Application programming interfaces (APIs) have become a prime concern for chief information security officers (CISOs). The global API security market predicted is anticipated to reach a value of $3,038 million by 2028. Businesses have deployed APIs to integrate applications, systems, and services to ensure smooth business processes and boost operational efficiencies.

As APIs grow more critical for business operations, they expand the attack surface and remain one of the most vulnerable components of the modern IT environment. If APIs are not properly secured, malicious actors can expose sensitive data and exploit vulnerabilities, resulting in significant API-related breaches and, not to mention, loss of customer trust and reputational damage.

Imperva reports that 68% of organizations experienced an API security breach that cost over $1 million. For CISOs, ensuring an API’s availability, confidentiality, and integrity has become a pivotal concern in protecting their organization’s assets and maintaining resilience. However, CISOs must first be aware of the challenges that API poses and then enforce robust security measures to guarantee API protection.

Top API Security Challenges for 2024

While APIs form the backbone of digital growth and innovation, securing them is increasingly complex yet vital. In 2024, CISOs face a range of security challenges targeting APIs. Here’s what you need to know about them.

Threat of API Attacks

API security breaches have skyrocketed because of the exponential growth in API usage. A report by Akamai reveals that 29% of web attacks targeted APIs from January 2023 to December 2023. This shows that APIs are a prime focus area for cybercriminals. One prime example of an API data breach was the LinkedIn data leak in 2021. After tricking the company’s API, the hacker scraped data from 700 million LinkedIn users and later sold the information online.

In another event last year, an exposed Trello API flaw allowed linking of private email addresses with Trello accounts. Later, the threat actor attempted to sell the data of 15 million account users on a hacking forum. When API attacks are successful, they can leak vast amounts of customers’ or employees’ data and intellectual property and impact the company financially and reputationally.

API Sprawl

Organizations today have numerous rogue or zombie APIs that are no longer monitored or maintained but remain accessible in a system. When organizations shift to the cloud or teams develop and deploy services, APIs often multiply without adequate documentation, leading to insecure API sprawl. Poorly managed or undiscovered APIs can cause the most damage to an organization’s security. They expand the attack surface and might provide access to applications and sensitive data, leading to excessive data exposure and exfiltration.

Integration of Third-Party Applications

Statistics reveal that over 80% of businesses leverage at least one SaaS application in their operations, while 88% use cloud services in one form or another. The problem is that using various third-party services expands the attack surface and the likelihood of unauthorized access attempts.

A significant problem with third-party SaaS applications is that they rely on various APIs to deliver their core functions. Each API may have potential vulnerabilities, such as a lack of data encryption or proper role-based access control mechanisms. Hackers can exploit these flaws to access or temper sensitive data, disrupt services, or conduct attacks against other systems linked with the SaaS platform.

Emergence of Generative AI

Another area that affected API security over a year is the emergence of generative AI models such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Scribe, and AlphaCode. Gartner reports that half of the 1400+ organizations they surveyed between March and April 2023 have increased their investment in Generative AI.

Companies leverage these AI platforms for several reasons, such as content creation, software development, customer support, personalization and user experience, and risk management. However, on the flip side, attackers can exploit AI models for potential vulnerabilities, increasing the urge for a secure API protection strategy.

API attackers can use generative AI to recognize and crack API credentials and keys through phishing or spoofing tactics. This way, they can get unauthorized access to APIs, steal data, and launch targeted attacks. They could also use AI capabilities to create malware or malicious tools to bypass traditional security controls and risk business data.

Lack of Experience In API Development

Another potential security risk is the lack of individuals with expertise in API development. The Postman 2023 State of the API Report reveals that 38% of API developers have less than two years of experience developing APIs. Inexperienced API developers increase the likelihood of exploitable flaws, vulnerabilities, poor performance, and integration issues, which could undermine the organization’s security posture.

What Measures Should CISOs Take?

API security attacks can cause a chief information security officer (CISO) to lose their job. A CISO must adopt a comprehensive strategy involving procedural, technical, and educational measures to avoid such a situation.

As organizations struggle to manage the chaos of API sprawl, implementing an API governance strategy is the best way to control this issue. API governance begins with keeping an inventory of all internal, external, and third-party APIs, which helps identify and remove zombie APIs. It should also create policies for monitoring, control, and version control.

Integrating static application security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST) tools is a part of API governance, which monitors and tests API vulnerabilities throughout the API lifecycle. While SAST scans the source code for early detection of issues, DAST analyzes running APIs and traces them back to their origins in the software design. Together, these API security testing tools provide comprehensive insights into safeguarding the API environment.

As mentioned above, third-party SaaS app integrations can introduce security risks to your APIs. Evaluate the vendors’ reputations before integrating them with the APIs. Also, ensure that these apps follow industry-standard security protocols and SaaS security best practices like authentication and authorization mechanisms to prevent risks.

Updating and patching your API infrastructure also helps safeguard against unknown vulnerabilities and security misconfigurations. Keep track of security advisories as well as updates from vendors and apply patches promptly to the API components.

As the dynamic nature of APIs makes traditional perimeter defenses insufficient to provide protection, emphasizing the use of more advanced API security solutions is crucial. Various specialized API vendors offer effective solutions equipped with access control, encryption, threat detection, and real-time monitoring tools for identifying vulnerabilities and maintaining access control. CISOs should leverage such solutions to mitigate API-related breaches and assure a secure API architecture.

Moreover, there is an education gap regarding API development and security. Providing adequate API training to developers helps mitigate the risks posed by a lack of API expertise. The training must cover best practices for authentication, authorization, coding, threat mitigation, and even managing issues like API sprawl. By understanding common security misconfigurations and vulnerabilities and ways to address them, developers can build secure APIs.

Providing regular training sessions, workshops, and resources also allows API developers to leverage generative AI technologies effectively and enables them to prevent the risks they pose.

Final Words

APIs have become vital to modern software development as they enable digital transformation and innovation. However, because APIs are customizable and deal with sensitive data, they are the prime targets of hackers. As API security threats will continue to increase at an alarming rate in 2024, protecting them is now not just a need but a necessity that every CISO must master. By adopting API security best practices, CISOs can safeguard their APIs from the myriad of threats that jeopardize their data integrity.