What does restricting an API key do?

What does restricting an API key do?

Apply an application restriction and one or more API restrictions to all your API keys. This will provide the maximum security by limiting what application can use your key and what APIs or SDKs it can be used with. Never use the same API key for client-side (mobile app, web app) and server-side applications.

Why API keys are not secure?

API keys aren’t as secure as authentication tokens (see Security of API keys), but they identify the application or project that’s calling an API. They are generated on the project making the call, and you can restrict their use to an environment such as an IP address range, or an Android or iOS app.

Can API keys be public?

An API key simply identifies you. If there is a public/private distinction, then the public key is one that you can distribute to others, to allow them to get some subset of information about you from the api. The private key is for your use only, and provides access to all of your data.

How do I secure API keys?

Securing an API key

1. Do not embed API keys directly in code.
2. Do not store API keys in files inside your application’s source tree.
3. Set up application and API key restrictions.
4. Delete unneeded API keys to minimize exposure to attacks.
5. Regenerate your API keys periodically.
6. Review your code before publicly releasing it.

How to protect your API with API keys?

Only authenticated and authorized calls should be allowed access. Give different access levels to different departments We are going to generate API keys, one for each department. They will then need to add the API key in all of their API requests.

What’s the difference between public and private API keys?

For security purposes, services usually generate a public and private, often also referred to as secret, key. Unfortunately, in order to connect to the services, this private key must be used to authenticate and hence, probably be part of the application.

How to store private API keys in Java?

We can use NDK to Secure API Keys. We can store keys in the native C/C++ class and access them in our Java classes. Please follow this blog to secure API keys using NDK.

Is it safe to store API key on GitHub?

If you store an API key on a public repository, you are publishing in the open so that anyone can see it. A recent search for client_secret on GitHub revealed that there are more than one 30,000 commits that potentially expose an API key and secret. In some cases, you only copy and paste the code to immediately access the API.