Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a type of software created to serve as a link between two or more programs or apps. They enable communication between different software or provide services to other software. They usually come with detailed documentation, referred to as the API specification, which provides details on how to use or build connections between the software the API is intended for.
Interestingly, this seemingly banal piece of software is also the subject of cyber attacks. Threat actors have been targeting APIs because of the important role they play in software integration and the software supply chain. They can expose sensitive data and functionality, especially if API developers are too cavalier with their security practices. API attacks can result in stolen data, mass data losses or corruption, and the disruption of services.
A recent report on API attack surfaces reveals that most organizations regularly update or change their APIs, which makes it difficult to secure API attack surfaces. Ordinarily, software updates or changes are encouraged, but when it comes to APIs, these changes tend to create more risks. As such, it is important to have reliable solutions to address threats to APIs.
The rise of WAAP
One of the best ways to secure APIs is to use Web Application and API Protection or WAAP. As the name suggests, WAAP is specifically intended to protect APIs and web applications. It is generally a combination of different security technologies and tools that address the different threats that loom over APIs and web applications. In other words, it is not a specific security technology but an integration of different tools and strategies, which include next-generation web application firewalls, threat intelligence, and bot management.
WAAP is designed to address multiple attacks, including those in the OWASP Top 10 list. It addresses injection attacks, which target APIs that fail to implement data validation and sanitization mechanisms, and those that have SQL injection vulnerabilities, which allow malicious data in dynamic queries. Additionally, WAAP counters API abuses like credential stuffing, scraping, spamming, and other attacks that disrupt API functions and execute malicious code to facilitate unauthorized data or resource access.
Are conventional cyber defenses not enough?
There are different cyber attacks aimed at APIs. These include DDoS, authentication hijacking, cross-site scripting or XSS, SQL injection, credential stuffing, app abuse, and man-in-the-middle attacks. Notably, there are already existing solutions designed to address these attacks, so is there really a need for WAAP if security controls like those intended for DDoS and XSS are already in place?
It may be necessary to employ security tools specifically meant for API protection. Often, APIs are poorly secured. Not many organizations pay that much attention to defending their APIs from adversarial actions. For example, many API developers use HTTP (instead of encrypted HTTPS) to expedite project completion and minimize overhead. Similarly, authentication and authorization mechanisms are a rarity in most APIs.
Security controls for certain attacks may not provide the necessary protection, especially if the APIs are not visible to them. As mentioned, many organizations tend to change their APIs every so often, which temporarily puts them out of overall security visibility unless there is an active effort to bring the updated or modified APIs to the oversight of security controls, or thorough security visibility scans are undertaken.
Also, conventional security controls like those designed to detect attacks through threat signatures are no longer as effective as they used to be. Threats continuously evolve, so they may evade detection once they take on new forms or approaches in their attacks. Similarly, port-based blocking rarely works against modern threats, especially those that use the same ports and protocols legitimate users use.
Moreover, conventional defenses usually do not inspect encrypted traffic. While many APIs do not use the HTTPS protocol, there are those that use encrypted data transmissions. This makes it hard to detect malicious code or content exchanged through APIs.
WAAP is designed to compensate for these security weaknesses. It can inspect TLS connections to examine sensitive data while detecting potentially harmful content or malicious code being concealed by encryption. It does not presume regularity in encrypted data exchanges to make sure that
How does WAAP protect APIs?
As mentioned, WAAP consists of different security technologies and strategies. They work in concert to comprehensively counter the threats on APIs.
One of the powerful tools in the WAAP arsenal is the next-generation web application firewall. It is designed to monitor web applications and APIs from a wide variety of attacks at the application layer and use behavioral analysis and AI to detect anomalous traffic or activities. Unlike traditional web application firewalls, it does not solely rely on threat signatures or data from threat intelligence sources. It examines patterns of behavior to establish benchmarks of regularity or safety and distinguish those that appear to be anomalous, malicious, or harmful.
Another vital security technology under WAAP is runtime application self-protection (RASP). Designed to work in real time, it evaluates apps and APIs as they are running to detect possible anomalies and harmful activities. RASP enables continuous monitoring and facilitates automatic response to address not only known attacks but also zero-days.
Also, WAAP employs malicious bot management. It can detect bots and isolate them if they exhibit malicious activity or demonstrate harmful capabilities. At the same time, WAAP can identify legitimate or useful bots and allows them to complete their tasks.
DDoS defense and rate limiting are likewise vital in WAAP solutions, as they address aggressive denial-of-service attacks. These security solutions also control abusive activity at the application level to prevent attackers from impacting API performance.
Additionally, WAAP can secure microservices and APIs. It can embed security mechanisms within microservices, apps, as well as serverless functions to protect containerized workloads and modern data architecture. In a way, WAAP establishes “micro or tiny perimeter defenses” around individual microservices instead of building perimeter protection around the entire web app or API.
Moreover, WAAP provides account takeover protection to prevent cybercriminals from successfully using stolen credentials from data dumps and password lists. It uses a stern authentication process to disallow unverifiable or suspicious account logins.
Most if not all of these security tools, strategies, functions, and features are in the leading WAAP solutions available at present. It should not be too challenging to protect APIs with a good WAAP option from a reputable security firm.
Multi-tool and multi-strategy approach vs. API attacks
Since APIs are predisposed to different kinds of cyber attacks, it only makes sense to use multiple security tools and strategies. This is essentially what WAAP does as it secures web applications and APIs. It does not rely on one or a few tools, let alone a singular proprietary solution, to detect and stop attacks. Organizations that use or work with various web applications and APIs should consider having WAAP as part of their overall security posture.
