Deconstructing and Evolving REST Security

Abstract:

 

The learning curve for security is severe and unforgiving. Specifications promise infinite flexibility, habitually give old concepts new names, are riddled with extensions, and almost seem designed to deliberately confuse. For a back-end REST developer, choking all this down for the first time is mission impossible. With an aggressive distaste for fancy terminology, this session delves into OAuth 2.0 as it pertains to REST and shows how it falls into two camps: stateful and stateless. We then detail a competing Amazon-style approach called HTTP Signatures, ideal for B2B scenarios and similar to what is use to secure all Amazon AWS API calls. Each approach will be explored analyzing the architectural differences, with a heavy focus on the wire, showing actual HTTP messages and enough detail to have you thinking, “I could write this myself.”

 

As a bonus at the end, we’ll peak into a new IETF Internet Draft launched this year that combines JWT and HTTP Signatures into the perfect two-factor system that could provide a one-stop shop for business as well as mobile REST scenarios. This session takes you from novice to expert with a bit of humor, a big picture perspective and wire-level detail.