What is API Security?

API security refers to the protection of APIs against unauthorized access. It’s also known as secure coding and secure development. So, API security includes selecting different tools to ensure and protect the integrity of a tech stack. A vigorously secured API covers both the APIs an organization employs and its administrations.

Common API Security Vulnerabilities

• Broken Object Level Authorization
• Broken User Authentication
• Excessive Data Exposure
• Lack of Resources & Rate Limiting
• Broken Function Level Authorization
• Mass Assignment
• Security Misconfiguration
• Injection attacks
• Improper Assets Management
• Insufficient Logging & Monitoring
• Check for more information on Top 10 OWASP list risks for APIs

What is a Web API Security Token?

Access tokens are used for token-based authentication to allow applications to access APIs. After the user is successfully authenticated and authorized to access, the application receives an access token and then passes the access token as credentials when calling the target API. The given token informs the holder of the API token that it has been authorized to access the API and perform specific operations specified by the scope granted during authorization.

API Security Best Practices

• You should expose just the necessary data.
• Be always informed about the latest cyber security trends & vulnerabilities.
• Always use authorisation and authentication.
• Security certificates should always be set.
• Standardising proper JWT validation.
• Use JSON Web Tokens only Internally.
• And auditing the APIs constantly are the best practices to ensure your API’s.
• For more API security best practices, read our article about ‘Best Practices to Secure Your APIs’.

How Does an API Vulnerability Scanner Work?

The API security tool scans REST APIs documented with Swagger or OpenAPI files. It parses the API specification file and scans each endpoint documented in it. Additionally, during scanning it considers examples provided in the specification.
After concluding the scan, you are presented with an extensive report, its findings, vulnerabilities severity level, and how to fix them.
 

Why Should I Run an API Vulnerability Test?

As APIs are publicly available, they are common targets for hackers to steal sensitive information, such as application logic, user credentials, and credit card numbers. Malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities in an API endpoint to access a system or network for various other forms of attacks such as cross-site scripting and code injections.

• Broken User Authentication
• Broken Object Level Authorization
• Lack of Resource and Rate Limiting
• Mass Assignment
• Security Misconfigurations – Multiple security misconfigurations pose a threat to APIs. These include:
  • Verbose error messages
  • Misconfigured HTTP Headers
  • Unnecessary HTTP methods and services
  • Insecure default configurations

How Do I Run an API Security Test?

• Set up and start scanning in 3 clicks: After your register for our free trial, create an API or Microservices scan target, verify ownership and run a Quick or Full Scan. We scan your applications and provide a report with all vulnerabilities found.
• Excellent support team of security: We verify your API test to ensure you are setting up our vulnerability tool correctly.
• Test all API Top 10 OWASP Vulnerabilities: With our DAST free trial, you’ll get precisely the types of attacks you are exposed to and the risk levels they have.