SDSI Application Security Design Practice Question
When designing an API security architecture to protect against unauthorized data access, which THREE mechanisms are considered best practices for securing API endpoints in a Cisco environment? (Choose THREE)
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
✓
Enforcing fine-grained authorization policies using scopes or claims.
API security requires a multi-layered approach involving authentication (OAuth), authorization (scopes), and traffic management (rate limiting).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Hardcoding API keys directly into the client-side source code.
Why it's wrong here
Hardcoding keys is a critical security vulnerability.
- ✗
Disabling TLS to improve API request processing performance.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling TLS exposes API traffic to interception and is not a security practice.
- ✓
Enforcing fine-grained authorization policies using scopes or claims.
Why this is correct
Scopes ensure that authorized tokens only grant the specific access required.
- ✓
Implementing OAuth 2.0 with OpenID Connect for secure authentication.
Why this is correct
This is the industry standard for secure API authentication.
- ✓
Applying rate limiting and throttling on the API Gateway.
Why this is correct
Rate limiting protects against API abuse and resource exhaustion.
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.