97 Things Every Application Security Professional Should Know

Chapter 84. API Security Primer: Control and Management

Chenxi Wang

The third aspect of effective API security, besides Chapter 82, “API Security Primer: Visibility” and Chapter 83, “API Security Primer: Risk Assessment, Monitoring, and Detection”, is implementing robust security controls to protect APIs against potential risks and threats. Here are some key considerations for API security controls:

Manage the API life cycle

Properly managing the life cycle of APIs is an effective way of ensuring your security posture. For example, timely decommissioning of unused APIs is crucial to mitigate potential risks introduced by vulnerable and obsolete APIs. Similarly, regularly updating and patching APIs is a must-have in your API management strategy.

Enforce Data Encryption

Enforcing data encryption is crucial to protect data in transit. This includes forcing the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt communication between clients and the API server. Additionally, you need to ensure that sensitive data fields are never transmitted in clear text, especially in API requests where parameters may be visible.

Implement authentication and access control

Authentication and access control are essential components of API security. Authentication ensures that the entity interacting with an API is who it claims to be. By verifying the identity of users, systems can prevent unauthorized ...