Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are rapidly becoming the bedrock of digital transformation. API traffic now accounts for over half (or 57%) of all dynamic Internet traffic, Cloudflare’s 2024 API Security & Management report says. Total API traffic grew steadily across the globe last year, the report adds. While it’s clear from trends that it’s an API-centric world, it’s equally well known that managing API security risks is a challenging task.

APIs will become the top attack vector, Gartner predicted in 2021. Salt Labs’ API Security Trends 2023 report struck a similar tone. It identified a significant increase in API attackers targeting its customer base. There was a 400% jump in the number of unique attackers targeting customer APIs during the end of 2022, the company’s report adds.

These trends only underscore the importance of handling API security risks, especially across all aspects of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Given how challenging it is to mitigate API security risks, it is crucial that secure API development forms a key component of ALM strategy and implementation.

In the rest of this article, we explore the significance of API security within the framework of ALM, briefly highlight key risks, and delve into best practices and measures for secure API development and API threat protection.

Why API security matters

ALM covers every single aspect of the process of software development – from inception and design to deployment, maintenance, and retirement. It’s important to mention here that APIs play a key role throughout the ALM process. Its APIs that aid in seamless integration between different software modules, services, and platforms, which explains its rising prominence.

However, their open and accessible nature end up exposing them to several risks, ranging from data breaches and injection attacks to broken authentication and denial of service (DoS) attacks. As is evident from examples of API data breaches, they can also end up posing a legal, financial, and reputational threat to enterprises.

APIs are complex to secure and require more than just the typical security measures to safeguard web applications. Enterprises should ensure unique API threat protection infrastructures are built into every stage of the ALM process. Any API endpoint can end up becoming a potential entry point for malicious actors and needs to be protected. Microservice architectures, internal APIs, and an inadequate API inventory are all factors that could add to API security risks.

The cross-functional nature of various teams that are involved in the process of developing and securing APIs means that there is room for inadequate or a total lack of communication. For instance, if developer teams do not pass on all required information to security teams on API endpoints, it can make it extremely challenging for the security teams to safeguard those endpoints and, thus, hinder API threat protection.

This is why it’s important to build API security into the heart of any enterprise’s ALM process. Secure API development should be a priority through the entire ALM process, and all teams and departments dealing with APIs must be part of the strategy and implementation. API security is of utmost importance, therefore, when it comes to protecting the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of digital assets throughout the ALM process.

Key risks and vulnerabilities

Before looking at best practices to enhance API security, it’s essential to recognize the inherent risks and vulnerabilities associated with it. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) publishes a list of the Top 10 API Security Risks each year. Based on the OWASP list and other data, here are a few key risks and vulnerabilities when it comes to API security during the ALM process:

1. Authentication risks: Before making API requests, clients must authenticate it. This is done so that there is little room for potentially unknown or illegal sources. However, authentication-based risks can occur when weak mechanisms or improper session management result in unauthorized users gaining access to sensitive data or performing unauthorized actions within the application.
2. Injection attacks and vulnerabilities: An injection attack is one where a malicious actor or attacker sends data that specifically targets a flaw in the way an API has been built through the ALM process. These flaws, or vulnerabilities, can be exploited by attackers for their own gain to inject malicious code or commands into API requests, potentially leading to data breachers or compromised systems.
3. Encryption risks: If strong API security measures are not built into every stage of ALM, including encryption layers, it can become another flaw or vulnerability that attackers can exploit. Poor encryption practices or a total failure to encrypt data can lead to interception and eavesdropping, and ends up compromising confidentiality and integrity.
4. Inefficient endpoint and inventory management: Given the widespread usage of APIs, they tend to expose more endpoints than traditional web applications. Flaws or gaps in the security at those IoT device endpoints could also lead to API security risks.
5. Authorization risks: The OWASP 2023 list states – “Complex access control policies with different hierarchies, groups, and roles, and an unclear separation between administrative and regular functions, tend to lead to authorization flaws.” This, once again, underscores how important it is to place secure API development at the core of your ALM process.
6. DoS and DDoS attacks: Sometimes, malicious actors will overload API endpoints with requests just to disrupt the availability of that service in a denial-of-service (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. When this happens, it can either slow down or stop services to other clients, resulting in downtime and loss of business productivity.

Best API security practices and measures

To mitigate the risks mentioned above and enhance API security within ALM, organizations should implement robust security measures. Some best practices to consider when it comes to API security and API threat protection include:

• API gateway and firewall: API gateways and firewalls are basic features that any enterprise’s security toolkit should have. Efficient gateways allow users to enforce security policies, monitor API traffic, and protect against malicious activities such as scraping, bot attacks, and Structured Query Language or SQL injection attacks.
• Authentication and authorization: It’s good practice to implement strong authentication mechanisms, like OAuth 2.0 or JSON Web Tokens (JWT), to verify the identity of an API client and enforce access control policies based on roles and permissions. To create more robust security, organizations would do well to integrate their authentication and authorization measures through the ALM process.
• API monitoring and inventory management: Companies should implement continuous monitoring and logging of API activity. This must be done to detect and investigate security incidents, track access patterns, and generate audit trails. At the same time, maintaining and updating API inventory and having an efficient API inventory management in place is a must.
• Encryption and transport security: Another good security practice is to encrypt sensitive data in transit using secure protocols such as HTTPS/TLS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure/Transport Layer Security) to prevent interception and tampering by unauthorized parties.
• Rate limiting and throttling: Rate limiting and throttling are practices used to create caps on how often an API is called. This is done to mitigate the impact of DoS/DDoS attacks by limiting the number of requests per client or per IP address.
• Detecting vulnerabilities and security testing: Conducting regular security assessments and other tests to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities should be a key security component through the ALM process. Using machine learning and behavioural analysis techniques to identify malicious activity or security breaches could further beef up API threat protection measures.
• API documentation and education: It is imperative to make sure all teams involved in working with APIs are given adequate information, documentation, and training about it. Resources should contain information on best security practices, threat mitigation techniques, and secure API development guidelines.
• Incident response and remediation: Finally, being prepared to handle incidents – from response to remediation – is as important as prevention. Establish procedures and workflows to promptly address potential incidents, stem any impact, and restore normalcy with minimal disruption.

There’s no doubt APIs play a significant role today; one that can directly impact business outcomes at enterprises. It’s only imperative, then, for organizations to ensure that robust and dynamic API security and API threat protection measures are a part of every stage in the ALM process.