API security assessment
APIs are becoming more valuable as they bind our most personal and confidential data. Hundreds of highly valuable endpoints can be exposed in today's applications, making them quite attractive to hackers. Before, during, and after processing, ensuring the security of your APIs has become a given.
Understanding the concept of API
Your data is, in many respects, the most important asset your company has. Threats to that data must be detected and, ideally, removed so that the value of that data is not jeopardised.
How are the stakes defined?
When it comes to APIs, the stakes are very high. It's not enough to run functional tests to find flaws; you also need to run tests that simulate the types of attacks that an outsider might try. This entails approaching problems from the perspective of a hacker.
Most people don't have the time or experience to consider all of the forms that their application's boundaries can be breached.
In reality, unless you are a hacker, it is extremely difficult to think like one. Fortunately, there are tools with DigiAlert that can help you think more clearly that don't need you to do anything more than read the trade news. Take, for example, the latest API flaws discovered at Cisco Systems, Shopify, Facebook, and Google Cloud.
What is our methodology to check the API?
Basic security standards followed by DigiAlert are validated by security testing. The following are a few examples:
- What kind of authentication is needed to use the API, and how do you determine an end user's identity?
- What kind of encryption is used on the data that is stored, and when is the data decrypted for transmission?
- What requirements do users have to meet in order to gain access to resources?
This is the first stage of the audit process, and it will aid in the prevention of major flaws.
Penetration testing allows you to protect your application's external surface from vulnerabilities that might have crept in during growth.
External aspects of the API are deliberately attacked in a controlled environment in this process. Automated software like NetSpark or Acunetix can help with this.
The following steps are taken by DigiAlert when planning a Penetration Test:
- Make a list of possible application vulnerabilities (e.g., does it have resources like photos that might be vulnerable to a directory traversal attack?)
Sort the objects by the level of danger they pose. To gain a better understanding of the risk, visit the OWASP Top 10 website.
The final step in a security auditing phase is fuzz checking, which involves pushing an API to its limits. This can be accomplished by sending massive request volumes to it, trying to vary the data in as many imaginative ways as possible to cover the risks of high-volume vulnerabilities compromising protection.
- Denial of Service or Overflow attacks may take advantage of such flaws.
How do the API testing assessment work?
API testing has a basic idea, but putting it into practise can be difficult. Validating an API's workflow is also an important part of ensuring security.
Unfortunately, many APIs aren't checked to satisfy these requirements, so using any API is a risky proposition. To summarise, you must verify the workflows of any API you use to ensure that the API is secure so that your application performs exactly as intended with the least risk to your data. APIs are configured as black boxes, so you don't need to understand how they function to ensure security; all you need to know is that they act as intended.
Why is API testing assessment important?
The most important factor to consider is actual data loss or injury, which can result in a slew of issues for your business. Data recovery is a time-consuming and error-prone operation that can cost you more than money and time. It can cost you clients or make it difficult for you to conduct business properly before all data errors are corrected.
In theory, violating privacy laws combined with security breaches could land you in prison. Losing customer trust as a result of a violation isn't going to help you either. Address any possible privacy issues right away and take corrective action if necessary. Of course, it's still preferable to prevent a security breach altogether.
To summarise, API security testing is now an essential part of the application development process. Given the number and nature of recent security breaches, you should expect the public to judge you harshly if you aren't at your best.
Why choose us?
Developers and testers can use DigiAlert’s automation tools and frameworks to validate and verify UIs, APIs, and databases.
How can API security assessment help your business?
The following are the (simplified) rules for API testing that DigiAlert follows:
APIs make it easier for businesses and teams to take advantage of the functionality without having to build it themselves. However, since your APIs are exposed, any vulnerability may impact any application that uses your API. This form of API security flaw will damage your company's credibility. We use a variety of tools that are used by attackers to ensure that your API is checked from the standpoint of a real-time attacker.
Upcoming Events
