The Growing Threat of API Attacks and the Need for Advanced Protection

APIs are increasingly becoming the target of choice for attackers. According to the key findings stated in the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for API Protection, "APIs — especially shadow and dormant ones — are causing data breaches among organizations that, on average, exceed the magnitude of other breaches. Many of these breaches can be attributed to access control misconfigurations."* Unofficial "shadow" APIs created without proper processes and "dormant" APIs left over from old projects are especially at risk. These unmanaged APIs are like ticking time bombs because they often lack security measures and visibility, making them vulnerable to exploitation. If these APIs are breached, it can lead to serious financial losses, damage to reputation, and potential regulatory penalties. The breaches can expose sensitive data such as personal information, financial details, and intellectual property, which can be exploited for malicious purposes.

Gartner's report also emphasizes that "Security leaders require additional security capabilities to protect their APIs beyond basic, but necessary, security policy enforcement such as rate limiting, token validation, session management, and transport security — especially in industry verticals with high-security requirements."* While basic security measures such as rate limiting, token validation, and session management are essential for API security, they are insufficient to protect against sophisticated attacks targeting APIs today. Attackers continually develop new techniques to exploit API vulnerabilities, and traditional security measures often struggle to detect and prevent these attacks. This is especially true in high-security industries like finance, healthcare, and government, where a breach can have catastrophic consequences.