According to the analysis of breach data, US companies are the ones affected the most by the APIs. Companies have lost a combined amount of $12 billion to $23 billion in 2022 from compromises linked to Web application programming interfaces (APIs).
APIs are used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications and on websites. An API is a mechanism that facilitates two software systems to interact. It controls the types of requests that take place between programs, how these requests are made, and the kinds of data formats used.
For example, the Google Maps application on a mobile device does not contain names of all the streets, cities, towns, and other landmarks on your device. Instead, it connects to another application within the Google server that contains all of that information and this connection is made possible using an API.
The data over the last decade suggests that API security has leveled up as a significant cybersecurity problem. Following the information, the Open Web Security Application Project (OWASP) has listed the top 10 APl security issues in 2019.
It has explained various API weaknesses including broken authorization for objects, weak user authentication, and excessive data exposure as sensitive issues for software makers and companies that rely on cloud services. Thus, API security has become increasingly important.
APIs work as the backend framework for mobile and web applications. Crucial and sensitive data is transferred between users, APIs, and applications and systems. Therefore, it is important to protect the sensitive data they transfer.
According to the report 'Quantifying the Cost of API Insecurity' published this week by application-security firm Imperva and risk-strategy firm Marsh McLennan – cybersecurity issues would grow as APIs continue to become a common pattern for cloud and mobile devices.
"The growing security risks associated with APIs correlate with the proliferation of APIs. The volume of APIs used by businesses is growing rapidly — nearly half of all businesses have between 50 and 500 deployed, either internally or publicly, while some have over a thousand active APIs," says Lebin Cheng, vice president of API security for Imperva.
Further, in Asia, more than 100 combined API security incidents occurred, and in the US more than 600 API security events. To prevent this, companies have to gain visibility into how they are using APIs and create a complete inventory of the API traffic in their network.
