API Security Best Practices for UAE Developers

APIs are the new attack surface. With UAE businesses exposing more APIs for mobile apps and integrations, securing them is critical. Here's a practical guide.

APIs power modern applications — mobile apps, partner integrations, microservices communication, and IoT devices all rely on API connectivity. But APIs also create attack surfaces that traditional security tools don't adequately protect. For UAE businesses exposing APIs to the internet, API security is a critical development discipline.

OWASP API Security Top 10

The OWASP API Security Top 10 identifies the most critical API risks: Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) tops the list, where attackers manipulate object IDs to access unauthorized data. Other critical risks include broken authentication, excessive data exposure, lack of rate limiting, and mass assignment vulnerabilities. Every UAE development team should review this list and implement controls for each risk.

Authentication and Authorization

Implement OAuth 2.0 with OpenID Connect for API authentication. Use JWTs with short expiration times and refresh token rotation. For server-to-server APIs, use client credentials flow with strong secret management. Implement fine-grained authorization at the object level — checking that the authenticated user has permission to access the specific resource they're requesting.

Input Validation and Rate Limiting

Validate all API input against strict schemas — reject requests that don't match expected data types, lengths, and formats. Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse and brute force attacks. Use API gateways (Kong, AWS API Gateway, Azure APIM) to enforce rate limits, authentication, and request validation at the edge.

Bayden's development team builds secure APIs for UAE businesses, integrating security from design through deployment. Our code review process specifically checks for OWASP API Security Top 10 vulnerabilities, ensuring your APIs are hardened against real-world attacks.