VAPT of API: The Need of The Hour

VAPT of API: The Need of The Hour With the rapid growth of technology, there are also incidents of various cyberattacks that make companies insecure about their crucial information and they become conscious about VAPT of API. When an organization uses an Application Programming Interface (API), it exposes itself to cyber criminals and invites cyberattacks. Most of the APIs are not secured and are easier to be attacked.

However, in this context, let us get a clear idea about what API is. API or Application Programming Interface refers to an interface that permits the users to build on the functionalities as well as data of any application along with providing routines, tools, and protocols to the developers to develop software applications and enables the users to bring out and share data in an attainable manner.

Since API is a crucial part of an organization and on the other hand the increasing number of cyber security breaches, it becomes essential to regularly check the cyber security of the company. Here comes the role of VAPT which becomes an integral part of protecting against such threats.

What is VAPT? VAPT stands for Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing. These are two types of testing that are blended for achieving a complete analysis of the vulnerability. Vulnerability assessment tools find out the types of vulnerabilities present, but they are unable to distinguish the flaws that can cause damage or that cannot. Penetration tests are beneficial for exploiting the vulnerabilities to identify whether there is any possibility of unauthorized access and recognize the flaws that can cause damage. Let us know more about VAPT of API.

Types of security threats for APIs Following are the common attacks that APIs face most often: 

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Injection attack: In this case, a harmful code is fixed into an unsecured software program for staging an attack. Specifically, cross-site scripting and SQL injection are mostly used for manipulating data or transmitting doubtful data into the API as a part of a command or query. In this way, cybercriminals gain unauthorized access to important information.

DoS attack: In a DoS or Denial of Service attack, the criminals mostly surge the web service with SYN or ICMP packets and in this way, the system cannot get over with the huge amount of traffic and eventually gets crashed or stopped.

Sensitive data exposure: This case occurs when an application cannot secure sensitive data properly due to the absence of data encryption in rest or transit. Information such as session tokens, private health information, keys, passwords, and a lot more can be lost.

Broken authentication: Broken or weak authentication enables the attackers to take control of or bypass the methods of authentication utilized by the web service.

Parameter tampering: This attack happens during the exchange of parameters between the server and the client for modifying application data like user permissions, credentials, quantity and price of the products, etc.

MITM: It is also known as a Man-In-The-Middle attack which happens when the attackers listen about the transferring of data between two systems secretly. Important and confidential data may be modified or transferred without making it known to any of the systems.

End Note If you are worried about protecting the API of your organization, you should take professional help from GS2 Cyber Security for selecting VAPT of API as a protection for the APIs of your organization. They are experts in this domain having efficient consultants and cyber security experts offering customized VAPT services.