ASP.NET Web API is a key part of ASP.NET MVC 4 and the platform of choice for building RESTful services that can be accessed by a wide range of devices. Everything from JavaScript libraries to RIA plugins, RFID readers to smart phones can consume your services using platform-agnostic HTTP.

With such wide accessibility, securing your code effectively needs to be a top priority. You will quickly find that the WCF security protocols you're familiar with from .NET are less suitable than they once were in this new environment, proving themselves cumbersome and limited in terms of the standards they can work with.

Fortunately, ASP.NET Web API provides a simple, robust security solution of its own that fits neatly within the ASP.NET MVC programming model and secures your code without the need for SOAP, meaning that there is no limit to the range of devices that it can work with – if it can understand HTTP, then it can be secured by Web API. These SOAP-less security techniques are the focus of this book.