What APIs Have Meant for Enterprise Security – And Why We Can Never Go Back

How many APIs does your organization use? That number could be in the hundreds - or higher when you account for your public, private, and partner APIs.

Modern enterprises rely upon APIs for virtually all business functions, and nearly ⅔ of respondents to a recent survey stated that they expect that list to grow in 2023.

While APIs are often the unsung heroes that keep workflows running smoothly, their rise in popularity has forever changed enterprise security.

The Modern API Landscape

The modern API landscape is rapidly evolving. At the time of publishing, GitHub holds more than 2 million API-related repositories, and that number continues to climb.

Organizations worldwide are shifting to an API-first development model, recognizing the power (and added value) in effectively leveraging APIs for their applications.

An API-first approach flips development schedules on their head, leading with the design and build of APIs before building the application itself.

This approach means prioritizing API design and collaborating cross-departmentally, gathering feedback from stakeholders before writing code or launching an application into production.

API-first is customer-centric, ensuring the focus is on meeting the needs of end users and organizations.

With Reward Comes Risk

Digital payments, turn-by-turn directions, pulling up a menu via QR code, sending an SMS to someone in your contact list, checking the weather - APIs power day-to-day operations, and we don’t even consider it.

In business, APIs are ubiquitous, transferring data, linking systems, powering logins, and generally helping organizations run at the speed of life.

Of course, this convenience has increased risk. The siren song of API amenities has also caught the attention of bad actors looking to profit through nefarious means.

A January 2022 survey showed that 41% of organizations experienced an API security incident in the previous year, and 63% of those included data breaches. 2022 numbers are still rolling in, and they’re expected to surpass previous figures.

Gartner predicts that API abuses will double by 2024, a stern message for those in charge of security strategies and budgets. With the cost of data breaches on the rise, organizations can’t afford to overlook API security - and cybercriminals have plenty of incentive to remain vigilant.

API Security Tactics

The numbers are staggering, but it’s not all doom and gloom. APIs are here to stay, and the enterprise security landscape needs to adjust to keep one step ahead of cunning criminals. A reported 73% of organizations lack confidence in responding to an API attack.

Organizations could stop most costly cyber breaches with the right API security tactics.

Authentication and Encryption

When it comes to security, authentication and encryption are paramount. The low-hanging fruit regarding data breaches is weak validation and transmission security.

As a foundational approach to API security, organizations should have a clear and enforceable authentication policy, including 2FA or MFA for all logins.

Encryption will keep sensitive information out of the wrong hands when transmitting data internally between applications or end users. API security strategy is only complete with these two elements firmly in place.

Rate Limiting and DDoS Protection

APIs are prime targets for bot attacks that can swiftly disable a website or application, causing organizations to lose credibility and customers. Rate limiting mitigates the risk of brute force or DDoS attacks by stopping bots before they take hold of traffic.

Effectively, rate limiting does exactly what it says: it limits the amount of traffic or requests an IP address can send within a specified timeframe. In the case of brute force attacks, rate limiting stops a bot from rapid-firing thousands of passwords to access a user account.

DDoS attacks appear when an IP address attempts to flood an API with repeated calls, causing the service to crash or rendering it unavailable to other users. Rate limiting stops these calls at the onset.

API Catalogs

You can’t protect what you can’t see. It’s not uncommon for an outdated catalog of APIs to be used within an organization. A robust security approach relies on fully understanding the environment and risk profile, including an up-to-date catalog of APIs and microservices.

Additionally, organizations must do themselves a favor by keeping APIs themselves up to date. Outdated APIs or software versions are clear targets for cybercriminals and may have security vulnerabilities that could be easily mitigated with a version or release update.

Risk-Aware Culture

End users are the moving target of organizations, as it only takes one human error to cost a business dearly. Supporting strong security policies and establishing a risk-aware culture helps to ensure a slip-up doesn’t land data in the wrong hands.

Cybersecurity should be a part of the organizational lexicon, starting at onboarding. Share with employees the risks and ways to prevent attacks and ensure they know where to report incidents should they arise.

There’s No Going Back

The enterprise technology landscape relies heavily on APIs and is more than a fad. Organizations must build robust security strategies that consider API risks to keep their network, data, and end users safe from attacks.