A Secure Digital Image Marketplace: Microservices and OWASP API Security Using Spring Boot

In the modern era of web technology, microservice architecture has become a common practice in web development because of its scalability and extendibility. Consequently, implementation of web application programming interface (API) (i.e., representational state transfer API (REST API)) has become more ubiquitous. However, the frequency of attacks on web API services has also increased, necessitating robust security measures. This research identifies the most common vulnerabilities in web APIs and offers a foundational guide for web developers to enhance security from the outset. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the application of the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) API Security Top Ten guidelines through a practical example: a digital image marketplace developed using the Spring Boot framework. By providing examples and basic implementations, this paper aims to assist developers in creating secure web APIs.