Protect your APIs within your IT budget

Cyber Security IT Solutions

13.10.2023

Starting to plan your budget for the rest of the year, and wondering what you can do to ensure you remain protected against cyber security breaches? APIs may not be at the top of the list, but this blog will tell you why they should be.

We’ll focus on the importance of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and how organisations can protect their APIs with the help of our partners, Barracuda techn ologies.

A challenging security landscape

With 11% of businesses experiencing cyber crime in the last 12 months, cyber security clearly needs a significant amount of investment. Organisations are quickly realising they may not be allocating enough budget to cyber security, with Gartner estimating an 11% increase in spend on security and risk management in 2023.

Barracuda’s own research, commissioned from Vanson Bourne, has found that in 2022, 24% of the UK IT decision-makers stated their cyber security budgets had actually increased compared to the previous year. The challenge, however, is ensuring that budgets are allocated in the right place, and APIs may be further down the list. This is where IT professionals need to understand why it’s so important to ensure their APIs are protected, as a priority.

Vulnerable targets

APIs are essential for building and integrating software applications. However, due to their programmatically accessible nature, APIs can pose security risks.Attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities to access sensitive data and execute malicious actions, making APIs prime targets for cyber attacks and susceptible to various security threats.

This is why API protection needs to be a key part of any cyber security budget, and why the risk increases if API management and protection doesn’t receive enough attention, or budget.

Why protecting APIs is crucial

API security holds significant importance because businesses rely on APIs to facilitate service connections and data transfers. A compromised API can result in a data breach. According to Gar tner, the majority of web-enabled applications (90%) are more vulnerable through exposed APIs than their user interfaces.

In an ideal scenario, IT security professionals possess complete knowledge and control over every API within their IT environment. This includes understanding the accessible data, enabled commands, authorised developers, and the security measures in place to protect both the APIs and the associated data.

However, this ideal scenario rarely reflects reality. Many companies lack awareness of the potential exposure of their data through APIs within their IT infrastructure. IT environments often consist of a complex mix of legacy on-premises systems and new cloud-based solutions, interconnected through a web of internal and external applications.

How you can protect your APIs

There are a couple of main security streams to ensure APIs are covered from external intrusion. SCC partner Barracuda Solutions, experts in delivering tailored secure networking and data solutions, can help your organisation realise focus areas for your cyber security strategy.

API Discovery

APIs are often hidden and vulnerable, known as shadow APIs, and older versions (zombie APIs) are frequently left unprotected. Barracuda employs Machine Learning-powered API discovery by analysing live traffic to identify these hidden and vulnerable endpoints.
Once detected, the solution activates security settings, reducing the attack surface and thwarting potential attacks. Importantly, this discovery process operates continuously, ensuring ongoing protection for your applications.

API Security

A robust TLS front end establishes a secure access layer for your APIs. Content routing enables the addition of new API versions and facilitates rollouts and testing without the need for extensive reconfiguration.
When incorporating new APIs, you can utilise API discovery and import updated API contract documents or virtual patches from supported scanners to automatically configure security for these fresh endpoints.
As each request to your API is logged with headers and complete details, it becomes easier to troubleshoot issues. The reporting and syslog modules have multiple integrations too, giving you quick and thorough visibility into traffic patterns and changes in behaviour.

How to make the most of your budget to protect APIs

While safeguarding your APIs may appear costly, it’s an essential step to avoid potential financial and GDPR-related repercussions in the future. Fortunately, protecting your APIs doesn’t have to strain your budget when you opt for a flexible payment solution from SCC.

You have several options to choose from, including payment deferrals structured over a three-year period, an ‘As-a-Service’ consumption model that consolidates all your IT requirements into a single managed solution contract, and Value Release services. The latter helps unlock vital budget resources early by enveloping soon-to-be-obsolete assets within an SCC service package.

By using Barracuda for API protection and SCC for flexible payments, you can ensure your security strategy meets today’s needs without overspending.

Ensure your APIs remain protected

If you need to make your IT budget stretch further, and are concerned that your API protection coverage isn’t strong enough, then reach out to SCC. We can showcase the solution from Barracuda and discuss your budget, strategy and goals.

It’s never been easier or more cost-effective to add an additional layer of security for your APIs.

Click here to speak to one of our specialists