SDSI Application Security Design Practice Question
When designing an API gateway strategy, why is it important to implement 'Rate Limiting' at the gateway level?
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
✓
To protect backend services from being overwhelmed
Rate limiting protects backend services from being overwhelmed by traffic, preventing both accidental and malicious DoS/DDoS attacks.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
To ensure that all users have the same experience
Why it's wrong here
Rate limiting is not for equality of experience.
- ✗
To increase the speed of the backend services
Why it's wrong here
Rate limiting does not change backend performance.
- ✗
To simplify the authentication process
Why it's wrong here
Rate limiting is separate from authentication.
- ✓
To protect backend services from being overwhelmed
Why this is correct
Service protection is the main goal of rate limiting.
About these practice questions
One of 299 original SDSI practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Cisco exam blueprint
This SDSI 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 SDSI exam.