This Okta white paper outlines the modern API security landscape and how to balance speed with protection. Traditional API keys offer basic authentication but lack fine-grained authorization and rotation controls, leaving systems exposed. OAuth 2.0 improves security with scoped permissions, token expiration, and revocation, but still requires enforcement. API gateways add centralized policy control, logging, and protection against malicious requests. The strongest approach combines OAuth 2.0 with API access management, enabling context-aware restrictions, user consent, and centralized oversight. This ensures least privilege, scalability, and resilience against evolving threats.

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