OAuth 2.0: Getting Started in API Security (API-University Series Book 1)

This book offers an introduction to API security with OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. In less than 50 pages you will gain an overview of the capabilities of OAuth. You will learn the core concepts of OAuth. You will get to know all four OAuth flows that are used in cloud solutions and mobile apps.

If you have tried to read the official OAuth specification, you may get the impression that OAuth is complex. This book explains OAuth in simple terms. The different OAuth flows are visualized graphically using sequence diagrams. The diagrams allow you to see the big picture of the various OAuth interactions. This high-level overview is complemented with rich set of example requests and responses and an explanation of the technical details.

In the book the challenges and benefits of OAuth are presented, followed by an explanation of the technical concepts of OAuth. The technical concepts include the actors, endpoints, tokens and the four OAuth flows. Each flow is described in detail, including the use cases for each flow. Extensions of OAuth are presented, such as OpenID Connect and the SAML2 Bearer Profile.

Who should read this book?

You do not have the time to read long books? This book provides an overview, the core concepts, without getting lost in the small-small details. This book provides all the necessary information to get started with OAuth in less than 50 pages.

You believe OAuth is complicated? OAuth may seem complex with flows and redirects going back and forth. This book will give you clarity by introducing the seemingly complicated material by many illustrations. These illustrations clearly show all the involved interaction parties and the messages they exchange.

You want to learn the OAuth concepts efficiently? This book uses many illustrations and sequence diagrams. A good diagram says more than 1000 words.

You want to learn the difference between OAuth and OpenID Connect? You wonder when the two concepts are used, what they have in common and what is different between them. This book will help you answer this question.

You want to use OAuth in your mobile app? If you want to access resources that are protected by OAuth, you need to get a token first, before you can access the resource. For this, you need to understand the OAuth flows and the dependencies between the steps of the flows.

You want to use OAuth to protect your APIs? OAuth is perfectly suited to protect your APIs. You can learn which OAuth endpoints need to be provided and which checks need to be made within the protected APIs.