It is obvious that APIs are running the show behind your favorite apps and services. But here’s the thing—if they’re not secure, they’re practically leaving the front door wide open for bad actors to exploit your entire infrastructure. Hence, no matter how big or small your project is, it’s important to keep your APIs safe.
Here, we’ll break down the top 10 API security best practices to secure your services.
What is API Security?
API security is about keeping your APIs safe from unauthorized access, data leaks, and cyberattacks. It ensures only the right people and systems can interact with your APIs, protecting both your data and your users.
Here’s what API security accomplishes:
- Stops unauthorized users from getting into your systems.
- Keeps sensitive information private and secure.
- Makes sure apps and systems communicate safely.
- Blocks threats like injections and brute force attacks.
- Verifies user identities with authentication and authorization.
- Ensures your APIs run smoothly without disruptions.
At the end of the day, protecting your APIs is non-negotiable. It’s a simple step to safeguard your business, your users, and your reputation.
Importance of API Security
APIs are at the core of modern digital systems, handling everything from user authentication to sensitive transactions. Here’s a reality check: according to Salt Security, API traffic per customer jumped by 168% between 2021 and 2022. That’s massive. But with this growth comes risk.
APIs connect to critical resources, sensitive customer data, and the underlying logic that runs your applications. If an API is breached, it’s not just a data leak—it’s a full-blown security incident that can compromise everything.
For example, think about an e-commerce platform that relies on APIs to manage orders. If a hacker gains access, they could not only get order details but also sensitive information like customer addresses and credit card numbers.
In short, API security is about protecting your systems, data, and reputation. Without it, everything’s at risk.
Top 10 API Security Best Practices
1. Continuous API Monitoring
Here’s something to think about: Do you really know all the APIs in your environment? A lot of businesses have APIs they don’t even realize are running. These could be old, forgotten, or even vulnerable.
Continual API discovery means you’re always tracking what’s in your environment—new APIs, old APIs, or even shadow APIs that you didn’t know about. It’s not a one-time task; it’s an ongoing effort. Why? Because APIs evolve, and so do the threats.
If you’re not discovering and monitoring APIs regularly, you’re leaving gaps in your security. Imagine an API that’s been sitting there for months, no one’s checked it, and it has outdated security. That’s an easy target for hackers. Regular discovery keeps you ahead of the game and helps you secure everything.
Make API discovery a continuous process, not a check-box item. It’s one of the best things you can do to stay secure.
2. Authenticate and Authorize
This might sound obvious, but it’s something that gets overlooked way too often: authenticate and authorize everything. No exceptions. Every API call, every user, and every system interacting with your APIs needs to be properly authenticated and authorized.
Here’s why:
- Authentication is about verifying who is making the request. You should never trust anyone without checking their credentials. Use strong methods like OAuth, JWT, or API keys to verify identity.
- Authorization is about controlling what the authenticated user or system can do. After confirming their identity, you need to define exactly what they are allowed to access or modify. It’s all about the principle of least privilege—only give them the minimum access they need.
Consider this: if someone can access your API without proving their identity, you’re just asking for trouble. By using strong authentication methods (like OAuth, JWT, or API keys), you ensure only the right users and systems get in. But that’s just one part of the puzzle. Authorization controls who can actually do what once they’re inside.
It’s not just about saying, “Yeah, you’re allowed in.” It’s about saying, “You can do this, but not that.” Fine-tuning permissions minimizes the damage if something goes wrong.
3. Limit Data Exposure
Don’t expose more data than you need to. If your API is leaking unnecessary information, you’re opening yourself up to risk.
- Only send the minimum data required for a request. If you’re handling sensitive data, don’t return it unless absolutely necessary.
- Be mindful of data endpoints—don’t expose private user details or system information unless it’s critical for the API to function.
- Use field-level security to control what data gets returned for different types of requests.
The less data you expose, the less there is for attackers to steal or misuse. Protecting your data means being deliberate about what you share—and with whom.
4. Follow the Principle of Least Privilege
If you want to reduce your attack surface, here’s a rule you must follow: give users and systems the least amount of access necessary.
This isn’t just about securing APIs; it’s about being efficient with your permissions. By restricting access to only what’s needed, you reduce the chances of unauthorized actions and limit the damage if something goes wrong.
- Review access controls regularly to make sure people and systems only have the permissions they absolutely need.
- Avoid giving broad access like admin rights unless it’s completely necessary.
- If you can, separate duties. For example, a user who handles data shouldn’t have the ability to modify system settings.
If you stick to the principle of least privilege, you’re minimizing unnecessary risk and making sure only the right people have access to the right things.
5. Avoid Shadow APIs
Shadow APIs are APIs that exist without your knowledge or control. They may have been created by developers or teams, but they aren’t documented or properly secured. The problem is, if they’re left unchecked, they’re an open door for attackers.
- Keep track of all APIs, including those that might be created for internal use or quick prototypes. You don’t want any surprises.
- Document every API and make sure it’s included in your security audits. If you’re not aware of an API, you can’t protect it.
- Monitor API traffic to spot any unusual or unauthorized access to unknown endpoints.
Shadow APIs can easily slip through the cracks if you’re not actively tracking everything. If you want to ensure your system is secure, don’t let any API go unnoticed.
6. Improve API Governance
If you’re serious about API security, you need strong API governance. It’s about making sure every API is properly managed, documented, and monitored, with clear rules on how it should be accessed and used.
- Set clear standards for building and maintaining APIs. Everyone should follow the same rules to ensure consistency and security.
- Implement a centralized system for tracking and managing all your APIs, making sure they’re visible and accessible only to authorized users.
- Regularly audit your APIs to identify weaknesses or compliance issues before they become problems.
Without good governance, you’re leaving your APIs open to risk. If you want to avoid a security breach, you need to ensure every API is under control and has clear oversight.
7. Log API Activity for Better Analysis
Logging API activity is crucial for detecting and responding to security incidents. Without solid logs, you’re blind to what’s happening in your system.
- Track key events like failed logins, large transactions, or unusual behavior. These can be early signs of attacks or misuse.
- Insufficient logging ranks 10th in the OWASP Top 10—it’s a serious security risk. Without logs, you won’t even know if an attack is happening until it’s too late.
- Logs are essential for troubleshooting and investigating breaches. Without them, you won’t be able to figure out what went wrong or even prove a hack happened.
With proper logging, you can quickly spot suspicious activity, build responses, and protect your data. Set up thresholds, rules, or parameters to automatically trigger alerts when something unusual is detected. This keeps you in control, even when you’re not watching in real-time.
8. Update Regularly and Patch Vulnerabilities Quickly
APIs can have vulnerabilities, whether from your own developers or third-party libraries. These flaws open the door to data breaches, unauthorized access, and other attacks.
If you don’t stay on top of updates, vulnerabilities in your API’s codebase could be exploited—quickly. In fact, developers may make errors that expose weaknesses in your API. Or you could inherit problems from third-party code. Either way, patching these vulnerabilities fast is critical.
Hence, regular updates are necessary to close these gaps. The longer you wait to update, the more time an attacker has to find and exploit those weaknesses. If you’re serious about securing your APIs, make patching a top priority. Don’t wait for the breach to happen before taking action.
9. Use API Gateways
API gateways provide an extra layer of security between your client and backend services. They help protect your resources by making sure every request is processed securely and follows set policies.
With an API gateway in place, you don’t have to secure each API endpoint individually. The gateway acts as a buffer, ensuring requests meet specific security standards before they even reach your services. Also, gateways can manage incoming requests from authorized users, filter out malicious ones, and direct them to further security layers for review.
Key functions of an API gateway include:
- Implementing security policies to ensure requests are safe.
- Alerting you about suspicious activity.
- Enforcing additional security protocols to block potential threats.
If you’re managing a lot of APIs, using an API gateway is like setting up a firewall for your network—no need to secure every individual endpoint when the gateway can handle that protection at scale.
10. Test Your APIs Regularly
If you’re not testing your APIs, you’re leaving the door wide open for problems. Bugs, vulnerabilities, performance issues—they all pile up when APIs go unchecked. The longer you wait, the more costly those issues become.
Here’s what you need to think about:
- Why test? Regular testing exposes weaknesses before attackers do. It helps you identify flaws in authentication, data handling, or even response times.
- What to test? Focus on input validation, user authentication, and how your APIs handle unexpected data. These areas are prime targets for exploitation.
- How often? As often as your system changes. Every update, feature rollout, or integration brings potential risks.
Testing isn’t optional; it’s your first line of defense. The reality is, APIs evolve, and so do threats. Regular testing ensures your system stays resilient and ready for whatever’s next. It’s only a matter of time before something breaks—and when it does, the fallout could be huge.
Set up automated tests and schedule manual reviews. Don’t wait for a breach to remind you why this matters.
How CloudDefense.AI Simplifies API Security
When it comes to API security, CloudDefense.AI has your back with robust tools and strategic insights. Here’s how we make it happen:
1. API Scanning
CloudDefense.AI provides automated, continuous API scanning to detect vulnerabilities in real-time. This ensures no blind spots in your API infrastructure, helping you stay proactive rather than reactive.
2. Comprehensive Vulnerability Discovery
Our platform dives deep into your APIs to uncover vulnerabilities, leaving nothing to chance. We categorize risks by severity—critical, high, medium, or low—and even provide CWE numbers for better context. This makes risk assessment clear and actionable, ensuring you’re always a step ahead of potential threats.
3. Strategic Risk Management
We don’t just identify vulnerabilities—we guide you on what to do next. With detailed insights into potential risks, CloudDefense.AI helps you focus on what matters most, prioritizing and addressing issues efficiently.
4. OWASP Top 10 Protection and Beyond
Our solution doesn’t just stop at the OWASP Top 10; we also protect against SANS Top 25 vulnerabilities. Whether you’re running web apps or APIs in complex, mixed environments, CloudDefense.AI simplifies protection with flexible deployment options and customization for your specific needs.
5. Auto Remediation
Fixing vulnerabilities can be time-consuming, but CloudDefense.AI streamlines the process with automatic remediation. We help you close gaps faster, so you can focus on innovation rather than firefighting.
Wrapping Up
With the rise in API traffic and the increasing sophistication of attacks, you can’t afford to take a backseat. From limiting data exposure to implementing gateways, every API best practice you adopt makes a difference. But let’s face it—staying ahead of vulnerabilities and threats isn’t always easy.
With advanced API scanning, comprehensive vulnerability discovery, OWASP Top 10 protection, and automated remediation, CloudDefense.AI simplify the complexity of API security, so you can focus on scaling your business confidently.
Ready to secure your API infrastructure? Book a free demo with CloudDefense.AI today and see how we can help you stay secure, compliant, and ahead of the curve. Don’t wait—start protecting your APIs now.
