API Security | Mar 29, 2024 | 8 min read | By Rahul Khinchi | Reviewed by David Blažević
Rahul Khinchi is a Developer Advocate at Treblle, where he focuses on improving API workflows and developer experience. He writes technical content on API observability, security, and governance, and builds open-source tools to demonstrate real-world API use cases. Rahul has spoken at developer meetups and universities, and previously held developer advocacy roles at Syncloop. He was selected for Google Summer of Code in 2022 and has led community initiatives supporting thousands of beginners in open source.
Last year breaches involving big names like T-Mobile and Honda have thrown this topic into sharp focus, and rightfully so.
Insecure APIs can expose sensitive customer data, leading to a nightmare of identity theft, phishing attacks, and reputational damage for your company.
Last year, we wrote that API Security is a top concern for businesses and organizations.
It seems like that behind the scenes there lies a dark and overlooked aspect of API Security.
Protect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleProtect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleT-Mobile disclosed two data breaches in 2023, affecting millions of customers. The first breach, disclosed on January 19, 2023, impacted 37 million customers, while the second breach, disclosed on June 23, 2023, affected 836 customers.
Security researcher Eaton Zveare discovered two vulnerabilities in Honda's e-commerce platform for power equipment, marine, lawn & garden, which allowed unauthorized access to customer data and admin panels.
These incidents highlight the critical need for robust API security measures, proactive adoption of best practices, and timely response to security vulnerabilities to protect customer data and maintain a safe and trusted environment.
The incidents involving T-Mobile and Honda underscore the critical importance of API security. Businesses and developers must prioritize the security of their APIs to safeguard sensitive customer data. To delve deeper into the intricacies of API security, our article on the untold secrets of API security goes into detailed exploration.
Insecure APIs pose significant risks, including data breaches, financial loss, reputational damage, and legal implications, highlighting the urgent need for robust API security measures.
Here's why you should prioritize API security:
document every API
in your ecosystem to gain a thorough understanding of the API landscape.tokens
and certificates
, for access, thereby mitigating unauthorized access and potential breaches.injection attacks
and other vulnerabilities, enhancing the overall security posture of your APIs.HTTPS
to encrypt all API traffic
, safeguarding sensitive information from unauthorized access.regular penetration testing
and security audits
to identify and address weaknesses in APIs, thereby ensuring proactive mitigation of potential vulnerabilities.monitoring
of API activity to track access patterns and detect anomalies that might indicate potential breaches, allowing for timely intervention and response to security threats.Protect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleProtect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleTo improve API security, businesses and developers should implement robust security measures such as API authentication
, encryption
, and access control
.These measures help prevent unauthorized access and protect sensitive data from potential breaches.
Here are some key practices to fortify your API security:
Customer data is a valuable asset, and breaches due to insecure APIs can severely impact trust. A breach shakes that trust, potentially leading to customer churn and long-term damage to the business's reputation.
Data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA carry substantial legal and financial consequences. Breaches resulting from insecure APIs can lead to hefty fines and reputational damage, making compliance a crucial aspect of API security.
Insecure APIs are a prime target for attackers, posing a significant risk of exposing vast amounts of customer data, as evidenced by the breaches at T-Mobile and Honda.
Treblle's API security solution provides a comprehensive shield for your APIs, safeguarding them from a wide range of threats.
Protect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleProtect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleThese checks identify vulnerabilities
and categorize the request's threat level as low, medium, or high
.
SQL injection
patterns.own network as well as 3rd party
services to check the reputation of your user's IP address.automatically detect
all forms of authorization on every API request and check to make sure it's being used properly.automatically detects
whether or not the requests your end customers are making are using HTTPs instead of HTTP.x-rate limit-*
headers in the response payload to see if you correctly use rate limiting.Content-Type
header exists and if its value is set to application/json
.X-Content-Type-Options
header exists and if its value is set to nosniff
.strict-transport-security
header in your API responses.X-Frame-Options
header exists and its value is set to deny
.Content-Security-Policy
header defined.Accept
header exists and if its value is set to application/json
.Allow
header exists.Core 15 Checks: Treblle automatically analyzes every single API request against 15 critical security checks.
API Traffic Spike Analysis: Treblle can evaluate the threat potential of sudden increases in API traffic volume. This helps identify potential denial-of-service attacks or other suspicious activity.
Treblle's API security solution caters to a wide range of industries and use cases:
By leveraging Treblle's automated security checks, real-time threat detection, and zero-trust approach, organizations across all sectors can significantly strengthen their API security posture and prevent data breaches like those experienced by T-Mobile and Honda.
Protect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleProtect your APIs from threats with real-time security checks.
Treblle scans every request and alerts you to potential risks.
Explore TreblleAPI keys are a simple and widely used authentication method, but they’re often misunderstood. This guide breaks down what API keys are, when to use them, when not to, and how to secure them with best practices and real-world examples.
Shadow APIs are endpoints no one remembers adding. They quietly handle traffic, increase risk, and often go unnoticed. In this article, we explore how they appear, why they matter, and how different tools including Treblle help detect and understand them before trouble starts.
Shadow APIs and Zombie APIs both pose security risks, but they aren’t the same. This article breaks down the key differences, risks, and how to detect both before they become a breach vector.