If you are building an API, you are most likely evaluating the pros and cons of available technologies. Sooner or later, you will surely come across NodeJS.
NodeJS helps to create stable, scalable, and backward-compatible APIs. Besides the functionalities, you can’t overlook the security risk that comes with them. Misconfigured, insecure APIs leave your companies with high-profile cyber-attacks.
Like any APIs, those developed with NodeJS come with security threats. NodeJS uses several open-source packages through Node Package Manager (NPM). Around 76% of NodeJS shops employ vulnerable packages. Ultimately, these vulnerabilities will affect the NodeJS web apps and APIs.
So, how to secure NodeJS API? This blog highlights the 11 best practices to ensure secure API in NodeJS.
REST stands for Representational State Transfer. REST API is a communication approach used in API.
API enables the communication between two applications. REST is the set of rules that API follows to ensure lossless interaction. This special approach aids the integration simple and scalable.
NodeJS is an open-source, server-side runtime environment. It is used to build highly scalable server-side apps. It includes:
It is a command-line application that runs on development and server systems.
It bundles the V8 JavaScript Chrome Engine with other support codes, network server applications, and other tools. It enables you to run JS on the server and the browser. NodeJS is widely supported across all kinds of hardware and software architectures.
NodeJS offers an event-driven, asynchronous I/O and cross-platform runtime environment. It enables developers to generate dynamic web content using JavaScript and server-side scripts.
REST APIs that are written using NodeJS are known as NodeJS APIs. Building APIs using NodeJS offers the following benefits:
Node.js APIs, while powerful, face various security risks that developers must address to safeguard against potential vulnerabilities:
Injection Attacks
Security Misconfiguration:
Insufficient Rate Limiting and Resource Exhaustion
Adopting security best practices from the initial design and development stages is crucial for building secure Node.js APIs.
Let’s cover a comprehensive set of best practices for securing Node.js APIs:
An incomplete or broken authentication is the root cause of breaches. Implement strict authentication, authorization, and access control policies to secure NodeJS APIs effectively. To this end:
The lack of resources and rate limiting is an OWASP Top 10 API security risk. As a result, hackers send large request bodies. That can drain your server or crash the application, resulting in DDoS attacks. By implementing rate limits contextually, you can prevent users from abusing Node APIs.
Developers tend to focus a lot on code handling while developing APIs. They do not have enough time for error handling. Developers must write tests for testing error handling.
For secure NodeJS API, the goal is to implement security from the beginning. But it requires an ongoing process. Some malicious actors prefer to remain undetected in your system.
For such cases, referring to logging and monitoring metrics will help to spot irregularities.
Opt for a fully managed API security solution tailored for Node.js APIs, whether you’re constructing your own or integrating a third-party API.
Ensure the solution is purpose-built for APIs and equipped with robust capabilities, including API discovery to uncover hidden APIs.
It should possess the ability to thoroughly detect and mitigate all API-specific risks, enabling real-time prevention of even the most intricate API attacks.
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This post was last modified on April 19, 2024 17:55
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