How do you manage API security for cloud-native applications?

Cloud-native applications are based on containerization and microservice architectures, running on platforms such as Kubernetes. API security is crucial for protecting inter-service communications against unauthorized access and data leakage, which is vital in sensitive scenarios like finance and e-commerce to ensure business continuity and compliance.

Core components include identity authentication (OAuth2/JWT), authorization policies (RBAC), API gateway filtering, service meshes (e.g., Istio) implementing mTLS encryption, rate limiting, and log auditing. Features such as the zero-trust model reduce the attack surface and enhance application resilience, with impacts including mitigating data risks and supporting secure interactions in microservice orchestration.

Management steps: Deploy API gateways to unify security policies; implement authentication and authorization frameworks; integrate service meshes to enforce encryption; enable real-time monitoring and vulnerability scanning. Typical scenarios include microservice calls, with business values such as reducing non-compliance risks, ensuring GDPR compliance, and enhancing customer trust.