What Is API Security and Why Does It Matter in Today’s Digital World?

In the age of interconnected applications and cloud-based services, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) have become the gatekeepers of software infrastructure.

They enable seamless data exchange between systems, applications, services, and devices, playing a vital role in the operation of almost every organization and industry today. Nevertheless, this convenience comes at a cost. Knowing what is API security is the key to protecting data, maintaining the integrity of systems, and preventing disasters.

The Growing Importance of API Security

APIs have gradually been repurposed to do anything that stands to be a valuable transaction — whether one needs them for carrying forward money transactions, working on healthcare-related data, establishing a conversation within a social-media-built platform, or operating across devices that are part of an IoT network. It’s a good way to utilize an API, but its misuse has begun to bring hurt upon them, too.

According to OWASP API Security Top 10, 2023, common hacks that researchers have typically noticed where APIs are there to be cracked have involved ones similar to exploiting a faulty authentication system, misconfigured endpoint, and poor practices of API monitoring. When you have an API in place, it inherently has a set of more unguarded endpoints left open for anyone who wants to test them. Hence, making the job easier for the attacker.

Defining API Security

What is API security exactly? In a broad sense, API security involves all the strategies, policies, and tools designed to prevent APIs from being compromised, misused, and attacked by unauthorized clients. It ensures that data passed between the server and users remains secure and intact so that the service can be consumed only by permitted clients.

Ultimately, proper API security includes a variety of layers of protection:

• Authentication & Authorization: Confirming the identity of users and ensuring they have the right to access and use particular resources.
• Encryption: Secure the data while it is being passed between the server and users and prevent the data from being tampered with.
• Rate Limiting & Throttling: Prevent attacks or abuse by limiting the number of requests users can make to a particular resource.
• Input Validation: Ensure only correctly formatted, structured, and authorized data is allowed to enter the system.

API Security Threats You Can’t Ignore

Some of the most common threats against APIs are:

• Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA): Exploiting object IDs to access data without permission.
• Injection Attacks: Embedding harmful code in API requests to exploit a system vulnerability.
• Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks: Intercepting data in transit between a client and server.
• Data Exposure: Information in transit that is not protected, revealing sensitive information.

Why It Matters More Than Ever

The move to microservices, mobile applications, and cloud means APIs are deeply embedded in every nook and cranny of a customer’s online experience. However, this exposure is also an area of risk, and if left unmanaged, could leave companies open to data exposure, loss of revenue, and potential fines for non-compliance.

Organizations that understand what API security is and take a holistic view of API risk can secure their most valuable digital assets and foster the innovation that comes with running an open and connected digital business.