What Is API Gateway Authentication

API gateway authentication is one of the key functions of an API gateway. In

carrying out this function, the API gateway manages authentication and
authorization for the entire group of APIs that sit behind it. In this way, API
gateway authentication safeguards your systems and information against unwanted
access, data breaches, hacks, and mistakes.

While the basic premise of API gateway authentication is easy enough to grasp, this
guide offers a more nuanced understanding of the concept.

Here's the key things to know:

An API gateway directs API traffic and manages authentication/authorization,

integrating with services like Okta and OAuth-based systems.
Securing APIs prevents breaches, manages access levels, and controls data
transmission.
APIs serve various users, from smartphone apps to IoT components.
API gateways simplify authentication, delegate tasks to third parties, and enhance
user convenience.
Challenges include managing multiple methods, key handling, scalability, and token
validation overheads.

What Is API Gateway Authentication?

An API gateway helps developers build systems consisting of multiple microservices
and applications. It does this by serving two important roles, one of which relates
to API Gateway authentication:

The first role of an API gateway is to managing API request traffic as a single
point of entry. The API gateway sits in front of a group of APIs exposed by various
apps and microservices. Applications and clients that want to use those APIs simply
need to interact with the API gateway, which directs the calls and requests to the
appropriate APIs and returns the responses. If you’re developing an application or
enterprise architecture that consists of multiple apps and microservices, an API
gateway minimizes your coding burden while giving your system immediate access to a
wide variety of services, databases, and applications.

The second role of an API gateway is to managing API authentication/authorization

tasks. This is where we come to API gateway authentication. Among the APIs that sit
behind the API gateway, you should find APIs for a variety of authentication
services (such as Okta, Active Directory, OpenID Connect, and OAuth-based
authentication from Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). By integrating one of these
services, the API gateway can authenticate and authorize external client requests,
apply volume limits, and apply access controls to client requests (such read-only
and role-based access to certain data and operations). Independently of these
external services, an API gateway can also manage authentication itself with
technologies like Basic Auth, API Key Authentication, LDAP, etc.

Why Is API Authentication and Authorization Important?

Securing an API through authentication and authorization allows you to protect,
limit, and control -- not only the consumers that gain access to the API -- but
also their level of access. Here are three reasons why this kind of control is
essential:

(1) Safeguards against mistakes, data breaches, malicious hacks, and other access-
related problems by ensuring that only the right consumers have access to the right
information and system controls.
(2) Allows you to limit the amount of data that gets transmitted to prevent attacks
and/or prevent one API consumer from overburdening the system.

(3) Allows you to cut off access to a service after a subscription expires.

(4) Lets you control what happens after a failed authentication request. For
example, you can block the failed request and send back an error code, or you can
allow limited access to unauthenticated users.

Understanding APIs and API Security

Before we dive into API gateway authentication, let’s define what an API is and why
it’s important to secure APIs with an authentication/authorization strategy.

An API (Application Performance Interface) is a set of rules and procedures that

define how two applications or systems interact with each other. An API identifies
the calls and requests that a client (or consumer of the API) can make to the
application that exposes the API. In this sense, the API is like a control panel
that external consumers can use to send requests that retrieve information and
manipulate the application. An API also defines the formats and conventions to be
used when making a request. Lastly, an API supports application “pluggability”
because it allows two applications written in different languages to integrate with
each other.

Since an API gives access to potentially sensitive information and app controls,
it’s important to secure the API to ensure that only the right consumers (users,
clients, applications) have the right levels of access to the API. This is where
API authentication/authorization comes into play.

Generally speaking, an API needs to authenticate/authorize the following types of

consumers: (1) human users that access the API through a web-based client
application or smartphone application; (2) applications that use API to interact
with the application; or (4) an IoT component that is sending data back to another
system or database.

The Advantages of API Gateway Authentication

There are three primary advantages that API gateway authentication brings to the
table:

First, the API gateway can bypass the need to develop authentication from scratch.
The primary advantage of API gateway authentication is that it eliminates the need
to develop an authentication solution from scratch because you can quickly
incorporate the API gateway’s native authentication tools to secure access to the
system that you used the API gateway to build.

Second, the API gateway allows you to delegate authentication/authorization tasks

to a third-party solution. The API gateway can also delegate authentication to a
third-party authentication solution while bypassing the need to write the code
required to integrate this third-party solution. Developers simply cut and paste
several lines of code that tell the API gateway to direct all
authentication/authorization tasks through one of the authentication services in
its API portfolio.

Third, API gateway authentication is convenient for end-users. API gateway

authentication is also convenient from the app user’s perspective. For example, if
users already have an account with the third-party authentication service being
used, (Facebook, Google, Okta, Active Directory, etc.), they can breeze through
most of the registration steps. Moreover, app administrators can quickly assign
role-based access controls -- like administrator, manager, or read-only access --
for specific teams and team members.
When using DreamFactory for API gateway authentication, you can configure,
integrate, and start using your authentication service in just a few minutes.
Moreover, DreamFactory allows developers to quickly deploy a combination of
authentication strategies when more than one type of authentication is required.

Types of API Gateway Authentication Strategies

Below we’ve listed the most common API gateway authentication strategies.
DreamFactory offers native support for all of these strategies.

Basic Authentication
Basic API Authentication allows API consumers to access services with a preassigned
username and password. Basic Authentication checks the username/password
combination against the Authorization and Proxy-Authorization request headers,
which hold the credentials required to authenticate the user with the server or
proxy server. As the easiest way to password-protect a web application, you can use
DreamFactory to implement Basic Authentication for all HTTP and HTTPS API requests.

API Key Authentication

Key authentication strategies use an API key to give users access to specific types
of information and services from an API. API Key authentication is commonly used to
protect web applications, and it can be used for HTTP and HTTPS APIs. Developers
can also use DreamFactory to configure API key authentication strategies that
provide restricted access to an API when authentication fails.

LDAP Authentication
As a vendor-neutral directory services protocol, LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol) is one of the most common user authentication frameworks used in
enterprise architecture. Like the other authentication strategies on this list,
integrating LDAP authentication into a DreamFactory-built application is as simple
as cutting and pasting a few lines of code. Simply configure the solution in
DreamFactory’s web-based administration console, insert the code, and DreamFactory
manages the rest.

OAuth 2.0 Authentication

OAuth 2.0 is an authentication standard that divides access control into two
separate functions: “authentication” and “authorization.” Authentication allows a
system to verify the identity of a specific API consumer. Authorization allows the
system to know what level of access to grant. After authenticating/authorizing a
specific consumer, an OAuth 2.0 authentication service grants the appropriate
levels of access to the consumer. OAuth is the most common standard used by third-
party authentication solutions. It’s compatible with HTTPS API requests only.

OpenID Connect
OpenID Connect is a wrapper around OAuth 2.0 that allows you to quickly incorporate
any external OAuth2.0/OpenID Connect authentication service into your DreamFactory-
built applications. As a native DreamFactory integration, OpenID Connect makes it
easy to integrate role-service-access, live API documentation, and other
integration features into your applications. Once configured, DreamFactory stores
all of the configuration settings within a secure database instance.

DreamFactory’s OpenID Connect service allows you to integrate a wide range of OAuth
2.0 access control services (like Okta, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Active
Directory, and more). DreamFactory and OAuth 2.0 also allow you to issue temporary
access tokens that eventually expire and need to be renewed.

Again, with DreamFactory’s web-based admin console, you can quickly configure these
and other authentication strategies. Once configured, all you have to do is cut and
paste a few lines of code to integrate the authentication solution into your
DreamFactory-supported application.

Common API Gateway Authentication Challenges

API Gateway authentication is critical to ensuring that only authorized users and
systems can access backend services. However, there are various challenges
associated with it:

Complexity of Multiple Authentication Methods: There are multiple authentication

methods, such as API keys, OAuth, JWT, mutual TLS, etc. Setting up and managing
these methods, and choosing the right one based on the use case, can be complex.
Key Management: For methods like API keys, the process of issuing, revoking,
rotating, and monitoring keys can be challenging. Proper key management is crucial
to security.
Token Validation Overhead: For token-based authentication (like JWT), the process
of validating the token, which might include checking its signature, ensuring it's
not expired, or even checking for its revocation status, can introduce latency.
Scalability Issues: With increasing loads, the authentication component can become
a bottleneck, especially if the verification process is resource-intensive.
Token Storage and Security: Securely storing and transmitting tokens is crucial.
This includes considerations like using HTTPS, securely storing refresh tokens in
case of OAuth, and protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Often, it's not just about authenticating a user
but also ensuring they have the right permissions. Setting up and managing these
permissions, and ensuring they're applied correctly, can be challenging.
Third-Party Integrations: When relying on third-party identity providers or
integrating with other external systems, there might be inconsistencies, deprecated
features, or other incompatibilities that can pose challenges.
Replay Attacks: Attackers might try to capture and reuse tokens or other
credentials. Systems need protection mechanisms, like short-lived tokens or one-
time-use tokens, to mitigate these risks.
Error Handling and Reporting: Ensuring that authentication errors are reported in a
way that is informative without revealing too much information can be tricky.
Overly verbose error messages can give attackers clues.
Revocation: In some systems, especially those using JWTs, revoking tokens before
their natural expiry can be challenging since the tokens are stateless.
How API Gateway Authentication Works
In this section, we illustrate how API gateway authentication works by showing you
the steps required to integrate a third-party authentication/authorization solution
into a DreamFactory-based application.

(1) Configure Google’s OpenID Connect Service Through Google

For this step, you’ll go to Google's OpenID implementation page. From there, log
into Google's API Console and create your OAuth2 credentials. Use the search field
to find ‘OAuth.’ Select ‘Credentials’ from the dropdown that appears.

Select ‘Create credentials,’ then select ‘OAuth client ID.’

Next, you’ll configure the consent screen that users see when they complete the
authentication/authorization process. Select ‘Configure consent screen,’ and
complete the form. Lastly, you’ll indicate the ‘application type’ and
‘restrictions.’ Note that the ‘restrictions’ field asks for an authorized
JavaScript origin URL and/or authorized redirect URI. This is required because it’s
the destination where Google sends the authorization code after authentication.
This code is received by your application, then forwarded to DreamFactory, which
generates the JSON web token (JWT) for the session.

Now that you’ve created your OAuth 2.0 Google credentials, you’ll save the changes
and set up the OpenID Connect service on DreamFactory.
(2) Configure the OpenID Connect Service in DreamFactory
Log into the DreamFactory admin console. Go to the ‘Services’ tab and click
‘Create’ on the left sidebar. Find the ‘Service Type’ dropdown. Choose ‘OAuth,’ and
then choose OpenID Connect. Visit this link for more information about the fields
on this form.

Next, you’ll select the “Config” tab, complete the service configuration form, and
save your changes. When configuring the service, DreamFactory allows you to
authorize API consumers, assign credentials to specific consumers, and limit access
to anonymous consumers.

This completes the process of creating your new authentication service. Visit this
link for more information about the fields on this form.

(3) Create a Script that Generates the JSON Web Token (JWT) for Each Session
The next step involves creating a script that will complete the OAuth callback for
a new session and generate a JSON web token (JWT) for the session. JWT is an open
standard that allows you to securely transmit data as a JSON object. Since it is
digitally signed, JWT information is verified and trusted.

Here you’ll refer to the redirection URI that you used when configuring the OpenID
credentials on Google (referenced above).

This URI endpoint intercepts the Oauth callback parameters that get forwarded to
DreamFactory, and it generates the JWT session token. On this page, you’ll find a
sample PHP script that manages the process of returning the JSON object with the
necessary JWT and user profile information (name, email, etc.). Adding a similar
script to your application code lets your application retrieve the JWT that is
defined in the session_token attribute. This JWT will be sent with subsequent API
requests to authenticate/authorize the consumer.

(4) Add an Authentication Link to Your Application

Finally, you’ll add an image to your web app with an authentication link that looks
something like this: “https://YOUR_DREAMFACTORY_SERVER.com/api/v2/user/session?
service=YOUR_SERVICE_NAME.”

That’s it! Your third-party OpenID Connect authentication service is ready to use!

What It Looks Like to Use a Third-Party Authentication Solution

Here’s what it looks like to use the third-party authentication solution after
incorporating it into your app.

(1) Click the Authentication Link

The user clicks the authentication link which redirects to the Google OpenID
authentication form.

(2) Enter Email/Password Combination

The user enters a Google email/password combination and selects ‘allow’ to confirm
the permissions that the app requires.

(3) DreamFactory Generates the Session Key

After selecting allow, Google sends the authorization information to the
redirection URI. Next, the above-referenced script that you added to the
application code forwards the information to DreamFactory and DreamFactory returns
the session token to the script. Now, your application can persist the token, which
it will include in further requests.

Why Consider Dreamfactory for API Gateway Authentication?

Now that you’ve read this far, you should have a clear understanding of the “what,
why, and how” of API gateway authentication. As for which API gateway
authentication solution to use, DreamFactory offers unmatched speed and the widest
range of authentication options when it comes to incorporating an authentication
solution into your applications. By empowering developers to integrate whatever
authentication strategies they choose in a matter of minutes, DreamFactory allows
you to blow through developmental delays and dramatically accelerate time to
market.

If you’d like to know more about DreamFactory, contact our team and schedule a free
hosted trial of DreamFactory now!

Frequently Asked Questions: API Gateway Authentication

What is an API Gateway?

An API gateway serves as a single point of entry, managing API request traffic, and
directing calls to the appropriate services and returning responses. It helps
developers integrate multiple microservices and applications.

Why is API gateway authentication necessary?

It's crucial to ensure that only authorized clients access the APIs. API gateway
authentication secures APIs by integrating various authentication services or
managing authentication independently, like Basic Auth or API Key Authentication.

Why is securing an API important?

Securing an API ensures protection against data breaches, malicious attacks, and
system overburdens. It also lets you control access, limit data transmission,
handle subscription expiries, and manage failed authentication requests.

What are some advantages of API gateway authentication?

Three key advantages are:

Bypassing the need for custom authentication development.

Delegating authentication to third-party solutions without extra code.

Enhancing user convenience, especially if they already have an account with the
integrated third-party service.

Which authentication strategies are commonly used in API gateways?

Some common strategies include Basic Authentication, API Key Authentication, LDAP
Authentication, OAuth 2.0 Authentication, and OpenID Connect.

Can I use multiple authentication methods together?

Yes, with platforms like DreamFactory, you can deploy a combination of
authentication strategies based on your application's requirements.

What challenges can I expect with API gateway authentication?

Some challenges include:

Managing multiple authentication methods.

Proper key management.

Token validation overhead.

Handling scalability.

Securely storing and transmitting tokens.