Authors: Takeshi Nakamura
Abstract: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have become a fundamental component of modern software systems, enabling seamless communication and integration between applications, services, and platforms. With the rapid growth of cloud computing, microservices architectures, and mobile applications, API usage has increased significantly, making API management and security a critical concern. This study explores key aspects of API management, including API lifecycle management, rate limiting, authentication, monitoring, and version control. It also examines security challenges such as unauthorized access, data exposure, injection attacks, and misuse of API endpoints. The paper highlights essential security mechanisms such as OAuth, API gateways, encryption, token-based authentication, and access control policies. Furthermore, it discusses best practices for ensuring secure and efficient API deployment in distributed systems. Emerging trends such as API-first design, zero trust security models, and AI-driven API monitoring are also analyzed. The findings emphasize that effective API management and security are essential for maintaining system integrity, performance, and trust in modern digital ecosystems.
DOI: http://doi.org/
