What is API security?

API security refers to the measures and practices implemented to protect APIs from unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats. It involves implementing authentication, authorization, encryption, and other security mechanisms to safeguard APIs and the sensitive data they handle. It should also include monitoring and auditing API activity to detect and respond to any potential security incidents.

API data security: it's always been about the data

Because APIs serve as the interface between different software applications and systems, they can inadvertently offer up a backdoor to your most sensitive data. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of APIs so they can communicate and exchange data securely.

How to secure APIs

The largest attack vector in most organizations is unmanaged, unsecured APIs. These "Lost APIs" might lack updates, bug fixes, or security patches, posing potential risks to systems that continue to rely on them. They can also create compatibility issues and hinder the development of newer, more efficient solutions.

A critical step to securing APIs is having one central place to discover, subscribe to, and track usage for all APIs, regardless of what team built them, what vendor hosts them, or what security policies are in effect.

Understanding "Lost APIs"

Zombie API:

an API that is outdated, no longer supported, or has been deprecated but is still in use by some systems or applications.

Shadow API:

an API that is being used, but is neither known, secured with a gateway, cataloged, nor managed by the enterprise.

Legacy API:

an API that is officially deprecated or superseded by newer versions or alternative solutions, but still in use by some applications or systems.

On the blog: From Zombies to Legacy to Shadow APIs, it's time to remediate your lost APIs

API Talks: 5 simple but powerful practices to improve your API security today!

Knowing how to protect your most valuable assets can be the million-dollar difference. In a recent webinar, Axway’s Aleksandr Nartovich shared a cautionary tale on the importance of API security.Watch the webinar replay for 5 simple but powerful practices to improve your API security today.

API security best practices

Start with this API security checklist when designing a strategy to reap the benefits of APIs while keeping your data safe:

1. Encryption 2. Authentication 3. OAuth & OpenID Connect 4. Call security experts 5. Monitoring: audit, log, and version 6. Share as little as possible

7. System protection with throttling and quotas 8. Data validation 9. Infrastructure 10. OWASP Top 10 11. API firewalling 12. API gateway (API management)

Dive deeper into API security best practices with this blog.

API security tools

A solid API security strategy will require a combination of technology and processes. Not every person in an organization has the expertise to fully understand how APIs work, how to design them, and how to manage them securely. But today’s connected companies should have structures in place to ensure API design, management, and productization are properly done. The right tools make this strategy much easier. This Q&A video shows how an API marketplace can aid in strengthening your security posture.

Flyer: Unify cross-team API governance and security with Amplify Enterprise Marketplace

An example of API security in practice

Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) is Germany’s federal employment agency. BA’s 100,000 employees assist tens of thousands of people every day, and security needs to be watertight for this critical infrastructure provider. Axway’s Amplify Platform delivers rock-solid security for the APIs that empower businesses and citizens to access key services via the agency’s online and mobile channels.

“Our dedicated cyber security team now has a single point of control for API security. We use the solution to manage our external connections with web-based applications and defend our organization against up to five million cyberattacks per day.” - Walter Karl, Lead Architect, IT Department at Bundesagentur für Arbeit

Demo: Building your API Marketplace with Amplify APIM

Unmanaged APIs are your enterprise's biggest security risk. In this clip from a recent demo of Amplify Enterprise Marketplace, Arun Dorairajan, Senior Solution Architect at Axway, shows how the platform helps you by: - capturing all APIs across multiple patterns, deployments, and vendors - automating validation and securing of APIs - offering a single source of truth for all your digital assets