API protection includes protecting application programming interfaces from threats that exploit vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or insufficient security controls. APIs allow easy communication between systems, services, and third-party connections. They are used by many organizations which makes them an easy target for risks like unauthorized access, data theft, and API abuse. A good API protection approach reduces these risks by using strong authentication, encryption, rate restriction, and continuous monitoring, ensuring that APIs are secure against emerging cyber threats.

This blog will discuss API protection and its importance. Learn more about components of API protection and API protection best practices.

What is API Protection?

API protection means the use of security measures to protect application programming interfaces from threats, unauthorized access, and data breaches. APIs are an important part of modern digital environments that allow communication between apps and services. However, their visibility to other users and systems makes them an easy target for attackers.

Effective API protection includes applying authentication and authorization limitations, encrypting data, preventing abuse with rate limiting, verifying inputs to prevent injection attacks, and continuously monitoring suspicious activities. API security allows organizations to prevent unauthorized access, protect sensitive data, ensure compliance with security standards, and keep their services available and unaffected.

Importance of API Protection

APIs are a prime target for attacks so protecting sensitive data, maintaining system availability, and complying with security standards needs API security. Here are a few reasons why API security is important:

Prevents Unauthorized Access

Strong authentication and permissions make sure that only authorized users have access to APIs. Implement OAuth 2.0, JWT, and API keys to check credentials and set access controls. RBAC and ABAC also allow giving only a few permissions and lower the risk of giving extra permissions.

Protects Sensitive Data

APIs help to protect private data, like personal details, transaction details, and business information. Encrypting data while transferring and at rest will help to protect it from theft and illegal use. The secure API design will ensure that private data is not exposed in answers or error messages.

Reduces API Abuse and Exploits

APIs are often targeted for exploitation by attackers. They use them for credential stuffing, scraping, and denial-of-service attacks. Rate limitation, throttling, and bot detection methods will help to prevent too many API calls and automated exploitation.

Ensures Regulatory Compliance

Organizations have to follow various rules, like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS to protect their data. API protection helps to meet these standards by enabling encryption, access controls, and activity logging. Proper security rules help to prevent data breaches, which can lead to legal penalties, fines, and damage the reputation.

Enhances Security Posture

APIs provide access to an organization's backend systems, databases, and important applications. If APIs are not properly secured, attackers can use vulnerabilities to get access to internal infrastructure. Using API security best practices will improve an organization's security posture.

Key Components of API Protection

API protection includes various security measures to prevent attacks, unauthorized access, and data breaches. Here are some components used for API protection:

Authentication and Authorization

Strong authentication ensures that only trusted users and systems use APIs. OAuth, JWT, and API keys allow to verify users and prevent unauthorized access. Authorization procedures ensure that users can only have access to the resources they need. Role-based access control (RBAC) and attribute-based access control (ABAC) help to improve security by giving strict permissions. Secure session management and token expiration policies limit the possibility of session hijacking and unauthorized reuse.

Data Security & Encryption

Source: https://www.lmgsecurity.com/data-encryption-best-practices/

APIs handle sensitive data, so encryption is essential for securing information in transit and at rest. TLS (Transport Layer Security) ensures safe data exchange between clients and servers, preventing theft and man-in-the-middle attacks. Protect data with strong algorithms, like AES-256 even when the data is stolen. Check that API responses do not expose private data, like error messages. Use data masking and tokenization for more protection against data leakage.

Rate Limiting and Attack Prevention

Rate limiting helps to control too many API requests to prevent denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, API abuse, and automated bot exploitation. Throttling strategies restrict the number of requests per user or IP address over a particular time for a fair allocation of resources. API gateways use rate restrictions to detect irregularities in request patterns that indicate a possible misuse. Quotas help to avoid a shortage of resources and ensure that APIs are available to genuine users. Implementing CAPTCHA or bot detection technologies reduces automated attacks and credential-stuffing attempts.

Input Validation & Threat Prevention

Checking and sanitizing user inputs protects against common API attacks like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and remote code execution. Strict input validation ensures that APIs only accept properly structured data and lowers the risk of attack. Allowlists for acceptable inputs and rejecting unusual parameters will help prevent attackers from overloading systems. Enforcing API schema validation ensures that requests follow predefined formats, preventing misconfiguration. Logging and analyzing failed input attempts helps in finding attack patterns and improving security measures.

Security Monitoring & Logging

Continuous API monitoring helps to detect suspicious behavior, unauthorized access attempts, and possible security risks. Implementing centralized logging systems records API requests and responses for forensic investigation. Security engineers should connect API logs to SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) systems to detect irregularities and receive notifications. Monitoring API performance can help identify signs of compromise, like unusual increases in traffic or repeated authentication failures. Automated threat detection systems increase visibility and improve incident response processes.

API Protection Best Practices

Implementing the best practices ensures that APIs are secure against evolving threats. Here are API protection best practices:

Use Strong Authentication & Authorization

Source:https://www.identity.com/the-role-of-authentication-and-authorization-in-access-control/

Use OAuth 2.0, JWT, or API keys to check API users and prevent unauthorized access. Use role-based access control (RBAC) and attribute-based access control (ABAC) to assign permissions based on user roles. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to increase security and reduce the risk of credential theft and unauthorized API access.

Encrypt Data in Transit and at Rest

Use TLS 1.2 or higher to encrypt data exchanged between APIs and clients. It provides protection against man-in-the-middle attacks. Keep private data secure by using strong encryption techniques like AES-256 to lower the risk of data exposure. Avoid sending sensitive data in URLs or API responses, and use tokenization when necessary.

Validate and Sanitize Inputs

Enforce strong input validation to prevent injection attacks like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and XML external entity (XXE). Allowlists define allowed input types and reject unexpected data to prevent risky payloads from running. Make sure API schemas enforce appropriate request structures to lower the likelihood of API misconfiguration and usage.

Use API Gateways and Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)

Source: https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/ddos/glossary/web-application-firewall-waf/

Use rate limiting, traffic filtering, and authentication using an API gateway to ensure controlled access to APIs. Find and prevent unwanted traffic including automated bot activity and injection attacks using a WAF. Use gateway-level API security policies to ensure continuous protection for every API endpoint.

Secure API Endpoints

Limit public API access by using access controls and IP whitelisting to reduce exposure. Disable or remove unused API endpoints to prevent attackers from exploiting outdated or incorrectly configured services. Use a zero-trust strategy, ensuring that all API queries are authenticated and authorized before giving access.

Final thoughts

API protection is essential to ensure secure digital ecosystems. Security engineers should use a complete strategy that includes authentication, encryption, threat detection, and misuse prevention. A proactive security policy will help to protect APIs from new risks and ensure compliance with security requirements.

Akto offers API security solutions to help organizations protect their APIs against attacks, misconfigurations, and unauthorized access. Akto helps to improve API security posture by automatic threat detection, monitoring, and using strict security measures. Schedule a demo today to learn how Akto protects APIs against new risks.