Recognize and interpret essential integration concepts and terminology20% of the exam
Authentication, authorization and encryption for APIs
MuleSoft's three principles of API security (identity and access management, content integrity and confidentiality, reliability and availability), how tokens, OAuth 2.0, signatures and encryption fit into them, and which part of Anypoint Platform secures users, APIs and threats.
Define and describe the core concepts of API and enterprise system security.
~7 min read · 4 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Distinguish authentication (who the caller is) from authorization (what the caller may do) in a security requirement.
- Explain token-based credentials, multi-factor authentication and OAuth 2.0 at concept level.
- Match a requirement to message confidentiality (encryption) or message integrity (digital signatures), and separate both from availability measures.
- Name the Anypoint Platform part that secures platform users, the one that secures API traffic, and the one that watches for attacks.
Key terms:
- Authentication: establishing who a user or application is.
- Authorization: deciding what that authenticated user or application can do.
- Message integrity: assurance that a message was not modified after it was sent.
- Message confidentiality: assurance that nobody but the intended parties saw the message's contents.
- OAuth 2.0: an open protocol for authorizing apps to access resources without revealing user credentials to them.
Key facts
Perimeter and data controls
- Detail
- Zero trust, WAF, tokenization, masking, a centralized API gateway
Anypoint Security for Runtime Fabric
- Detail
- Separate licence; proxies inbound and outbound traffic; Secrets Manager stores TLS certificates and keystores
Authentication vs authorization
- Detail
- Who someone is vs what they can do
Token-based credentials
- Detail
- Token issued at first sign-in; the app sends the token, not the credentials
Digital signature
- Detail
- Receiver recomputes the signature and compares it with the incoming one
Encryption named in best practices
- Detail
- TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256 at rest
Rate limiting purpose
- Detail
- Prevents DDoS attacks
OAuth token enforcement (Mule OAuth provider)
- Detail
- Validates tokens, does not generate them
Client ID Enforcement failure
- Detail
- 401 for invalid or unauthorized client credentials
External identity providers
- Detail
- OpenID Connect or SAML 2.0, up to 25 IdPs
Platform sign-in, environments, SSO
- Detail
- Access Management
Sources for this section (7)
- Best practiceswww.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Anypoint Securitydocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- API security guidewww.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- OAuth policydocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Client ID Enforcementdocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Identity managementdocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- Platform securitydocs.mulesoft.com (opens in a new tab)
- What does multi-factor authentication add after the user's credentials are checked?
- Why does a digital signature reveal tampering?
- When does the Client ID Enforcement policy return a 401?
- Which two single sign-on standards can Anypoint Platform use with an external identity provider?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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