When systems talk through an API, the API becomes a door into your data. A few well known controls keep it safe.

Know who is calling

Require every request to prove who it comes from, using keys or tokens that can be revoked. Keep those secrets out of public code and shared documents.

Limit what they can do

Apply the same care to every request.

  • Give each connection only the access it needs
  • Check and clean every value that comes in
  • Limit how many requests one caller can make
  • Never show internal error details to callers

Keep records

Log who called what and when, and watch for unusual patterns. If something goes wrong, the log is how you find out what happened.