API Discovery: The Foundation of Security

API use has risen in recent years, and is only projected to rise more with increased AI adoption, and with this widespread use comes widespread abuse, as well. We have seen API attacks and breaches rise in recent years and become gradually more complex. 

But there is a huge gap in the API security space, as many companies do not fully understand API security, or their own API landscape.

API discovery is one of the most important aspects of API security, but how can we make sure we discover and secure every single API when it’s such a complicated process?

API Discovery

API discovery is the process of finding and cataloging all the APIs in an organization’s landscape. 

In an era of multi-cloud environments, microservice-based architectures and containerization, APIs are everywhere and they are not always easy to find.

Creating a comprehensive inventory of your API endpoints reduces attack surface and helps you remain security compliant. It’s important to also consider that APIs change rapidly. Have a look at the AWS API changes feed for an example. Imagine building an inventory manually, only for that inventory to change to this extent on a daily basis. That’s why the best practice is to automate API discovery and not rely on human intervention to build and maintain the API inventory. 

API Discovery is important for every aspect of API development and security.

Compliance

API discovery plays a key role in compliance. The regulations governing data differ by region and are in place to safeguard personally identifiable information (PII) and more against breaches. Some common compliance standards include PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2.

Having an inventory of your APIs is crucial in remaining compliant. By having complete visibility over all your APIs, you can identify which APIs process sensitive data, which APIs present security risk, and implement appropriate controls.

Security Teams

API discovery can help identify unused or redundant APIs- often referred to as Shadow IT or zombie APIs. These APIs are unknown to the security team and their risk to the organization is also unknown - the unknown unknowns. 

Developers

API discovery gives teams oversight into all the API access points, and gives developers insight into all the APIs available, which enables them to use APIs that have already been created instead of devoting hours to developing new ones, or “reinventing the wheel.”

How can FireTail help?

• Cloud Integrations: FireTail offers seamless integrations with AWS, Azure, and GCP, allowing you to pull information from multiple platforms and compile a thorough, centralized API inventory.
• Repository Scanning: FireTail’s Github repository scanning tools have you covered from code to cloud.
• Ongoing Discovery: FireTail continually monitors for new APIs, API endpoints and activity.

The Foundation of Security

Discovery and visibility are the foundations of strong API security. Developers and security teams need to have full visibility and understanding of their API landscapes in order to keep up with API security and compliance. By keeping an inventory of all the APIs and endpoints a company has, they can be more accountable for their API discovery, security, and compliance.

FireTail combines native cloud integrations and repository scanning to help you build a complete and detailed picture of your API estate. To see how it can work for you, schedule a demo or try FireTail out for yourself, today.