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AI Security

Interview question · Application & API Security

How do algorithmic complexity bugs and unbounded work cause denial of service, and how do you prevent them?

Small requests that trigger large work are the cheapest denial of service. The scored answer finds the multipliers, bounds every one, and adds the AI-era ones.

mediumNewPreparation tags: Google, Amazon, MicrosoftUpdated Nov 2026

Small requests that trigger large work are the cheapest denial of service. The scored answer finds the multipliers, bounds every one, and adds the AI-era ones.

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  1. 01 State the assumptions your answer depends on.
  2. 02 Explain the mechanism and choose a control.
  3. 03 Name a condition that would change your decision.

The worked answer includes an approach, scoring criteria and follow-up questions. Compare the reasoning with your own.

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What if · the follow-ups in this answer

The answer works through 6 follow-ups like an interviewer would

An API that summarises uploaded documents slows to a halt under a few users, and logs show some requests take minutes.

  1. What causes request-level denial of service?
  2. Which limits would you set first?
  3. What about the AI part?
  4. How do you protect other users?
  5. How do you find the slow paths?
  6. How would you fix the API?

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UP NEXT ON YOUR JOURNEY
Next in this trackReview an endpoint that lets an assistant fetch documents by ID, find the authorisation bug, and fix it with tests.Next in this trackWhat is HTTP request smuggling, and why does it happen?Next in this trackWrite a safe validator for redirect URLs, and explain why open redirects matter.
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