Detecting API Threats In Real Time

The digital economy runs on APIs, the building blocks of the modern internet. From effortless mobile payments to convenient food deliveries, APIs work silently behind the scenes to power the applications we use every day.

While APIs aren't new, their usage has exploded in recent years. Cloud computing, agile development practices, and the pandemic-driven surge in digital services have fueled this rapid growth.  Previously, time-consuming API creation has been streamlined by advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), allowing developers to deploy APIs in minutes.

However, this convenience comes at a cost and is not without risk. Recognizing the value of the sensitive data APIs carry, attackers,gnising the value in the sensitive data APIs carry, attackers have adapted their tactics, necessitating a fundamental shift in the approach to API security.  

Potential risks include:  

• The sheer volume of APIs and data flowing through APIs creates a vast attack surface for malicious actors.
• Evolving compliance requirements and recommended best practices that are hard to keep track of.  
• The use of AI to create APIs not only carries a risk of creating and deploying poorly configured APIs, but also a risk of feeding sensitive company data into public AI models. Earlier this year, researchers at Salt Labs found security flaws within the ChatGPT ecosystem that allowed access to accounts on third-party websites and sensitive data, highlighting the risk of relying on gen AI.  

This new era of APIs demands real-time protection, and it’s become increasingly clear that traditional methods are no longer sufficient. Organizations need a proactive strategy that can keep pace with the evolving threat landscape and the lightning-fast development cycle of modern APIs. The answer is real-time scanning and detection.

Protecting APIs in Real Time  

The Salt Labs State of API Security Report 2024, found that only 58% of organizations have procedures in place for API discovery. Despite the API count increasing by 167% in the past year. With the number of APIs increasing, but discovery lagging behind, it’s more important than ever for organizations to implement real-time scanning of APIs to identify malicious intent from benign anomalies with extensively trained, cloud-scale AI and machine learning models.  

There are several reasons why real-time scanning of APIs for security vulnerabilities is crucial:

Faster Detection and Patching: Traditional methods of API vulnerability scanning involve periodic scans, which can leave an organization’s APIs exposed for a window of time between scans. Real-time monitoring allows them to identify and address vulnerabilities as soon as they appear, minimizing the risk window.

Catching Zero-Day Exploits:  Real-time scanning helps detect vulnerabilities that haven't been documented yet (zero-day exploits). Whereas traditional vulnerability databases rely on identifying and reporting issues first, APIs are unique to each business, so every vulnerability is essentially a zero-day vulnerability that is used to exploit specific business logic decisions used to configure their APIs.

Identifying vulnerabilities in APIs early in their lifecycle is crucial to protecting companies’ vital assets so they can focus on business operations instead of risk.

Continuous Integration with Development: By integrating real-time scanning into the development pipeline (CI/CD), organizations can identify security flaws early in the development process. This allows developers to fix them before the API reaches production, reducing the risk of a security breach later.  

Improved Response to Dynamic Threats: APIs are constantly changing, and new attack vectors emerge frequently. Real-time monitoring allows organizations to adapt their security measures to these changes and proactively address new threats.

Innovation Without Compromising Security

To keep up with the speed of creation of APIs and companies’ desire to innovate, it’s more important than ever that they keep track of their APIs and continuously monitor them for abuse. With delayed discovery due to periodic API scanning, it makes it difficult (nigh on impossible) for organizations to know what they’re working with, let alone how to provide the best protection. Real-time API security scanning provides a more comprehensive and proactive approach to protecting an organization’s APIs from threat actors who are pivoting to exploit them.

Want to learn more about API protection?

Salt can provide a personalized demo. Or contact us to learn more about how Salt can help defend your organization from API risks.