WHAT IS AN API?
API stands for Application Programming Interface and is an intermediary software which allows two applications to talk to each other. It is a set of functions and protocols for the creation of applications that access data and services of other applications without having to know how they are implemented. API is a powerful technology capable of giving developer the flexibility and simplify design for greater innovations. API are the connective network that link modern day digital environment.
WHY DO WE NEED API?
API is a digital gateway that provides and share access to organization data and this data can be included by any external or internal application without having to access the main database. Restrictions can be implemented by the API provider on how much data the user can access. The rapid adoption of API in organizations by developers in integrating new application components into an existing architecture assists different departments in the organization to collaborate more effectively. Every major technology company like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox etc are giving away insights into their platform and codes by implementing the technology of API.
IMPORTANCE OF API
With the focus of modern application, API can be a vital component in integrating a data flow with consumers and clients system. API are now the main driving factor for any business growth. They simply act as a bridge between business and technology and pave new pathways for growth and innovation. Organization who recognize the significance of API development can improve its efficiency and reduce the cost of expenses. API provide multiple industries with improvement in agility, speed, accuracy and consistency. For smooth business process integration across application and other types of business technology, organization continue to recognize the potential of integrating application data flow via API.
API has become the foundational tools by which organizations are producing applications and services for internal and external used.
WHY API SECURITY MATTERS?
APIs are everywhere, from the smallest application to the biggest service in an organization. The main purpose of API is to connect services and transfer data. They are a ripe target for malicious attacks due to the massive data they processed. Broken, exposed or poorly coded API are the major factors that leads to critical API data breaches. This leads to loss in millions of revenue to the organization and needless to say the consumer?s trust as well.
API security includes API access control and privacy, as well as the detection and remediation of API attacks through the exploitation of API vulnerabilities. API has become the new and most important layer on the internet and are one of the most vulnerable point in a system. One of the common issue in API attack is because of improper configuration of access permission. Due to the weak configuration, attackers find a way to bypass authenticated user permissions and access sensitive data. Every data is not of the same level of priority so the protection of API should also be implemented as per the data they handled and transferred.
FUTURE OF API PENETRATION TESTING
API adds new dimensions to security threats and attack vectors to corporate application and data, therefore critically exposing the business system. With recent advancement in technology, the ability to gain access to confidential data through API has become more easier. According to some security researchers, API attacks are predicted to be one of the most common attack vectors by 2023.Salt Security conducted an API security related survey wherein almost 91% of the Organization in the survey suffered an API related issue during 2020. For instance in 2019,a security researcher found a critical API vulnerability and reported it to Indian company called Indane which could expose thousands of customers confidential data like Aadhar card information. In India, according to Indian Computer Response Team (Cert-in), over 313,000 cybersecurity incidents were reported in the year 2019 alone.
To understand the security of an Organization?s API , it is advised to conduct API penetration testing to assess potential vulnerabilities and implement a proper remediation measures for it. Although traditional security features for API are provided through API gateways, attackers always find a way around it. During API penetration testing API functions and methods are tested to see how they could be abused in any way. Authentication and authorization bypass are also tested to see if an attackers can evade the already implemented protection. Different types of API like REST, SOAP, RPC are tested using different techniques, methods and API penetration testing tools. Various automation process, used of API Penetration Testing Tools like Burpsuite, Metasploit, Fiddler, Astra, crAPI etc and different manual methods are perform during the penetration testing process.
In this era of digital business, organization across the world are competing each other to utilize the best used of existing technologies to further increase their profit. Due to the wide area of adoption of API across multiple organizations and millions of applications, it is expected for many organizations to consider more deeply of how secure their organization?s API environment is. API security is a growing concern among security professionals as the impact of API attacks can be massive and recovering from it is not easy for any organization. Attackers are taking full advantages of API and current strategies and technologies are not providing sufficient protection for it.
SUMMARY
Unsecure API can put your whole organization at risks. API Penetration Testing requires a specific skill sets and not just any penetration tester can perform this test. Our team of expertise at Walnut Security Services will go through your API in details to analyze the ways an attackers could leverage and exploit the vulnerabilities. Our teams are highly trusted by our clients and have perform various levels of API penetration testing across different organizations
