I used to think API security was mostly covered by auth middleware and HTTPS.
If the token is valid, everything is good — right?
Wrong.
A few years ago, I was working on an API flow that looked solid on paper:
- Auth
- Role checks
- Clean endpoints
- Tests passing
Then a production issue came in. Not a crash. Not downtime. Something worse.
Data was being accessed… correctly. But by the wrong people.
The endpoints were protected. The logic behind them wasn’t.
We hadn’t violated rules.
We had violated assumptions.
That single incident rewired how I think about security.
Not as locking doors — but as designing systems where misuse is impossible.
Security is not a feature. It’s architecture.
It’s designing for:
- the developer who will maintain your code
- the user who will misuse it
- the attacker you never expected
- the API consumer who reads docs too literally
And today, I don’t build APIs assuming users behave correctly.
I build assuming someone will try to break it.
If you work with APIs — for money, identity, or user data —
security is not something you “add later.”
It’s part of your design signature.
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