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API has become an essential aspect of modern cloud computing, and most organizations nowadays utilize API to access different tools. It allows users to utilize one piece of tool or application while using another one, and that too, without having to install the tool in the system.
Nowadays, most modern applications have an API that is available to external users, and they can request the service whenever needed. Various important and sensitive data are transferred when an API and system interact. An insecure API becomes a simple target for malicious users to get into any secured network and steal all the sensitive data.
That is why it has become imperative for organizations to utilize best-in-class API security that protects the APIs from falling victim to malicious attacks. In this guide, we will take you through all the aspects of API security and give an overview of how services like CloudDefense.AI can protect the APIs of your applications.
API or application program interface security defines the process and policies of effectively securing APIs from any kind of attacks and mitigating the attempts to get into the APIs. Since API serves as the gateway of most web-based applications, it has become a prime target for most hackers who want to get into the system to steal data or disrupt the service.
APIs allow outside users to access all the features of an application, and this creates a huge risk as an attacker can quickly get entry with ill intent. Some common attacks performed by attackers are MITM, DDoS, Injection, DoS, or Broken Access Control Attacks. So API security secures all these vulnerabilities and misconfigurations by employing strategies and techniques to ensure only authorized users can gain access to the API.
Previously, basic authentication was required to gain access to APIs but to mitigate risk, different security tokens like API gateways and MFA have been introduced. When sensitive data is transferred via API, the security guarantees complete security and makes sure that data is only available to users and applications with proper permission.
As most applications nowadays utilize API for accessing tools, API security has also become a core part of modern web application security. It lies at the intersection of application security, information security, and network security. API security is not only about securing data, but it also deals with many other security aspects like monitoring & analysis, content validation, identity-based security, rate limiting, and many others.
Before heading into more details, let’s first learn about;
An API stands for application program interface, which contains code and protocols that enables two applications to communicate with each other and share data. API creates a bridge between two software components or services and allows them to share data and functionality.
Weather applications on smartphones are prime users of APIs as these apps get weather data from various services through APIs and provide you with weather updates. APIs are highly useful for developers because it helps them to use the functionality of other applications and make the development process much more convenient.
Most of the APIs that you utilize are primarily based on Representational State Transfer or Simple Object Access Protocol. Besides sharing data, API also helps in monitoring how an application is permitted for communication through API and also controls the types of requests exchanged. API is also responsible for communicating data with external users and customers.
There are different types of API that you will come across; some are public or private, and open or closed, while some are dependent on the architectural standard. Some common exam APIs that you use on a daily basis are payment processing, smart homes, medical monitoring, video conferencing, and many others.
In modern days API serves as a backend framework for modern applications as it allows communication between applications and allows users to use different non-native functionalities.
The rise of the Internet of Things, SaaS, web applications, and mobile apps has boosted the use of AP by a considerable margin. According to Postman, around 1.13 billion API calls were made in 2022, and there were 20 million users. However, this increased integration also made a significant rise in security issues and potential attack surfaces.
Salt Security's report stated that around 94% of businesses around the world faced security issues in production APIs, and there was a 400% increase in unique attackers. Since API provides a pathway to sensitive data, resources, codes, and various PII, it has become a prime target for bad actors.
So adopting API security has become more critical than ever. Most web service providers have directed partners and users to ramp up the security protocols and incident response measures. The use of MFA has become a norm for API access because it involves multiple authentication methods to verify a user's identity.
Top providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have made many efforts by bringing advanced policies to enhance API security. Enforcing API security not only mitigates vulnerabilities and the chance of stealing data but also prevents many attacks that disrupt the whole network. Moreover, API security is also vital for ensuring the smooth performance of API and applications dependent on them.
Check our guide one top 10 OWASP Vulnerabilities
Applications, especially cloud-based apps, have become an integral part of modern businesses, and all these apps are dependent on API to ensure smooth functioning.
Thus, attackers always look for loopholes that will give them access to the application or ways to exploit the network. Here I will show the anatomy of how an attacker targets an e-commerce platform through its application and gets access to all the sensitive data;
There are various other ways API attacks happen, and it is done chiefly through exploiting the API vulnerabilities that are sometimes overlooked. Besides executing Bitcoin mining apps, the attacker may perform various attacks to disrupt the service, abuse the resources or tamper with the data.
API security risks are a significant issue faced by security teams of many businesses, and there is no definite checklist to mitigate the risk. Every day new risks appear, and attackers try to exploit them to get entry. API gateway only offers visibility to the gateway traffic rather than the internal traffic, which leads to huge gaps. Here are some top API security threats that you should know;
Even though most companies employ the best possible API security, there are many instances where hackers were able to get hold of the API. Here are some famous examples:
Authentication and access control are essential components of API security as they help in ensuring complete protection of the API. Authentication makes sure that the API access requests originate from a verified system or user. At the same time, access control enables the API server to validate that the user has only access to the data that is required and not all of it.
When a user sends an API request to an API by attaching the authorized key, the API server identifies that it is a legitimate request and allows access. While receiving the request, the API server also verifies the access control and authorization of the users.
The API server also checks the user's access and what kind of authorization the user has. During the authentication process, there are several methods being utilized, and the most notable ones are API keys, OAuth tokens, and Mutual TLS. Username and password credentials are often used for the authentication process, but this type of authentication has low usage.
As the use of API in web applications increases by leaps and bounds, it is becoming more critical for businesses to implement the API security best practices to mitigate any vulnerability. Employing the best security measures will not only enable users to reduce attack surface but also mitigate vulnerabilities. Here are some best API security checklists you can follow;
All the incoming API requests that the server receives should be authenticated and authorized to make sure that a legitimate user is making a claim. Moreover, the server should also verify that the user or system has the proper permission to access the particular set of data. The OAuth2 or JSON web token authentication method would be an ideal choice for the authentication process.
Deploying the Zero Trust philosophy should be applied for API as it is based on the principle that the API server should not provide access by default. For best security practice, it should verify every user and system that is trying to access the server.
Factors like data leakage prevention, API protocol support, API deep request inspection, and API discovery should be considered while implementing the Zero Trust policy for API security. According to many experts, as a business owner, you should also apply this ideology to authorized API endpoints and authenticated clients to ensure maximum protection.
Whenever there is an API request, the API server should utilize access control to verify that the user has only access to data or resources that it is authorized for. The access control will analyze whether the user or system doesn't have access to all the resources on the server.
Using rate limiting for all the APIs to mitigate any malicious activity and brute-force attacks is one of the best API security practices you can opt for. It is a highly effective process where the API server limits the total number of API requests that can be made to the API within a specific time period. It is beneficial to prevent malicious users from overwhelming the server with a series of API requests to disrupt the service.
Taking a proactive approach to identifying API vulnerabilities and other risks is another best practice for API security. Having a system for continuous API threat detection and remediation will ensure no one can enter the server without authorized access. Implementing multi-layered security for identifying and remediating different kinds of attacks like DDoS and Bot attacks will safeguard the API.
It is essential for security to have constant visibility into all the API servers and make sure there is no sign of malicious activity. If any vulnerability is detected, then the security team must use virtual patching to keep it secure and wait for developers to fix it.
Another API security practice you can employ is using HTTPS for all the API requests and responses, as it makes sure all these requests and responses are entirely encrypted. Making API requests and responses through HTTPS is highly useful when your user needs to access sensitive data.
API keys serve as the primary key for getting into the server, so it is vital to store those keys securely. It would help if you avoided the inclusion of API keys during the API requests; otherwise, it leads to the risk of getting stolen. Hackers can quickly get the keys from those requests and use them to gain access to the server.
Another best API security practice that you can opt for is limiting the accidental exposure of sensitive data in the API. Passwords, keys, and various other information are included in the API, and they also provide many additional details regarding the API endpoints.
So it becomes crucial to enable the API only to expose the amount of data that is required to fulfill specific tasks. The principle of least privilege and access control should be implemented at the API level, as it will help limit accidental exposure of data and also track data usage.
CloudDefense.AI is an industry-leading cybersecurity platform that can help you protect all your APIs and prevent them from getting exploited by threat attackers. When you opt for CloudDefense.AI's service, it deploys an API scan on the runtime application using a fully packaged image and looks for vulnerabilities. It doesn't require you to install any additional scanning purposes.
The API scan of CloudDefense.AI covers all the OWASP top 10 security threats along with other threats to ensure optimum security for all your APIs. At CloudDefense.AI, the developers recommend providing regular scanning of the API so that if any vulnerability is detected, it can be solved quickly.
The highly intuitive yet robust interface of this security platform makes it easy for you to integrate this platform into your security tools. It doesn't matter whether you have the application running on Python, Java, or JS, API scan functionality will automatically look for issues.
The setup can be finished within 2 minutes using CloudDefense.AI's proprietary technology, and you won't require any expertise to run the scans. CloudDefense.AI's API scan is trusted by security teams all over the world, and it can secure your API with a few clicks.
Before ending this guide, we want you to go through some common FAQs that can solve some of the common queries;
REST API is top API security that utilizes HTTP and TLS encryption to ensure optimum protection of the API. TLS helps in keeping the internet connection private and checks whether traffic between the system is secured and unmodified. This is highly useful for credit cards stored on a website, as it prevents hackers from reading and modifying anything.
There are four types of APIs that are utilized by developers: Open APIs, Partner APIs, Internal APIs, and Composite APIs. Open APIs are those that can be accessed by any developer, whereas a Partner API is one that can be accessed by only designated developers. Internal APIs are somewhat more private than others, and only internal teams of an organization can access them. Composite API, on the other hand, is a unique API that combines multiple APIs.
API authentication works by sending or receiving API keys from the requestee, and these keys mainly contain a vast array of numbers or letters. The number code then calls the program through a third-party application, and the key identifies the code, developer, and application from which the API call is made.
There are many tools that are widely utilized for testing the security of Web API, and each has its own perks. However, the most common tools used by developers and security teams are Apache JMeter, Assertible, Insomnia, Assertible, Karate, Katalon Studio, Postman, SoapUI, and ReadyAPI.
The three primary components of an API are function, protocol, and transport. Each of the components is built around the others to ensure seamless functionality. Each of the components in an API is important to facilitate an IoT conversation.
The best way to secure a public API without authentication is through encryption. When you enable encryption on a public API, TLS and HTTPS secure the traffic and make sure all the information that is passed is wholly secured. Rate limiting also serves as an alternative choice of authentication as it helps in determining the number of requests for an API.
API security serves as an essential aspect for all businesses because it safeguards all the sensitive data residing in the API. The increase in the use of API for modern applications has also caused a significant rise in API exploitation. To solve this issue, many API security solutions have come up that prevent API breaches.
In this guide, we have provided all the details regarding API security that will give you an idea of how to manage your APIs. Along with the details, we have also mentioned some API security best practices you can follow to mitigate API breaches.
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