By the early 2000s, the need for a standard, open software-to-software interface was felt by the technology industry. This led to the development of the application programming interface, commonly known as API. API’s could provide a standardized interface through which software could communicate amongst themselves by sharing data and managing shared memory. APIs made software services available to workloads and applications. They facilitate bidirectional communication between two processes. An API includes all information needed to carry out a task and, unlike a web form, an API does not need multiple user transactions to successfully complete a process.
Cyber security and API
API security encapsulates integrity protection of the APIs you use or own. API’s are used by microservices and containers to communicate among themselves. With the development of API’s, we find ways to connect everyday things to smart devices, like a refrigerator with an android smartphone. As integration of computers increases, interconnectivity becomes more important, and so do APIs and their security. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, API security has become a growing concern. Web scraping and APIs Other than communicating within the software, an API is also used for providing access to the data of an application, web page, or operating system. Similarly, web scraping refers to the process of ‘scraping’ data from a webpage or multiple web pages. Web scraping is used to extract data from a given web page, whereas an API provides the data directly. This poses a problem where the developer has not provided the API with the data. Sometimes APIs can be given at a charge, and that fee might not be affordable. In these scenarios, web scraping is necessary to obtain the data you need.Web scraping with software written in Python is one of the more common methods used to extract data from web pages.
Security threats with API
Some common threats associated with APIs are:
SOAP and REST API
SOAP and REST are the two most common approaches to implement APIs. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is based on XML and used for communicating among computers. SOAP uses a built-in WS security standard that utilizes XML Encryption, XML Signature, and SAML tokens for messaging security considerations. REST (Representational State Transfer) makes use of HTTP to get data and perform operations on remote computers. SSL authentication and HTTPS are used in REST for securing communication. It is easier to track and maintain all of these security protocols if you deploy to a centralized cloud deployment platform suited to creating and hosting APIs.
How to improve cyber security
A hacked API can cause a serious data breach. Owing to their vulnerability, it is important to take additional steps to ensure security.
Conclusion
This article covered everything you need to know about API’s and cybersecurity. API security protects the integrity of APIs and is something that should be a concern for organizations and individuals with the evolution and constant development of IoT.
