GraphQL is a query language for APIs that has become increasingly popular among developers working on large-scale web applications. Created by Facebook engineers in 2015, it’s positioned as a more robust alternative to RESTful APIs. When compared to REST APIs, GraphQL has a few key differences. With RESTful APIs, you have to define how you're going to make requests to each individual endpoint. You have a list of resources and verbs (methods) available to select from in order to retrieve or manipulate data from the server, and all transactions include all fields.

As the developer community is well aware, demand for application programming interfaces, or APIs, is not static. It usually ebbs and flows over time. For instance, during the holiday season, there could be a significant spike in traffic, requiring more API capacity to handle the increased load. To meet such an increase in traffic, system admins have two choices when it comes to scaling an API. They can go with horizontal scaling, which refers to adding more API instances to a cluster. Or vertical scaling, which means adding to the computing capacity of the machine that supports the API.

API posture management ensures that you put your best foot forward when it comes to API security. It combines API discovery with sensitive data identification and vulnerability detection, so your remediation efforts focus on the most critical APIs first. The ability to identify API vulnerabilities and remediate them quickly allows you to take corrective action before an attack occurs.

API runtime protection is the process of securing APIs as they operate and manage requests during their normal functioning. Blocking runtime API threats requires an understanding of the context of operations for each individual API, including API access, usage, and behavior. In addition, runtime protection should log API traffic, monitor sensitive data access, detect threats, and block or remediate attack vectors.

In order to protect your entire API estate—and your business—you need to be able to discover all APIs in use of every type using automated processes. It’s essential to know which APIs you have exposed at all times—this is sometimes called an inside-out approach to API discovery. However, it has also become critical to discover potential attack vectors that make APIs vulnerable using an outside-in approach.

A web application firewall, better known as a WAF, is a security device designed to protect organizations at the application level. WAFs achieve this goal by monitoring, filtering, and analyzing traffic between the internet and a web application. Acting as a reverse proxy, the purpose of a common web application firewall is to shield applications from malicious requests.

Application programming interfaces, or APIs, connect software applications and data sources to one another. Given the breadth of their reach, it’s wise for organizations to engage in proactive API management, which keeps APIs running reliably and securely. API management incorporates many different tasks and processes. It spans API creation and API publishing and continues through the full API lifecycle through retirement. API management also involves monitoring APIs for performance and adherence to service level agreements, or SLAs.

Penetration testing (or pen testing for short) involves performing simulated, fully authorized attacks on a company’s IT infrastructure and network. These attacks seek to exploit the system’s security loopholes. The objective of the tests is to assess the system’s robustness and preparedness against different types of breaches and glean lessons and insights that ultimately serve to strengthen its security even further.

APIs operating without any security controls are just waiting to be exploited. Misconfigurations, suspicious behavior, and cyber attacks may already be occurring without your knowledge. Hackers are on the lookout for APIs that will allow them to access data covertly, providing time to not only extract data, but to explore additional attack vectors.

Attack vectors are the techniques attackers deploy to infiltrate or breach your network. Certain attack vectors take aim at humans that have network access, while other attack vectors target weaknesses in overall infrastructure and security. If this video doesn't cover everything you need to know, you can learn more about attack vectors at our Noname Academy: nonamesecurity.com/learn/what-is-an-attack-vector/