easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
200-901 Practice Question: A developer is working with a REST API that uses…
A developer is working with a REST API that uses HTTP Basic Authentication. The developer needs to send a request with the username 'admin' and password 'secret'. Which HTTP header should be set?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests whether candidates know that the credentials must be Base64-encoded and prefixed with the 'Basic' scheme, not sent in plaintext or with the wrong scheme like 'Bearer'.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46c2VjcmV0
HTTP Basic Authentication requires the credentials to be formatted as 'username:password', then Base64-encoded, and sent in the Authorization header with the 'Basic' scheme. Option C correctly includes the 'Basic' scheme followed by the Base64-encoded string 'YWRtaW46c2VjcmV0' (which decodes to 'admin:secret').
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Authorization: Basic admin:secret
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: The credentials must be base64-encoded.
- ✗
Authorization: YWRtaW46c2VjcmV0
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: The 'Basic' keyword is missing.
- ✓
Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46c2VjcmV0
Why this is correct
Correct: This is the standard format for Basic Auth.
- ✗
Authorization: Bearer YWRtaW46c2VjcmV0
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Bearer is for token-based auth.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This 200-901 question is part of Courseiva's 989-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-901 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 200-901 exam.