How to stop API abuse without checking your logs everyday

The Current State in 2025

If I had a dollar for every time I found an API without proper rate limiting during a Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT), I would probably own a small island by now. Seriously, its 2025, and we’re still dealing with APIs that allow unlimited requests like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.

What Happens Without Rate Limiting?

Imagine this: You have an API endpoint that checks user credentials. A hacker writes a simple script to send thousands of login attempts per second. Without rate limiting, guess what? They just brute-forced their way into an account.

Or worse, you have a public pricing API. A competitor fires a few million requests at it, extracts all your pricing data, and undercuts your business.

Without rate limiting, your API is basically an open bar at a hacker convention.

How Smart Rate Limiting Can Save Your API

Rate limiting is more than just setting an arbitrary request cap. Done right, it ensures:

• Protection against brute-force attacks (because not everyone should be allowed to spam login attempts like a CAPTCHA-less 2005 website).
• Prevention of API scraping (yes, your competitors are watching).
• Fair usage enforcement (so one user doesn’t consume 99% of your bandwidth while others struggle to get a response).

1. IP-Based Rate Limiting (The Old but Gold Approach)

Block or slow down requests from the same IP if they exceed a set threshold.

2. User-Based Rate Limiting (Because Some People Just Don’t Know When to Stop)

Instead of limiting by IP, restrict requests per user (via API keys or authentication tokens).

3. Behavioral Rate Limiting (The Smartest Approach)

Rather than fixed limits, analyze request patterns. If a user suddenly goes from 10 requests per minute to 500, something’s up.

4. Dynamic Throttling (Because One Size Doesn’t Fit All)

Instead of outright blocking excessive requests, slow them down dynamically.

5. tAM and API Gateways (The Hands-Off Approach)

Okay, I promised not to make this about tAM, but if you’re running an API gateway, tools like tAM can handle rate limiting automatically—saving you from reinventing the wheel (and debugging rate-limiting scripts at 3 AM).

Final Thoughts: Stop Being an API Doormat

If your API doesn’t have rate limiting, it’s not if it will be abused, it’s when.

So, before your next VAPT results in yet another embarrassing report about unlimited requests, do yourself (and your users) a favor:

• Implement smart rate limiting.
• Monitor API usage.
• Stop treating your API like an open buffet.

Trust me, future-you will thank you. And maybe, just maybe, I will finally get to do a VAPT where rate limiting isn’t the first thing I write in the findings.

Stay secure, stay sane.