What advantages does gRPC offer in terms of performance?

  • It offers no significant performance advantages
  • It supports text-based serialization, reducing overhead
  • It uses HTTP/1.1, which is faster than traditional HTTP/2
  • It uses Protocol Buffers for efficient binary serialization
gRPC offers advantages in terms of performance by using Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) for efficient binary serialization. Protobuf is faster and produces smaller message sizes compared to text-based serialization used in traditional HTTP APIs. This results in reduced network and processing overhead, making gRPC more efficient.

What considerations should be taken into account when implementing RBAC in an API for a large organization?

  • Scalability, access control, and role hierarchy
  • The color scheme of the API's user interface
  • The location of the organization's headquarters
  • Weather conditions in the organization's region
When implementing Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in an API for a large organization, several crucial considerations need to be taken into account. These include ensuring scalability to handle a large number of users, defining access control rules, and establishing a clear role hierarchy to manage permissions effectively. Addressing these aspects is vital for secure and efficient access management.

What is OpenID Connect and how is it related to OAuth 2.0?

  • A data encryption method
  • A database management system
  • A version of HTML
  • An authentication protocol
OpenID Connect is an authentication protocol that builds on top of OAuth 2.0. It allows applications to verify the identity of users based on the authentication performed by an authorization server. While OAuth 2.0 is primarily for authorization, OpenID Connect adds an identity layer, making it easier to obtain user profile information and ensure secure user authentication.

What is the structure of a JSON Web Token?

  • Encrypted binary format
  • Header, payload, and signature
  • Unstructured data
  • XML-based format
The structure of a JSON Web Token (JWT) consists of three parts: the header, payload, and signature. The header contains information about the type and the signing algorithm used. The payload contains claims or information about the user. The signature is a cryptographic signature of the header and payload, ensuring data integrity and authentication.

How does OpenID Connect ensure that tokens are not misused or intercepted?

  • By encrypting tokens using a secure algorithm
  • By regularly changing the tokens' expiration times
  • By requiring users to memorize long token strings
  • By using HTTPS for secure transmission of tokens
OpenID Connect ensures that tokens are not misused or intercepted by using HTTPS for secure transmission. This means that tokens are sent over encrypted connections, reducing the risk of eavesdropping and interception. The use of HTTPS is a fundamental security measure for protecting the confidentiality and integrity of tokens in transit.

Why is it important to monitor APIs after deployment?

  • To add more features
  • To ensure high availability
  • To impress stakeholders
  • To reduce development costs
Monitoring APIs after deployment is essential to ensure high availability and reliability. It allows for real-time tracking of API performance, identifying and addressing issues, and ensuring that the API meets the needs of users. While adding more features and impressing stakeholders are important, the primary goal of monitoring is to maintain service availability and quality.

Load testing for APIs involves simulating _____ to understand its behavior under stress.

  • data transactions
  • high traffic
  • network traffic
  • user interactions
Load testing for APIs involves simulating network traffic to understand its behavior under stress. This helps identify how the API performs when subjected to heavy data requests and high network loads.

Consider you are working on a mobile application that communicates with an API. How would you handle API versioning to ensure the app continues to function when the API is updated?

  • Do not use versioning; require users to update their app whenever the API changes.
  • Embed the API version in the response body.
  • Include the API version in the request URL.
  • Use HTTP headers to specify the API version.
To ensure that a mobile app continues to function when the API is updated, you should use API versioning. The most common and recommended approach is to use HTTP headers to specify the API version. This allows clients to make requests to the appropriate API version and ensures backward compatibility. Including the API version in the URL can lead to cleaner and more consistent API design.

When using JWT for authorization, the token's ________ claims can be used to store the user's roles and permissions.

  • Body
  • Header
  • Payload
  • Signature
When using JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for authorization, the token's "Payload" claims can be used to store the user's roles and permissions. The payload is where you can include claims about the user, such as their roles and permissions, which can be checked when authorizing access to resources.

A _____ attack involves manipulating an API to execute unintended commands on a database.

  • Cross-site scripting (XSS)
  • Denial of Service (DoS)
  • JSON parsing
  • SQL injection
A SQL injection attack involves manipulating an API to execute unintended SQL commands on a database. Attackers can exploit poorly sanitized input to inject malicious SQL queries, potentially gaining unauthorized access to the database and manipulating data.