The volume of API traffic has grown significantly since the post-pandemic world relies primarily on digital interaction to sustain user connections. However, this expansion has resulted in new security threats.
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are the key connective tissue that allows businesses to exchange information and data securely and quickly in today’s digital ecosystem. Traditional application security controls are still important, but they aren’t up to the task of securing APIs. Fortunately, organizations can implement some fundamental API security practices to develop a more resilient API security posture.
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What is putting API security in jeopardy?
When it comes to API security, security professionals must evaluate the risks and vulnerabilities. Hackers spend more time probing around APIs than most businesses do maintaining them. It’s uncommon for an attacker to “break” an API. Misconfigurations and weak links between APIs deployed in each piece of software are the most typical threat vectors.
A new testing solution is necessarily the first step in addressing the API security issue; in fact it is assessing how many APIs a company has deployed and how they interact with one another. Each API is distinct and demands detailed understanding and individual attention. An organization’s ability to address its API security risk will be hampered at the outset if it lacks visibility into the scope and nature of its API deployments.
Uncertain roles and duties for security teams are another issue that security practitioners face when establishing API security initiatives. This widely stated problem indicates that there are gaps in API monitoring, maintenance, and security, which serve as entry points for hackers. To guarantee that nuanced distinctions between APIs are addressed, teams should be assigned specific tasks for API security maintenance.
What can businesses do to ensure API security is a top priority?
The original security issues originated from a misunderstanding of how an API communicated with other software. With hundreds, if not thousands, of APIs in use, the challenge of securing them all becomes quite difficult. The problem necessitates a strategic approach for security evaluation that can be applied efficiently and universally across a wide range of APIs.
D.A.R.T., which stands for Discover, Analyze, Remediate, and Test, is an example of this type of technique. D.A.R.T. acts as both a lens through which to see security concerns and a litmus test for determining the efficacy of security efforts and solutions. This solution handles security across the API ecosystem, from production to code and needs to be customized to meet the demands of each API.
Also Read: Why Re-Thinking Cybersecurity at the Enterprise Level is Crucial
The future ahead
As security teams and threat actors alike bring more sophisticated technology to the playing field, 2022 will be the year of the API security arms race.
Hackers are increasingly targeting APIs as an attack vector, and more advanced tools and ways for exploitation will definitely emerge. Hackers have demonstrated that they can and will continue to break down doors of organizations using insecure APIs.
Security teams that are overly reliant on tools, have ambiguous roles and duties, and fail to do routine API maintenance may be doing more harm than good to their organizations. Investing time in learning about specific strategies like D.A.R.T. ensures that each and every API is appropriately secured and managed.
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