As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate, so does the complexity of API (Application Programming Interface) security. As APIs proliferate in modern applications and services, organizations will need to better understand their API environment and the risks APIs pose to operations.
By 2024, we expect to shape several key trends and** that will shape the API security landscape.
In 2023, there has been a significant increase in API attacks against enterprises, indicating a vulnerability in this attack surface. The API security market is currently in its early stages, but as API security climbs up the business agenda, we expect significant innovation in this space.
Agile cybersecurity vendors will focus on building solutions that provide visibility into the attack surface of APIs in 2024. We are likely to see multiple newcomers offering dedicated solutions, as well as traditional vendors, expanding their product portfolios.
While methods such as port scanning to identify network vulnerabilities are unlikely to disappear, we expect the number of targeted application-level attacks to increase over the next year.
Malicious actors will track specific banks or financial institutions by opening accounts or using apps to infiltrate systems and disrupt app behavior. Hackers know that most organizations have network-level security solutions in place that leave APIs exposed and vulnerable.
Traditional perimeter defenses are no longer sufficient to protect APIs, as hackers become increasingly sophisticated in gaining access to authorized users. Organizations will need to prioritize perimeter defenses that continuously monitor API traffic to detect suspicious user behavior.
The rapid pace of change in APIs means that organizations will always have vulnerabilities that need to be fixed. As a result, 2024 will usher in a new era where visibility will be a priority for API security strategies.
Preventing attackers from entering the perimeter is not a 100% foolproof strategy. Real-time visibility into the security environment will enable security teams to respond quickly and neutralize threats before they impact operations or extract valuable data.
For example, traditional perimeter-based solutions only monitor requests, not responses. If an attacker impersonates a customer, their request will appear as legitimate. Visibility can be achieved through a multi-layered security approach, including perimeter and perimeter interior defenses. The full fidelity of the API is necessary to isolate unknown attacks, as hackers find innovative ways to keep traditional solutions undetected.
API governance will be the cornerstone of API security.
Despite the adoption of APIs by enterprises to enable new service delivery or increase efficiency, organizations still lack visibility into their digital assets due to underdeveloped governance procedures. A strong API security strategy requires CISOs to work with application development teams to build API governance processes and structures.
In order to identify attacks or remediate incidents, CISOs and their teams must understand their API environment and existing vulnerabilities. Processes need to be put in place to increase effective cross-discipline collaboration, enable API discovery, and develop basic policies and standards for how properties operate.
Ultimately, strong API governance should turn findings into valuable KPIs and metrics that organizations can use to assess the progress of their security posture.
With the widespread use of APIs, especially in industries such as financial services, regulators are looking to encourage transparency in APIs. This means that data privacy issues and regulations will continue to impact the use of APIs in 2024. In response, organizations are increasingly tired of having their data held and accessed by third parties for security analysis.
We expect a shift in 2024 where organizations will require security solutions to run on-premises in their own environments. Self-managed solutions (on-premise or private cloud) eliminate the need to filter, edit, and anonymize data before storing it. This shift will help organizations maintain control of sensitive data and meet compliance requirements.
API security solutions must be scalable to accommodate the needs of both small and large organizations. By 2024, we expect to see the adoption of mature data lake technologies. This technology enables data to be stored in a security-centric architecture and accessed through standard SQL queries. Organizations can set data retention policies to balance accessibility with resource utilization and cost.
We expect automation to play a greater role in API security solutions by 2024. The API security solution will provide automation capabilities for building custom threat detection and alerting rules to facilitate real-time threat detection and response. Integration with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR solutions will become more seamless, enabling rapid incident response.
As attackers continue to evolve, organizations must adapt to the evolving threat landscape by implementing advanced perimeter threat detection, context-rich alerting, and attack surface management. These trends, along with a focus on on-premises solutions, scalability, and automation, will help organizations stay ahead of API security challenges in the years to come.