API security tools are software designed to protect application programming interfaces (APIs) from various security threats. These tools help enforce security policies, detect and mitigate attacks such as SQL injection, and ensure secure data transfer between systems. API security is critical in today's interconnected software environment, where APIs serve as the primary method for system integration and data exchange.
These tools offer a range of features including authentication, authorization, traffic management, and encryption. By monitoring API traffic, security tools can identify and block malicious activities, ensuring that only legitimate users and applications have access to sensitive functions and data. This is essential in preventing data breaches and maintaining system integrity.
Authentication verifies the identity of a user or system using an API, typically through credentials like tokens. This security layer ensures that only authenticated users can access an API. After authentication, authorization determines the user's permissions, limiting access to various parts of the API based on roles or policies. This prevents unauthorized access to sensitive data and functions within the system.
Implementing effective authentication and authorization protocols is fundamental to API security. Modern API security solutions usually support various authentication methods such as OAuth, API keys, and JWTs, providing robust security by aligning with the latest standards and practices.
Rate limiting controls the number of API requests a user or service can make within a specific timeframe, while throttling adjusts the speed of incoming requests. These features protect APIs from overload, ensuring the API’s availability and performance remain stable even under high traffic conditions. This is particularly important to mitigate denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, where attackers attempt to flood the API with an excessive amount of requests.
Throttling and rate limiting both serve as practical approaches to manage and distribute server resources efficiently. By limiting how often users can call an API, these mechanisms help maintain service quality and prevent abuse, ensuring that all users receive fair access to the API.
Logging involves recording API usage data, while monitoring is the continuous review of this data to identify unusual or harmful activities. Effective logging and monitoring can provide comprehensive visibility into API performance and security, identifying potential security incidents as they happen. This allows organizations to respond promptly to threats, minimizing potential damage.
Logs typically include details about API requests such as the source, destination, and payload. Monitoring these logs helps in diagnosing issues, performing audits, and understanding user behavior. Together, logging and monitoring form a critical part of API security, enabling proactive management and security assurance.
Vulnerability testing involves probing an API for security weaknesses, while security assessments evaluate the overall security posture of an API setup. Regular testing and assessments ensure that APIs remain secure against evolving threats.
Automated tools can perform vulnerability testing, simulating attacks and reporting potential weaknesses. Security assessments might involve manual review and comparison against security best practices. Both activities are fundamental in maintaining robust API security frameworks and safeguarding data.
An API gateway acts as a managing point in the API ecosystem, facilitating secure and efficient interactions between clients and services. It provides a single entry point for all API traffic, incorporating security, routing, and other management functions. The gateway can enforce SSL/TLS encryption, authenticate requests, and apply policies uniformly, enhancing security across all services.
Besides security, API gateways optimize service delivery by handling request routing, load balancing, and caching. This not only improves security but also enhances the performance and scalability of API services. An API gateway simplifies API management and is a key component of modern API architecture.
Related content: Read our guide to API discovery.
Discover how your web app security compares. Learn about average testing frequency, the prevalence of web application security incidents and breaches, and the increasing adoption of automation to improve testing efficiency.
Source: Google Apigee Sense
Google Apigee Sense is an API security tool that leverages intelligent behavior detection to safeguard APIs against various threats, including bot attacks. It uses machine learning algorithms to analyze API metadata, identifying and responding to anomalies in real time. This tool enhances API security with comprehensive monitoring and automatic threat mitigation.
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Source: StackHawk
StackHawk is an API security testing platform tailored for applications built on microservices and APIs. It automates security testing across all types of APIs including gRPC, GraphQL, REST, and SOAP, ensuring comprehensive coverage and early detection of vulnerabilities. Designed to integrate seamlessly with CI/CD workflows, StackHawk empowers developers to address security issues before they reach production.
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Source: 42Crunch API Security Platform
42Crunch offers a suite of tools that improve API security using a developer-first approach. This platform automates API security compliance across diverse development and security landscapes, especially suited for complex, distributed environments. It supports standardized security practices from API design to deployment.
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Source: IBM API Connect
IBM API Connect is an API management solution designed to support the full lifecycle of API creation, deployment, and management. It enables the consistent creation, management, and monetization of APIs across various environments, including on-premises and multi-cloud setups. IBM API Connect is available as both a self-managed service and a fully managed service on AWS.
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Source: Wallarm API Security
Wallarm API Security is a robust solution designed to protect APIs by identifying, blocking, and responding to threats in real-time across entire API portfolios, including cloud-native and legacy applications. It supports a full spectrum of security actions from discovery to response, and integrates seamlessly into continuous integration and deployment pipelines, making it an essential tool for securing APIs in modern IT environments.
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Source: SALT API Protection Platform
The Salt Security API Protection Platform offers a comprehensive security solution designed to protect APIs throughout their entire lifecycle. Leveraging AI/ML and a scalable API data lake, the platform provides deep visibility into API traffic across all application environments, identifying vulnerabilities, and stopping attacks with actionable remediation insights. The platform requires no changes to existing applications and has no impact on application performance.
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Source: Imperva API Security
Imperva API Security provides continuous protection for all types of APIs—public, private, and shadow—through deep discovery and classification of sensitive data. The platform ensures security teams can keep pace with API development and prevent data leakage and API abuse.
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Source: Orca API Security
Orca API Security offers an agentless solution for API security in cloud environments. It provides full visibility and control over API inventories without the need for agents or network modifications, ensuring a low total cost of ownership and eliminating common blind spots of API security solutions.
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Source: Data Theorem
Data Theorem API Secure is a comprehensive, automated security service that focuses on continuous monitoring and protection of APIs in modern cloud environments. The platform is designed to discover all APIs, including shadow APIs, and efficiently handle security testing, real-time protection, and auto-remediation of critical issues.
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Rob Gurzeev, CEO and Co-Founder of CyCognito, has led the development of offensive security solutions for both the private sector and intelligence agencies.
In my experience, here are tips that can help you better enhance your API security strategy:
Here are some of the key considerations for selecting an API security solution:
CyCognito is an exposure management platform that reduces risk by discovering, testing and prioritizing security issues. The platform scans billions of websites, cloud applications and APIs and uses advanced AI to identify the most critical risks and guide remediation.
Emerging companies, government agencies and Fortune 500 organizations rely on CyCognito to secure and protect from growing threats.
Discover how your web app security compares. Learn about average testing frequency, the prevalence of web application security incidents and breaches, and the increasing adoption of automation to improve testing efficiency.