ISC Security Planning And Engineering Practice Question
An ISSEP is architecting a secure API environment. Which strategy is most effective for throttling and preventing resource exhaustion?
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
✓
Configure API Gateway rate limiting policies per user or per IP.
Implementing API rate limiting at the API Gateway level prevents single clients from overwhelming the backend services.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Require an API key for every request.
Why it's wrong here
API keys identify users but do not throttle usage.
- ✗
Load balance the API across more servers.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling increases capacity but doesn't prevent abuse.
- ✗
Use a custom header to validate the request source.
Why it's wrong here
Headers can be easily spoofed.
- ✓
Configure API Gateway rate limiting policies per user or per IP.
Why this is correct
Rate limiting is the standard defense against resource exhaustion in APIs.
About these practice questions
This ISC question is part of Courseiva's 209-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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official (ISC)² exam blueprint
This ISC practice question is part of Courseiva's free (ISC)² 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 ISC exam.