.NET Interview Question 2024 — What Are The Best Practices of Building Secure and Scalable REST APIs with .NET on Azure

In today’s digital landscape, developing secure and scalable REST APIs is crucial for any SaaS solution. Leveraging .NET and deploying on Azure provides a powerful combination for achieving these goals. This story will walk you through best practices for securing and scaling your REST APIs using .NET and Azure, ensuring robust performance and security without relying on costly external services.

As a Senior Software Engineer or Architect, you should be aware of these best practices which can be asked during the interview process.

Security Best Practices

1. Use HTTPS

Ensuring data encryption in transit is paramount. Azure App Service makes it easy to enforce HTTPS:
- Navigate to your App Service in the Azure portal.
- Under “Custom domains and TLS/SSL settings,” enable “HTTPS Only.”

For .NET applications, configure HTTPS in your `Program.cs` or `Startup.cs`:

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        CreateHostBuilder(args).Build().Run();
    }

    public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
        Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
            .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
            {
                webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>()…