Back
API REST Security GraphQL JWT OAuth OWASP Cryptography

API Design and API Security: Developing Secure APIs

Three-day intensive training on professional API design, development, and comprehensive API security.

3 Days
Intermediate
Get Started

API Design and API Security: Developing Secure APIs

Course Overview

This comprehensive 3-day training course teaches you best practices for professional API design and comprehensive API security. Learn how to develop modern, secure, and scalable APIs, avoid common security vulnerabilities, and protect your APIs against current threats.

What You Will Learn

Day 1: API Design Fundamentals and Architecture

  • API Design Best Practices

    • Core principles of good API design
    • RESTful API Design Guidelines
    • API Versioning Strategies
    • Resource Naming Conventions
    • Using HTTP Methods correctly
    • Status Codes and Error Handling

  • API Architecture Styles Comparison

    • REST APIs: Principles, advantages and disadvantages
    • GraphQL: Query Language, Schema Design, Resolvers
    • gRPC: Protocol Buffers, performance benefits
    • SOAP: Legacy integration
    • When each style is best suited
    • Practical comparison with examples

  • API Infrastructure

    • API Gateway: Functions and use cases
    • Reverse Proxy: Nginx, Apache as API frontend
    • Load Balancing for APIs
    • Rate Limiting and Throttling
    • Caching strategies

  • API Management

    • API Lifecycle Management
    • API Documentation and Developer Portal
    • API Analytics and Monitoring
    • API Governance and Standards
    • Tools: Kong, Apigee, AWS API Gateway

  • Swagger/OpenAPI for API Development

    • OpenAPI Specification (OAS) 3.0
    • API Design with Swagger Editor
    • Code generation from specifications
    • SwaggerHub for collaborative development
    • API Testing with Swagger UI
    • Documentation best practices

Day 2: API Security Fundamentals and Cryptography

  • IT Security Fundamentals

    • CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
    • Additional security objectives: Authenticity, Non-repudiation
    • Threat modeling for APIs
    • Security by Design principles
    • Defense in Depth strategy

  • Authentication and Authorization

    • Authentication Methods:
      • Basic Authentication
      • API Keys
      • Token-based Authentication
      • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
    • Authorization Concepts:
      • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
      • Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
      • Policy-Based Access Control
    • Principle of Least Privilege
    • Non-Repudiation:
      • Concept and significance
      • Digital signatures
      • Audit trails and logging

  • HTTP Security Basics

    • HTTP vs. HTTPS
    • TLS/SSL fundamentals
    • HTTP Security Headers:
      • Strict-Transport-Security
      • Content-Security-Policy
      • X-Frame-Options
      • X-Content-Type-Options
    • CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)
    • HTTP Status Codes in security context

  • Cryptography Fundamentals

    • Hash Functions and Digital Fingerprint
      • What is a hash/digest?
      • Properties of cryptographic hash functions
      • Applications: Checksums, integrity verification
    • Hash Algorithms
      • SHA-1 (deprecated, weaknesses)
      • SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512
      • SHA-3 family
      • Security of hash algorithms
    • Password Hashing
      • Salting and peppering
      • bcrypt, Argon2, PBKDF2
      • Rainbow tables and defense
    • Symmetric Encryption
      • Basic principle: One key for encryption and decryption
      • AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
      • AES modes: CBC, GCM, CTR
      • Key management
    • Asymmetric Encryption
      • Basic principle: Public/Private key pairs
      • RSA algorithm
      • Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
      • Applications: Key exchange, digital signatures
    • Digital Signatures
      • How do digital signatures work?
      • Difference from encryption
      • Usage in APIs

Day 3: JWT, OAuth and API Security Best Practices

  • JWT (JSON Web Token) in Detail

    • JWT Fundamentals
      • What is JWT and what is it used for?
      • JWT vs. Session-based Authentication
      • Stateless authentication
    • JWT Structure
      • Header: Algorithm and token type
      • Payload: Claims (Standard, Public, Private)
      • Signature: Integrity protection
      • Base64URL encoding
    • JOSE Standards (JSON Object Signing and Encryption)
      • JWS (JSON Web Signature): Signed tokens
      • JWE (JSON Web Encryption): Encrypted tokens
      • JWK (JSON Web Key): Key representation
      • JWA (JSON Web Algorithms): Algorithm specification
    • JWT Signing and Verification
      • HMAC (Symmetric: HS256, HS384, HS512)
      • RSA (Asymmetric: RS256, RS384, RS512)
      • ECDSA (Asymmetric: ES256, ES384, ES512)
      • Key rotation best practices
    • JWT Workflow and Lifecycle
      • Token issuance
      • Token validation
      • Token refresh
      • Token revocation strategies
    • JWT Security Best Practices
      • Critical claims: exp, iat, nbf
      • Setting token lifetime
      • Avoiding sensitive data in JWT
      • Preventing algorithm confusion attacks

  • OAuth 2.0 and JWT

    • OAuth 2.0 framework overview
    • Authorization flows:
      • Authorization Code Flow
      • Client Credentials Flow
      • Implicit Flow (deprecated)
      • PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange)
    • OAuth 2.0 with JWT access tokens
    • OpenID Connect (OIDC) fundamentals
    • Refresh tokens vs. access tokens

  • OWASP API Security Top 10

    • API1: Broken Object Level Authorization
      • What is IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference)?
      • Practical example and exploitation
      • Countermeasures and prevention
    • API2: Broken Authentication
      • Weak authentication mechanisms
      • Example: Credential stuffing
      • Implementing secure authentication
    • API3: Broken Object Property Level Authorization
      • Mass assignment vulnerabilities
      • Example: Unwanted data manipulation
      • Input filtering and whitelisting
    • API4: Unrestricted Resource Consumption
      • DoS through missing rate limits
      • Example: API resource exhaustion
      • Implementing rate limiting and quotas
    • API5: Broken Function Level Authorization
      • Missing access control at function level
      • Example: Admin functions for regular users
      • Proper authorization checks
    • API6: Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Business Flows
      • Business logic flaws
      • Example: Automated attacks on critical flows
      • Bot detection and flow protection
    • API7: Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
      • How does SSRF work?
      • Example: Access to internal resources
      • URL validation and whitelisting
    • API8: Security Misconfiguration
      • Default credentials, unnecessary features
      • Example: Exposed debug endpoints
      • Security hardening checklists
    • API9: Improper Inventory Management
      • Unversioned or forgotten APIs
      • Example: Shadow APIs
      • API inventory and lifecycle management
    • API10: Unsafe Consumption of APIs
      • Trust in external APIs
      • Example: API chain attacks
      • Validation of third-party data

  • Input Validation and Output Encoding

    • Input validation best practices
    • Whitelisting vs. blacklisting
    • SQL injection prevention
    • XSS prevention in APIs
    • XML External Entity (XXE) prevention
    • Command injection prevention
    • Output encoding strategies

  • Attack Vectors in APIs from Practice

    • Injection Attacks: SQL, NoSQL, Command Injection
    • Broken Access Control: Practical examples
    • API Enumeration and information disclosure
    • Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks
    • Replay Attacks and countermeasures
    • API Scraping and bot detection
    • DDoS and Rate Limit Bypass
    • Real-world case studies

  • API Security Testing and Tools

    • Security testing methodologies
    • OWASP ZAP for API testing
    • Burp Suite Professional
    • Postman security testing
    • Automated security scanning
    • Penetration testing basics

Prerequisites

  • Basic programming knowledge
  • Understanding of HTTP and web technologies
  • Experience with REST APIs advantageous
  • No deep security knowledge required

Course Format

  • Duration: 3 full days (8 hours each)
  • Format: Instructor-led training with extensive hands-on labs
  • Class Size: Maximum 12 participants for intensive support
  • Materials: Comprehensive course materials, code examples and checklists included

Hands-on Labs and Exercises

During the course, you will work on practical projects:

  1. Design and implementation of a RESTful API with OpenAPI
  2. Comparison: Implement same API in REST, GraphQL and gRPC
  3. API Gateway setup with Kong or Nginx
  4. Implementation of various authentication mechanisms
  5. Develop JWT-based authentication from scratch
  6. Practically implement OAuth 2.0 flow
  7. Cryptography exercises: Hashing, signing, encryption
  8. Reproduce and secure OWASP Top 10 exploits
  9. Security testing with OWASP ZAP
  10. Create API documentation with SwaggerHub

Tools and Technologies Used

In the course, we work with:

  • OpenAPI/Swagger, SwaggerHub
  • Postman for API testing
  • Node.js/Express or Python/Flask for API development
  • Kong or Nginx as API gateway
  • OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite
  • JWT libraries and OAuth providers
  • Git and Docker

Who Should Attend

  • Backend developers and API developers
  • Software architects
  • DevOps and platform engineers
  • Security engineers and consultants
  • Full-stack developers
  • Technical leads and team leads
  • Anyone who needs to develop or evaluate secure APIs

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • ✅ Design professional, well-structured APIs
  • ✅ Use different API styles (REST, GraphQL, gRPC) appropriately
  • ✅ Configure API gateways and management tools
  • ✅ Implement secure authentication and authorization
  • ✅ Correctly use JWT and OAuth 2.0
  • ✅ Practically apply cryptographic fundamentals
  • ✅ Recognize and avoid OWASP API Security Top 10 risks
  • ✅ Implement input validation and security best practices
  • ✅ Test APIs for security vulnerabilities
  • ✅ Create and use OpenAPI specifications