Rate limiting is a mechanism used to control the amount of data or requests that can be transmitted between two systems within a specified time period. It helps prevent abuse, protect system resources, and ensure fair usage for all users. By implementing rate limiting, organizations can mitigate the risk of server overload, improve network performance, and enhance overall security.

Modern application programming interfaces (APIs) offer a great example of the law of unintended consequences. With their openness and ability to offer nearly universal connectivity between applications and data sources, they have transformed IT and the businesses that deploy them. However, that same openness also makes APIs ripe targets for abuse.

Attack surface management refers to the process of identifying, assessing, and managing the potential vulnerabilities in an organization’s technology infrastructure. It involves analyzing and understanding all possible entry points that attackers could exploit, such as network devices, applications, APIs, and user access points.

Data security refers to the measures and practices implemented to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. It involves various techniques and technologies such as encryption, access controls, firewalls, antivirus software, secure backups, and employee training.

API authentication is a combination of technology and process that proves or verifies the identities of users who want access to an API. Specifically, API authentication involves the use of a software protocol to verify that users are who they claim to be when a client makes an API call. API authentication solutions are usually set up to block access to an API if they detect something wrong with the user’s identity during the API call. It’s online verification of ID, a gatekeeping countermeasure that defends APIs from access by malicious actors. Remember, too, that in many cases, the API user is a machine, not a person.

API authentication is a combination of technology and process that proves or verifies the identities of users who want access to an API. Specifically, API authentication involves the use of a software protocol to verify that users are who they claim to be when a client makes an API call. API authentication solutions are usually set up to block access to an API if they detect something wrong with the user’s identity during the API call. It’s online verification of ID, a gatekeeping countermeasure that defends APIs from access by malicious actors. Remember, too, that in many cases, the API user is a machine, not a person.

More than 80% of today’s internet traffic consists of API-based communication, and as Forrester has noted, “As API traffic dominates, API attacks are ubiquitous.”1 While APIs are now essential for software interoperability, API security has not kept pace with staggering growth. Even the largest and most technically sophisticated organizations are vulnerable to API attacks and data breaches. Discover why 20% of the Fortune 500 choose Noname Security for API security.

API abuse, like most forms of hacking, involves making APIs do things they were not intended to do. When a developer creates an API, it will have a legitimate purpose, such as enabling API clients with proper permission to invoke the API to receive the data it represents. Pretty much any other use of that API could be considered abuse.

Rick Echevarria, General Manager for Intel Security Center of Excellence and David Thomason, Worldwide Director of Alliances at Noname Security, sit down to discuss the expanding API attack surface, how the two companies are working together to provide next-generation API Security, as well as share their thoughts about the joint roadmap going forward. If you'd like to learn more about the partnership between Intel and Noname Security, please visit one of the following links.

Todd Hathaway, Solutions Architect, Global FinServ Practice for World Wide Technology (WWT), and Karl Mattson, CISO for Noname Security, sit down to discuss the rapidly expanding API attack surface and what financial services organizations need to do in order to protect themselves from malicious threats. By the time the video is done, you will have firm understanding of the ramifications if APIs are left insecure, as well as a set of industry-proven best practices that will help you immediately improve your API Security Posture.