The Rising Importance of API Security in Protecting Your Digital Assets

Modern applications are no longer self-contained logic operations but are, rather, built from dozens to hundreds of independent components. APIs serve as the invisible conduits that enable these software applications and systems to communicate and collaborate seamlessly.

However, as API utilisation continues to soar, they become the target of malicious clients that often leave organisations with millions of breached user data and billions of dollars lost. Gartner predicts that API abuse will become the most frequent attack vector by 2023. APIs are vulnerable because security teams lack the skills in API protection.

However, API security is critical not just to protect user data and financial resources but also to safeguard the trust and reputation between businesses. It requires following security best practices and maximising the latest security tools to protect digital assets.

This article explores the role of APIs and the challenges surrounding API security. It also looks at the latest API security options available to protect organisations against cybersecurity threats.

Unpacking API: A Critical Technology Backbone

Application programming interface, or APIs, allows different applications to communicate with each other using definitions and protocols. It’s an intermediary layer that processes data transfers between systems, so third parties can gain access to a company’s application data and functionality.

For a better API explanation, let’s look at its most common application – third-party payment processing. When you purchase from an e-commerce website, you’d often be prompted to pay via a third-party system, such as PayPal. This connection is possible because of APIs.

The API retrieves personally identifiable information from PayPal’s web server, and a series of information exchanges happen between PayPal’s web server and the e-commerce site’s web server. All of the data transmission takes place between the applications, with no visibility on the user interface.

Other uses of APIs include universal logins, where you can use one account, such as Facebook or Google, to log in to different websites. APIs also enable smart devices to have added functionalities, such as a smart fridge’s ability to connect to a recipe app. APIs also aid mapping apps to display interactive data such as points of interest, traffic warnings, directions, etc.

Types of APIs

There are four main types of web APIs:

1. Open APIs

These are also called public APIs and are open-source application programming interfaces that developers can access with HTTP methods. For example, social media platforms use APIs to allow third-party developers to build apps that can post to a user’s profile, access their photos, and retrieve their social data.

2. Partner APIs

These are used to connect strategic business partners so they can provide a better customer experience. Developers access partner APIs via a public API developer portal after they’ve completed an onboarding process and get their login credentials. A common usage scenario involves e-commerce sites providing partner APIs to allow manufacturers to sync their product catalogue with a retailer’s platform.

3. Internal APIs

These are private APIs not available to users outside the company. They are intended to improve communication and productivity across internal teams using microservices. Another usage scenario is when legacy systems or databases connect with modern applications.

4. Composite APIs

These are a combination of multiple service APIs that programmers use to access several endpoints with a single call. These are used when a single task requires data from multiple sources. For instance, a travel booking website uses composite APIs to combine flight, hotel, and car rental information into a single search result.

Importance of APIs in Digital Ecosystems

APIs have numerous benefits for developers and organisations. APIs improve collaboration and can automate workflows so teams can work seamlessly without suffering from information silos. It accelerates innovation since partnerships with new business partners can open doors to new services and new markets.

APIs can also be monetised, especially if the company offers access to valuable digital assets. Most importantly, APIs enable system security and end-user privacy. APIs separate the requesting application from the responding service, creating layers of security between them as they communicate.

End-users also have the option to deny or allow an API request. By restricting access, they control how much data is shared with the requesting party.

API Security Breaches: A Dive into Case Studies

Because of the prevalence of their use, API security breaches have become common, with 41% of organisations admitting they suffered from an API security incident just last year. Some of the notable API security breaches happened with Twitter when hackers exploited a Twitter API vulnerability and accessed the personal data of 5.4 million Twitter users.

Dropbox also experienced an API security breach when a phishing scam exposed its GitHub internal code repositories which contained API keys and user data. Fortunately, no user data was leaked. 3Commas API breach wasn’t as lucky since that hacking incident caused the company and its users to lose $22 million in crypto.

The impact of API incidents resulted in serious security concerns with disastrous consequences. They exposed millions of sensitive user records and caused severe financial repercussions. They also erode the trust between users and developers and can be a cause for potential government investigation and litigation.

The 3Commas incident is being investigated by the FBI because the hackers were able to access a vast stockpile of API keys that were dumped anonymously on Twitter. This resulted in further damages and chaos since the stolen APIs weren’t 3Commas property, so it’s unclear how to address the situation.

Most of these incidents started with a simple phishing scam and could’ve been prevented. The Dropbox API breach happened because users got a phishing email to a counterfeit CircleCI page where they were prompted to input their GitHub credentials. Some API breaches were the result of an inherent API vulnerability, as was the case with the Twitter API.

To prevent such incidents from happening again, companies must carefully safeguard their servers. Customer databases must never be left in unprotected endpoints. Multi factor authentication, firewalls and proper authorisation must always be implemented for basic security protection. Users must also be constantly educated about phishing attacks, especially since hackers become more sophisticated each year.

Challenges in Ensuring API Security

Knowing the most common API vulnerabilities is the first step to ensuring API security. These include:

• Broken object-level authorisation which happens when sensitive fields within an object are incorrectly exposed because of the server’s failure to follow the client’s state.
• Broken user authorisation where valid credentials aren’t required for an API request. This occurs because of improper implementation of the authentication process.
• Broken function level authorisation happens when certain API functions aren’t properly authorised so unauthorised users can access sensitive data and systems.
• Lack of resources and limiting which occurs when there are too many API calls because there are no restrictions on the number of client requests made. Hackers exploit this to exhaust a server’s resources.
• Injection, which happens when untrusted data is inserted in the application to execute unintended actions.
• Excessive data exposure is when a system has too many API endpoints which can be easily exploited. APIs should only include functions for intended purposes and nothing more.

Despite knowing these common API vulnerabilities, safeguarding APIs is challenging. Securing APIs isn’t the same as securing traditional web applications. To protect an API, you need to know how it was initially designed. However, no two APIs are alike since developers can use different markups, data, and application logic to design a particular app.

APIs are also used in diverse environments, making it challenging to ensure consistent security measures across platforms and technologies. Security teams need to understand what a particular API endpoint should do – information that usually comes from the developer’s DevOps team. Often, there’s documentation available, but these are sometimes unreliable.

Furthermore, APIs are designed as automated tools, which makes them function as bots. An API security solution must be able to identify legal, normal bots from illegal ones. On the surface, they behave the same, so sophisticated security technology is needed to make the distinction. The problem is exacerbated by mobile access, which receives a lot of traffic from technical bots.

However, ignoring API security has worse consequences. The impact of a security breach doesn’t affect only your organisation and end users, it can have far-reaching repercussions for the overall security landscape. To avoid experiencing the same situations as the companies described above, pursuing robust API security is a strategy you can’t afford to miss.

Implementing Robust API Security

A secure API strategy begins with clear objectives and a definition of the purpose and scope of your APIs. You need to identify every API endpoint and the deployed API versions in your environment, no matter how vast that is. Malicious actors will exploit every available API endpoint, so you can’t afford to be lax in your API inventory. A proper inventory will also mitigate issues like deprecated API versions and debug endpoints.

The following best practices will help you provide better API security.

Best Practices for API security implementation

1. Use API gateways for central governance.

It’s time-consuming and difficult to secure APIs individually. This also opens the risk of inconsistent API security and can impede your adaptability to defend against emerging threats. An API gateway standardises your protection policies across your API landscape. Clients are forced to access APIs from the gateway, which you can easily secure with a firewall.

Even if you have multiple API endpoints, only authorised users can access them from the centralised gateway.

2. Continuously monitor, maintain and test APIs.

API security testing happens before, during, and after deployment. It must be built into every development stage, so you have multiple opportunities to identify vulnerabilities before a breach even happens. Testing also gives you recorded information that will help rectify any faults. You can also use automated processes to continuously monitor API functions.

Constantly maintaining the system improves its security and performance. The latest API versions will also provide efficient service, which will increase the productivity of the people using it. Not to mention, updated APIs will address any security flaws and keep malicious attacks at bay.

3. Create strict access control policies and secure API endpoints.

Broken authentication is No. 2 of the Top 10 API security risks based on OWASP. Creating a strong authentication and authorisation process is similar to adopting a zero-trust environment. Every API request should require proper access control, regardless of who is attempting the connection.

Prevent unauthorised parties from accessing critical resources by integrating API endpoints with authentication tokens. Check for any insecure third-party APIs and employ an automated process to constantly monitor them for any threats and vulnerabilities. As much as possible, only work with secure third-party APIs.

4. Always encrypt traffic and validate all user input.

Prevent man-in-the-middle attacks by encrypting all API traffic, not just the ones that handle sensitive data. Before processing any data, validate them first to check for any injection attacks that can allow malicious code execution.

Prevent cross-site scripting and SQL injection attacks with prepared statements, parameterised queries, and stored procedures. Minimize the exposed sensitive data by only including specific information in all API responses. If making an API public, remove all the keys and passwords used during development.

5. Use the right API security solutions to boost your strategy.

To implement these API security best practices, you need a well-rounded tools ecosystem that will fully protect your APIs. This includes the API gateway mentioned above, as well as web application firewalls that act as protective shields and manage the flow of API requests and responses.

Standalone security products can add extra protection by providing real-time monitoring, identification, and protection against threats. You can also inject security in code to prevent hackers from modifying the API codes and disrupting their functions.

WAAP Security: A Novel Approach to Safeguarding APIs

Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) security is an innovative approach to fortify the security of APIs, particularly in the context of web applications. It integrates various security measures into a comprehensive framework designed to safeguard APIs from a multitude of risk factors.

At its core, WAAP security encompasses a range of techniques and technologies to detect, prevent, and mitigate vulnerabilities and attacks targeting API architectures. This approach goes beyond traditional security measures (such as WAF) by addressing the unique challenges posed by APIs, such as protecting against data breaches, DDoS attacks, and unauthorised access. WAAP security offers a proactive defence, ensuring the reliability and integrity of API transactions.

Benefits of Implementing WAAP Security for APIs

Implementing WAAP security bolsters the resilience of APIs against a diverse range of security threats, including but not limited to SQL injections, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and API abuse. This results in enhanced data protection and increased trust among users and stakeholders.

Furthermore, WAAP security provides real-time monitoring and analysis of API traffic, enabling immediate threat detection and response. It helps organisations comply with stringent data protection regulations, reducing legal and compliance risks.

In addition, this approach simplifies security management by consolidating multiple security measures into a single, integrated solution. It streamlines the protection of web applications and APIs, reducing complexity and operational costs.

The Road Ahead: Future of API and Associated Security Measures

The future of APIs holds immense promise and transformation. APIs will continue to play a pivotal role in our increasingly connected world, facilitating seamless communication between applications, devices, and services.

They will become the backbone of hyper-automation, where AI-driven systems orchestrate and optimise complex business processes. AI-powered APIs will enable predictive analytics and intelligent decision-making.

They will be instrumental in the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing and will facilitate real-time data exchange between devices and cloud services, unlocking new possibilities in smart cities, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Blockchain-based APIs will drive secure and decentralised applications. Smart contracts and decentralised applications (DApps) will rely heavily on APIs to interact with blockchain networks.

Businesses will capitalise on the API economy and develop strategies to generate revenue from offering API access to core functionalities and data. This will cause API marketplaces to emerge, forming new business models and encouraging innovation.

Event-driven APIs will increase and drive business innovation, although they won’t guarantee success. Event-driven architecture (EDA), which supports real-time exchange between microservices, is gaining preference, although it still falls short of today’s digital requirements. However, with API security evolution also taking place, solutions that address EDA security flaws will also appear.

REST APIs are still increasingly common, but more developers will use GraphQL to design APIs. GraphQL allows developers to query data from multiple apps using a single API call, which is useful for letting companies provide the exact data requested without over-fetching unnecessary data. This will enhance API security by preventing the exposure of unnecessary data.

API security and governance will also become more pervasive, especially as new security vulnerabilities emerge. Organisations are expected to invest heavily in robust security measures while API governance frameworks ensure compliance with regulatory standards to maintain consistency and quality across API implementations.

Next-generation API security solutions will also include features that provide deeper and earlier insights into attacker behaviours and patterns, including support for attack simulations. These features will be built based on existing threat detection and monitoring algorithms and will help users easily spot and block API attacks.

Conclusion

APIs enable seamless communication between applications, services, and devices. However, as API utilisation continues to skyrocket, so do the potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Neglecting API security can lead to devastating consequences, from financial losses to legal repercussions and reputational damage. Robust API security measures, such as a clear API security strategy and strong authentication policies, along with innovative approaches like WAAP security, provide comprehensive protection tailored to unique API security challenges.

ThreatX’s WAAP++ platform uses a full-spectrum approach to detect API threats and protect your web, cloud, and legacy apps.  It can be deployed in a single day and is easy to scale across all applications. You also get access to high-fidelity insights and in-house API security experts.

Get in touch to discover how ThreatX’s WAAP++ solutions can enhance your next security project.

Additional Resources and Further Reading

• A Close Look at Endpoint Detection and Response
• What is Phishing? Everything You Need to Know
• Why API Security is a Fast-Growing Threat to Data-Driven Enterprises

About the author

ProtectCyber is a leading Australian cyber security firm dedicated to safeguarding businesses and individuals from digital threats. Our expert team, with decades of combined experience in the field, provides insights and practical advice on staying secure in an increasingly connected world. Learn more about our mission and team on our
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