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SSCP Rate limiting Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are best practices for securing an application programming interface (API)?
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
✓
Implement rate limiting to control the number of requests.
Options A and B are correct. Rate limiting prevents abuse and denial-of-service attacks, while input validation and sanitization prevent injection attacks. Option C (returning detailed error messages) can leak sensitive information to attackers. Option D (disabling encryption) exposes data in transit. Option E (using HTTP Basic Authentication without HTTPS) transmits credentials in plaintext.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement rate limiting to control the number of requests.
Why this is correct
Rate limiting mitigates brute-force and DoS attacks.
- ✓
Validate and sanitize all input to the API.
Why this is correct
Input validation prevents injection and other attacks.
- ✗
Return detailed error messages to help clients debug.
Why it's wrong here
Detailed errors can expose stack traces or sensitive information.
- ✗
Disable encryption to improve performance.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling encryption exposes data in transit.
- ✗
Use HTTP Basic Authentication without HTTPS.
Why it's wrong here
Basic auth without encryption sends credentials in cleartext.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 SSCP exam.