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API Protection

API security risks can be categorised as follows:

  • Vulnerability exploits: Weaknesses in API design or implementation that allow unauthorised access or manipulation.
  • Authorisation errors: Inadequate access controls that permit clients to access data or functions beyond their privileges, increasing data breach risks.
  • Authentication issues: Compromised or flawed authentication mechanisms enable illegitimate or malicious actors to impersonate authorised users.
  • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks: Flooding the API with excessive requests to disrupt service availability or cause crashes.

MaxiSafe’s API Protection framework delivers comprehensive security coverage for APIs, structured around four key areas: API Management, Behavioural Analytics, Threat Mitigation, and Data Loss Prevention. This multi-layered approach ensures robust protection against vulnerabilities, unauthorised access, and data exposure throughout the API lifecycle.

API Management​

MaxiSafe’s API Management module centralises control and visibility of API endpoints, enabling effective monitoring, threat detection, and response. Key components include:

  • Automated and Continuous API Discovery
    • Identifies and classifies all active APIs across environments, applying Auto-Tagging for real-time tracking.
    • Detects shadow APIs and unauthorised endpoints, preventing inadvertent data exposure.

  • API Lifecycle Management
    • Maintains a centralised API Catalog to streamline monitoring, version control, and security policy updates.
    • Dynamically updates API definitions to reflect structural changes and emerging threats, ensuring consistent protection.

  • API Auto-Profiling
    • Establishes behavioural baselines by analysing request parameters, access patterns, and user interactions.
    • Detects anomalies by correlating current requests with predefined norms, mitigating potential data breaches and unauthorised access.

Behavioural Analytics​

Behavioural Analytics provide in-depth monitoring of API traffic to detect deviations from established patterns, allowing early detection of malicious activity.

  • Visibility and Traceability
    • Tracks API footprints, capturing source IPs, user agents, and request paths to establish a comprehensive access profile.
    • Identifies atypical access patterns, such as rapid request bursts or abnormal data requests, indicating potential abuse.

  • Runtime Monitoring
    • Continuously monitors API interactions for unusual request rates, payload structures, and access anomalies.
    • Implements adaptive monitoring to detect emerging threats without compromising legitimate API requests.

  • API Risk Auditing
    • Records all request-response interactions, generating an auditable trail for forensic analysis.
    • Assigns risk scores to flagged requests, prioritizing high-risk interactions for immediate investigation.

Threat Mitigation​

MaxiSafe implements targeted threat mitigation strategies to prevent unauthorized access, block malicious payloads, and enforce security policies across API endpoints.

  • Vulnerability Detection
    • Performs Schema Validation to verify request and response structures, blocking malformed payloads that deviate from established schemas.
    • Identifies structural defects that may expose sensitive data or provide entry points for injection attacks.

  • Behavioural Detection
    • Applies Behaviour-Based DDoS Mitigation to regulate request rates and prevent API flooding attacks.
    • Utilises Programmable Behaviour Restriction (PBR) to enforce dynamic rate limits based on detected behaviour patterns and user roles.

  • Threat Blocking
    • Enforces Fine-Grained Security Policies based on IP reputation, user roles, and data sensitivity, mitigating risks associated with credential stuffing, data scraping, and account takeover.
    • Implements Sequence Mitigation to monitor and block coordinated attack sequences, including multi-stage exfiltration attempts.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)​

MaxiSafe’s DLP module protects sensitive data transmitted via APIs by enforcing stringent data control measures.

  • Identification of sensitive data: Scans API payloads for personal identifiers, payment data, and authentication tokens, classifying data based on sensitivity levels.
  • Response data masking: Applies data masking to sensitive fields in API responses, thereby preventing the exposure of confidential information to unauthorised clients.
  • Customisable and adaptive policies: Adapts data protection policies based on industry-specific regulatory requirements, ensuring compliance while maintaining API functionality.