APIs are everywhere, enabling businesses to maximize business value. From digital transformation and application modernization to cloud migration and microservices, API-first app architectures are finding their way into every technology touchpoint, giving rise to API sprawl. Consequently, most DevOps and security teams are uncertain about all the active and exposed APIs, and are lacking proper strategies to manage API sprawl.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are the building blocks of modern-day applications. This software-to-software interface enables seamless collaboration and communication between applications and consumers. APIs power SaaS and cloud apps, mobile apps, micro-services, serverless functions, IoTs and even no-code frameworks.

Before we delve into the reasons behind Optus breach, let’s see the chronology of events. According to various reports, Optus customer data was accessed via an API interface that was not secure. Apart from unauthenticated API, there was another serious issue related to easily enumerated ID’s (identifiers). These are foundational controls that were found lacking in the API implementation..