Meenakshi Panda is director of software engineering at Capital One.
With the surge in cloud-native apps, mobile technologies and connected services, APIs have become the backbone of modern digital infrastructure.
APIs are no longer mere technical tools but essential enablers of digital transformation across various industries. For example, here are a few ways that different industries are using APIs:
• Finance: APIs facilitate mobile banking, payments and secure data sharing.
• Healthcare: APIs enable data exchange for telemedicine and integration with wearable devices.
• Retail: Commerce companies rely on APIs for inventory management and customized shopping experiences.
• Travel And Hospitality: APIs facilitate booking systems and real-time services.
• Manufacturing And Logistics: APIs enable supply chain optimization and IoT device integration.
However, this growth has also escalated cyber risks, as evidenced by numerous high-profile API breaches in recent years. Incidents like Facebook’s 2018 breach, Google+’s API flaw and vulnerabilities affecting Peloton and T-Mobile have exposed millions of users’ data.
These events underscore the critical need for robust API security to prevent unauthorized access and data leaks.
API Security Risks And Best Practices
As APIs have become central to digital operations, they have also become prime targets for cyberattacks like the ones mentioned above, with attackers exploiting vulnerabilities to access valuable data.
One significant issue is API sprawl, where different teams develop APIs without a cohesive security strategy, leading to poorly documented or unmanaged “shadow” APIs. Cybercriminals have also shifted to sophisticated business logic attacks involving prolonged API behavior observation to exploit flaws.
Traditional security measures like firewalls are often ineffective against these evolving threats, making runtime monitoring and a robust API security strategy essential. A robust API security strategy includes a range of best practices, including:
1. Authentication And Authorization: Use protocols like OAuth 2.0 and JWT tokens to ensure that only authorized users can access APIs.
2. Data Encryption: Encrypt data in transit and at rest using HTTPS and secure storage methods.
3. Rate Limiting And Throttling: Control API request volumes to prevent abuse and mitigate DDoS attacks.
4. Input Validation: Validate inputs to prevent injection attacks and sanitize outputs to avoid data exposure.
5. Secure Endpoints: Follow the principle of least privilege to restrict access through API endpoints.
6. Real-Time Monitoring: Use API gateways to monitor activity and detect suspicious behavior early.
7. Regular Audits: Conduct security audits, penetration tests and vulnerability scans to maintain robust API security.
8. Lifecycle Management: Decommission obsolete APIs to prevent attackers from exploiting outdated services.
A zero-trust approach, where every API request is authenticated and authorized, is also gaining traction. Additionally, automation in API security is being integrated into DevOps processes to catch vulnerabilities early. Securing APIs in decentralized environments has become a priority, in particular, with the rise of IoT and edge computing.
The Future Of API Security
The field of API security is set to expand significantly. By 2025, Gartner predicts that the surge in API usage will outpace the capabilities of current API management tools.
To keep pace, integrating AI and machine learning into API security will be pivotal for detecting and responding to threats. AI and machine learning, for example, are already vital tools for detecting threats by analyzing API traffic for anomalies. AI and ML advances, however, will need to keep pace with cybercriminals using the same technologies to create more sophisticated attacks.
Likewise, as open-source and no-code APIs increase, the potential risks from shadow APIs will continue to grow alongside them. Governance and documentation will become baseline cybersecurity best practices. Organizations will also need to continue adopting robust security measures like strong authentication, encryption and real-time monitoring to protect their APIs from these evolving cyber threats.
Securing APIs is paramount for embracing digital transformation. Companies that wish to keep pace with evolving digital trends will need to implement a comprehensive API security strategy, which will increasingly include cutting-edge technologies like AI.
While the benefits of APIs will keep evolving, so will the risks. Act now to secure the gateways to your business innovation and safeguard your future success.
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