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Nowadays, under the influence of digital driver, more and more organizations rely on application program interface (API) to develop Web applications and other services.

At the same time, hackers are constantly evolving, developing new tools to attack system platforms and Web applications.

API brings new risks

API is a collection of interfaces, protocols, and tools used to build software applications.

In general, API enables programmers to easily interact with programming languages, software class libraries, or other software tools. As a result, API is increasingly being used to develop new Web applications that provide a richer and more responsive user experience, especially for mobile device users. API is also used to expose data "as an as a service" to internal users, external partners and customers.

System attackers follow this trend, but many organizations are not ready for application attacks at all.

Common API attacks include injection attacks, in which malicious attack information is transferred to API as part of a query or command, resulting in unauthorized access to information. DoS attacks against API can make Web applications unresponsive and API authentication and access control may be compromised. Traditional man-in-the-middle attacks (man-in-the-middle attacks) also modify API without authorization.

RESTFul API is particularly vulnerable because they use HTTP as their underlying protocol. As a result, as long as organizations fail to implement API security tools and policies, the risk of corporate and customer data disclosure increases.

Address API security threats

Fortunately, there are a variety of tools available to help organizations effectively secure API. Each organization should use the following four basic security solutions:

1. Web application firewall is the first line of defense to protect API. Web Application Firewall (WAF) is clearly designed to protect traditional and API-based Web applications. Not only do they complement the signature-based defense and protection IPS platform provided by firewalls, but unlike any other security solution, Web Application Firewall (WAF) can also provide extensive application protection. This is done because the Web Application Firewall (WAF) can understand the application logic and the elements that exist in the Web application, such as URL, parameters, and even the cookie used. By monitoring application usage and behavior and conducting in-depth inspection, Web Application Firewall (WAF) can establish a baseline for normal behavior for each application in use. Then, when an exception occurs, the Web Application Firewall (WAF) can trigger actions to protect your application, whether in the data center or in the cloud.

Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions can also protect against malicious request sources, DDoS attacks, and complex threats to api and web applications, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting attacks (Cross-site scripting,XSS), buffer overflows, cookie leaks, etc.

2. Bot management is very important, because malicious Bot network is the main tool of API attack. To quickly protect websites, mobile applications, and API from automatic threats, some Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions allow administrators to configure a Bot Mitigation feature that checks signatures, such as client events for suspicious behavior.

3. API gateway provides a wide range of functions, such as traffic management, monitoring and logging, and API version control. However, API gateways should also include other basic security features, starting with authorization and authentication, to protect a single entry point for API access. This ensures that only authorized developers and administrators can access API resources. Other security features should include API key authentication, rate limit, etc. It should also include a dynamic attack signature to enable it to identify threats against API.

In addition, API security should include pattern validation (schema validation) to verify API syntax and test whether API meets software system expectations in terms of functionality, reliability, performance, and security.

4. DDoS attacks are mainly aimed at layer 7 (application layer), so the Anti-DDoS solution must be able to detect threats against API. These attacks only need a few Mb data packets to simulate large-scale capacity attacks composed of hundreds of Mb data to do the same harm to the software system. The challenge is that most Internet service providers (Internet Service Providers, ISP) focus on DDoS prevention without tools to detect and intercept these smaller application-level threats. This facilitates attackers, who can frequently spread malicious or harmful information.

Therefore, organizations need to ensure that their overall DDoS defense strategy includes the ability to detect and actively respond to DDoS attacks.

Add API security precautions to your security library

While firewalls are still the first line of defense in your data center, new threats to Web applications and API require new capabilities in your security infrastructure. Relying on signature-based detection, IP reputation and DPI's tools can prevent threats from some, but not all, applications and services.

To provide a more complete solution, organizations need to consider using other security tools, including Web application firewalls, API gateways, and DDoS attack prevention solutions. These tools are critical to protecting your data and users from attacks on API-based resources.

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