API Data leakage prevention is a crucial aspect of API security. It is aimed at protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access, exposure or misuse. APIs open nature and complexity can be vulnerable to data exploitation by cyber attackers. Recently, Around 60% of companies experienced a data leakage with many incidents linked to API security flaws, which is quite alarming. But there are several efficient security strategies to prevent them.

This blog explores what is API Data leakage and provides actionable strategies for security teams to prevent API Data leaks. Let’s get started.

What is API Data Leakage?

API Data Leakage occurs when sensitive or confidential data like user credentials, personal data, or other critical information related to business is accidently exposed from an API. This usually happens because of misconfigurations, insufficient access controls or gaps in API design. Such attacks could lead to high risk consequences for security teams. To mitigate such threats, and protect API Data from malicious attacks, security teams should implement strong security measures from a reliable and trusted API security platform.

Common Causes of API Data Leakage

API data is more prone to data leaks due to several factors. Understanding the root cause of API data leaks are crucial for incorporating effective prevention measures. Here’s a breakdown of some of the common causes.

Broken Access Control

Broken access control occurs when APIs fail to implement strict access restrictions, that lets unauthorized users to access sensitive data. As a result of this access, cyber attackers can retrieve these information, view, manipulate or modify it without permission.

Weak Authentication and Authorization

Weak or absent authentication functions often allow cyber attackers to interact with APIs without any valid credentials. This lapse in authentication can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data. Especially, if the APIs fails to verify user identities before providing access.

Outdated Encryption

Using the outdated or expired encryption protocols or transmitting the data without any effective encryption exposes it to interception. This makes attackers decrypt the poorly secured data which leads to security breaches and unauthorized access.

Improper CORS Configuration

Misconfigured Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) settings could enable unauthorized domains to access the API resources. Due to this, cyber attackers may exploit and perform CSRF attacks and retrieve the sensitive data.

Poor API Key Management

API keys must be secured, but embedding them in the applications or storing them in public repositories could make them easy targets for cyber attackers. Inefficient key rotation strategies further increases the risk of unauthorized access.

Strategies to Prevent API Data Leaks

Efficient and effective strategies that address various types of vulnerabilities and threats specific to API data leakage must be adopted by security teams. Here is a breakdown of some of the strategies to effectively prevent API Data leaks.

Implement Fine-Grained Access

Beyond the standard authentication and authorization controls controls, security teams must employ attribute-based access control (ABAC). This helps to define policies that consider user roles. resource types and context. It provides assurance that only authorized entities can access the specific API endpoints which minimizes the risk of data exposure.

Protect Against Business Logic Attacks

Cyber attackers could exploit legitimate API functions to manipulate business processes. To prevent such practice, security teams must conduct thorough reviews of API workflows to identify and rectify all the logic flaws. This approach ensures APIs handle unexpected sequences or inputs effectively.

Secure API Key Management

Security teams must manage the key securely using the encrypted storage solutions and restrict access with granular permissions. Rotate API keys regularly and monitor their usage to detect any suspicious activities. Also, disable API keys that are no longer in use, at the earliest to prevent vulnerabilities.

Detect Sensitive Data

Incorporate tools like AWS Glue that uses AI and automation to identify PII in structured and unstructured data. These tools use patterns and machine learning to classify sensitive data and also comply with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. And also, implement regular detection to protect sensitive data from threats.

Enable Data Encryption

Enable protocols like Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security to encrypt the data in transit. This ensures that sensitive data remains confidential throughout the transmission. Apart from this, encrypt data at rest to protect it from unauthorized access.

Use Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Tools

Utilize DLP Solutions to monitor the flow of sensitive data through API’s. These tools can help in detecting unauthorized data transmissions and implement policies and procedures to prevent the data leakage.

Final Thoughts

Security teams must strengthen their defenses against API data leaks and protect sensitive data from emerging threats by using a powerful and comprehensive API Security platform.

Akto sensitive data detection features are integral to prevent API data leaks. By instantly and automatically identifying sensitive data such as financial details, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and authentication tokens within the API’s, Akto lets security teams to pinpoint potential threats and vulnerabilities that would result in data breaches. This proactive approach in identification is an important step in preventing risks that are associated with unintentional data exposure.

Apart from this, Akto’s extensive library of over 100 data types, along with the ability to define custom data patterns ensures extensive monitoring that is exclusively tailored to specific security team’s data protection requirements.

By availing Akto’s comprehensive API security solutions, security teams can effectively strengthen their API security strategies.

So, are you ready to experience the advantages of sensitive data detection features.? Get in touch with Akto API security experts and Book a demo today!