevent unauthorized cross-origin requests.
API Authentication Best Practices
Never expose APIs without authentication. Use JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for stateless authentication with short expiration times and refresh token rotation. For third-party API access, implement API keys with per-key rate limits and usage tracking. Always transmit credentials over HTTPS. Store tokens server-side in Redis with TTL-based expiration. Implement proper CORS headers to prevent unauthorized cross-origin requests.
Rate Limiting and Abuse Prevention
Implement rate limiting at multiple levels: Nginx (limit_req_zone) for request-level limits, application-level for per-user/per-API-key limits, and Cloudflare for DDoS protection. Use sliding window rate limiting for smoother enforcement. Return proper 429 (Too Many Requests) responses with Retry-After headers. Monitor API usage patterns to identify abuse — sudden traffic spikes from single IPs or API keys indicate either a bug in a client application or an attack.
Input Validation and Output Security
Validate all input server-side — never trust client data. Use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection. Sanitize output to prevent XSS. Validate content types and reject unexpected formats. Implement request size limits. Log all API errors and authentication failures for security monitoring. VeloxMedia’s support protects at the network level while these application-level measures secure your API endpoints.
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