APIs are prime targets for abuse, from credential stuffing to DDoS-style request floods. A robust defense requires more than a single rate limiter; it demands a layered approach spanning the gateway, business logic, and idempotency controls. This guide explores emergency mitigation steps, the trade-offs between token bucket, leaky bucket, fixed window, and sliding window algorithms, and how to implement them with Redis and Lua for atomicity. It also covers advanced concerns like hot-key contention, distributed consistency, and using bloom filters to block repeat offenders. Monitoring and post-incident review are essential to adapt defenses over time. For engineering teams, understanding these patterns is critical to maintaining service reliability and protecting user data.
Learn how to protect your APIs from abuse with layered defenses, rate-limiting algorithms, and monitoring strategies.