API (Application Programming Interface) is emerging as one of the prominent attack vectors. While API calls volume increased by 321% last year, malicious API traffic grew by 681%! Several organizations have faced API-related security incidents in the past few years. To help you achieve fortified API security, we have put together an API security checklist in this article.
The best practices to achieve advanced API protection and security are plenty. This API security checklist focuses on the top 7 critical requirements.
You can secure APIs only if you know they exist, and continuous discovery and inventorying help in this regard.
Another important requirement in the API security checklist is proactive API threat detection and protection.
For stronger API protection and security, organizations must perform rigorous and continuous authentication and authorization checks while tightening access controls. This is critical since authentication and authorization failures are second on the list of causes for API attacks.
Digital transformation initiatives have led to the acceleration in the development and use of APIs across the globe. Due to developers’ pressure to ensure speed to market, they often do not have time for security testing. Further, they tend to deploy APIs with known vulnerabilities, dark spots for future functionalities, leave old versions deployed for backward compatibility, etc.
So, API security should not be limited to production. An advanced API security tactic is implementing security controls and techniques right from the design and development stages.
Continuous security testing is another key API security checklist requirement. Automated scanning has its limits and cannot identify security misconfigurations, business logic flaws, or the exploitability of different vulnerabilities. Regular manual security testing by certified experts through pen tests and audits is necessary.
Logging and monitoring APIs helps construct a baseline for what is considered ‘normal’ so that outlier incidents can be quickly detected.
Detecting and stopping breaches is just a part of the security response. Data breaches, at times, are unavoidable. In such cases, having a robust incidence response plan is essential as it enables organizations to bounce back quickly and minimize the impact of breaches. It should clearly define policies and measures related to immediate response, investigation, forensics, escalation, compliance, etc.
Conclusion
As attackers continue to expose and exploit the gaping weaknesses in APIs, the need for API security is urgent and critical. Use this API security checklist to start solidifying your API security posture.
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This post was last modified on February 14, 2024 13:22
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