Are Your Web Applications Truly Secure?
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are critical in modern software development. APIs define rules and protocols that enable applications to communicate and share data with other systems. This communication enables developers to leverage the functionality of existing applications rather than recreating those functions and services from scratch. As a result, APIs accelerate software development and enable innovation, collaboration, and automation.
According to data from a 2024 survey by cybersecurity analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group, organizations are anticipating an explosion in web applications, web sites, and associated APIs in the next two years. Research respondents reported they support an average of 145 applications today and are expecting that number to grow to 201 within 24 months. Additionally, the same research shows that organizations with at least half of their applications using APIs will grow from 32% today to 80% within 24 months.
This explosive growth is creating a viable attack vector for cybercriminals and more challenges for security teams. Nearly half (46%) of respondents in the ESG research survey said that web application and API protection is more difficult than it was two years ago, citing environmental changes as one of the main challenges. This includes maintaining visibility and security of APIs, using cloud infrastructure, and securing cloud-native architectures.
Organizations are increasingly facing diverse attacks as cybercriminals employ various techniques to gain unauthorized access to API endpoints and expose or steal sensitive information. According to ESG’s recent report findings, the top threat vector being exploited is application and API attacks through lesser-known vulnerabilities, with 41% percent of organizations reporting such attacks.
Adopting Best Practices for API Security
To mitigate the complexities and challenges of today’s environment, more organizations recognize the importance of API security and are adopting best practices, including seeking assistance from third-party providers. In fact, according to ESG, 45% of organizations plan to work with managed service providers to manage web application and API protection tools. Application and API protection are quickly becoming a fundamental security control, because when left unprotected, APIs provide an easy way to gain unauthorized access to IT networks and disrupt business, steal data, or launch cyberattacks. By adopting security best practices, organizations can mitigate vulnerabilities and other exposures that attackers could potentially exploit and protect APIs from security threats like unauthorized access and data breaches.
Identifying Common Risks and Threats
To effectively safeguard your APIs, it is crucial to understand the common risks and threats that exist, including:
- Injection attacks
- Vulnerability exploits
- Authentication issues
- Broken access controls
- Distributed Denial of service (DDoS)
- Brute-force attacks
- API abuse
- Machine in the middle (MITM) attacks
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
Use Proactive Defense with Best Practices to Your APIs from Threats
Organizations and security teams should understand and implement API security best practices to prevent APIs from being attacked or abused.
Secure development
- Build API security standards and practices into every stage of API development to find vulnerabilities before APIs enter production.
- Incorporate automated security testing throughout the entire process and run a wide range of tests simulating malicious traffic.
- Implement strict input validation and sanitization to prevent injection attacks such as SQL injection and XSS.
- Inspect your API specifications against established governance policies and rules.
API discovery
- Locate and inventory all APIs regardless of configuration or type, with specialized capabilities for detecting difficult-to-find dormant, legacy, and zombie APIs. “Forty percent of organizations face the challenge maintaining visibility and security of APIs,” according to ESG.
Posture Management
- Assess APIs and infrastructure for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, evaluate your exposure to API attacks, and inspect contextual API data to find compliance gaps.
- Regularly scan infrastructure to uncover misconfigurations and hidden risks; create workflows to notify key stakeholders of vulnerabilities; identify which APIs and internal users can access sensitive data; assign severity rankings to prioritize remediation.
Authentication and Authorization
- Security teams should integrate with authentication providers for robust user authentication methods such as multi-factor authentication, OAuth 2.0, API keys, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), and evolve to a zero-trust approach to authenticating users, devices, and applications.
- Use role-based access control (RBAC) and least privilege principles to ensure that users have only the permissions they need.
Data Security
- Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt data transmitted between the client and server (this protects against MITM attacks and ensures data integrity). • Protect sensitive information stored in databases or file systems using strong encryption algorithms.
Runtime Protection
- Monitor API traffic to detect unusual patterns and potential security issues. Use logging to capture detailed information about API requests and responses. Review and analyze logs to identify security breaches, misconfigurations, and security vulnerabilities.
- Use signature-based threat detection and prevention for protection against known API attacks. Strengthen signature-based detection with AI and behavioral analytics to make API threat detection more robust.
- Integrate automation with existing workflows to alert security/operations teams of potential API security incidents. Prevent attacks and misuse in real-time with partial or fully automated remediation.
- Stay informed about the latest threats and vulnerabilities. The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) offers resources and a “OWASP API Security Top 10” list that provides details about the primary threats to API security.
Security Testing and Compliance
- Perform regular security testing, including pen testing and vulnerability scanning, to identify and address security risks.
- Follow guidelines outlined in the OWASP API Security Top 10 list, to protect against common security threats and vulnerabilities.
Configuration Management
- Protect API endpoints with appropriate security measures. Ensure that only authorized clients can access sensitive endpoints.
- Manage the lifecycle of APIs, including versioning, deprecation, and retirement, to maintain security and functionality.
Attack Surface Management
- Limit the number of exposed API endpoints to minimize the attack surface. Implement least privilege and ensure that only necessary services are accessible.
- Implement security headers such as Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance security.
- Perform continuous discovery of APIs to ensure all APIs are protected.
Auditing and Updating
- Schedule periodic audits by penetration testers to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
- Use automated scanning tools to uncover security issues.
Security Incident Handling
- Have an incident response plan in place to address security breaches and other security incidents. Ensure that your team is trained and ready to respond to potential attacks.
- Keep your APIs and back-end systems updated with the latest security patches to protect against known vulnerabilities.
Security Solution Deployment
- A comprehensive API security solution protects APIs throughout their entire lifecycle, from development to production.
- A solution designed to secure against today’s API security threats can discover your APIs (including unmanaged APIs), understand their risk posture, analyze their behavior, and stop threats from lurking inside. API security solutions should provide four key capabilities: API discovery, API posture management, API runtime security, and API security testing.
- Use web application firewalls (WAFs) to protect APIs from common threats and attacks.
- Tools like API gateways and management platforms help secure, manage, and monitor API traffic.
The LevelBlue Advantage
For organizations who are seeking guidance and support for managing application and API protection, a managed security services provider like LevelBlue can help to improve processes for detecting, responding to, and recovering from sophisticated attacks. Third-party support can help provide real-time insights into risks and exposures. With a partner, security teams can also offload the cost and effort of maintaining in-house security expertise and easily navigate complex regulatory requirements.
LevelBlue offers comprehensive Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) to safeguard organizations from cyber threats with industry-leading expertise and scalable solutions. We deliver broad cloud-based security, including Web Application Firewall (WAF), API protection, bot management, and DDoS mitigation, automated traffic management, real-time threat intelligence, and compliance support to safeguard your web applications and APIs, while securing your infrastructure and network ecosystem from cyberattacks without compromising user experience. With LevelBlue’s 24/7 protection, simplified management, and seamless integration of WAAP services, you will be better prepared to secure your organization against today’s most advanced threats.
To learn more about web application and API protection, download the Enterprise Strategy Group eBook “Web Application Projection Survey,” January 2025.
