The growth of APIs has exploded in recent years. With this growth, there is a greater need for API security testing to ensure data confidentiality and protection of the API. In this article, we will explore the basics of API security testing and how it can help keep your data safe. We will also take a look at the top API security testing tools and discuss the benefits of using them.
What is API Security Testing?
API security testing is a type of testing that is performed in order to assess the security of an API. This type of testing can help to ensure that data confidentiality is maintained and that the API is protected from attack. There are a number of different tools and techniques that can be used for API security testing, which we will explore in more detail later on.
The Origin of API Security Testing
API’s popularity and utilization have grown immensely since Salesforce launched its web-based sales API in 2000 with the perspective of “internet as a service.”
APIs have become increasingly important in today’s software world, with APIs serving as an essential aspect of modern application development across industries. By 2020, the majority of developers anticipate utilizing even more APIs than in 2019. And in the years ahead, 71% of developers predict using even more APIs.
In part, the boom in API usage is because of standards that companies have set to spur API adoption. OpenAPI and AsyncAPI are two specifications that help outline what’s needed to describe an API in a file. Once these files are created, they can assist organizations by showing which documentation, integrations, and testing tools will work best for their needs.
Top API Security Testing Tools
- Astra’s Pentest
- Apache JMeter
- Apigee
- Assertible
API Security Testing: How Does It Work?
API scanning is a process whereby inputs are crafted in order to illicit undefined behaviour from an API. The goal of this activity is to mimic the actions and attack vectors of would-be hackers, thereby exposing any potential security risks or vulnerabilities. Conducting security testing can help ensure that basic requirements such as user access conditions, encryption protocols, and authentication mechanisms are all up to scratch.
The goal of API security testing is to reveal any flaws or bugs in an API. This is done by fuzzing, which is a type of software testing that finds errors in code. Output from API security testing is compiled into a report that outlines any vulnerabilities.
API Security Testing importance
APIs are the lifeblood of many applications, giving developers access to a company’s services. It is critical for an organization’s overall security that APIs are in accordance with published standards and resistant to bad and malicious input.
Traditional DAST scanners are unable to cover APIs completely; instead, they focus on a limited number of them. Traditional DAST scanners will miss them if an organization’s front end does not communicate with all API endpoints. As a result, it is critical to implement a comprehensive API testing plan that covers problems in all endpoint locations of an API.
Benefits of API Security Testing
Some benefits of API security testing are:
- Helps to ensure data confidentiality
- Can help to prevent attacks on the API
- Can find bugs in the API
- Can help to ensure that the API is compliant with standards
- Can help developers to understand how the API works
- Can help to improve the overall security of an application
- Can help to prevent data breaches
- Can help to ensure that the API is available and functioning properly
- Can help to improve the performance of an application
Exploring the Top API Security Testing Tools in detail
Astra’s Pentest
Astra has the following features that set it apart from other vendors: More than 1025 tests, adherence to international security standards, a user-friendly dashboard with real-time vulnerability and severity assessment, security verification and simultaneous repair assistance, and recursive scans, these are just a few of the characteristics that distinguish Astra from its competitors.
Other features of Astra Security Include:
- Gap Analysis: Astra Pentest’s gap analysis may be used by organizations wanting to identify any security gaps in their system before opting for a particular test or evaluation.
- Comprehensive Vulnerability Scanning: Astra’s extensive vulnerability scanner can discover flaws based on public CVEs, the OWASP Top 10, and more recent ones from Intel.
- Regular Penetration tests: Astra Pentest allows companies to discover and fix API weaknesses on a regular basis, before cybercriminals have a chance to exploit them. This protects confidential data from theft or manipulation.
- Rescanning: After you’ve fixed the vulnerabilities that Astra found during our API pentest, Astra will scan again for free to make sure that no new weaknesses have arisen from the patches made.
- Zero False Positives: Astra Pentest uses world-class pentesting experts to double-check automated pentest findings for accuracy and guarantees no false positives in vulnerability detection.
- Intuitive Dashboard: Astra pentest has a user-friendly dashboard that is quite simple to access and comprehend. It also displays all of the vulnerabilities found in real-time, as well as POC videos to assist with vulnerability remediation.
Apache JMeter
JMeter is a free and open-source Java program that was originally designed to test websites. It allowed for more comprehensive testing and assessed the performance of static and dynamic assets across any Windows, Linux, or Mac OS platform.
JMeter does not need any technical knowledge. It can handle a wide range of applications, servers, and protocols, as well as request chaining. CSV files may be used to generate large amounts of realistic traffic that put APIs to the test.
Apigee
Intended for businesses constructing gigantic and convoluted projects, Apigee, a branch of Google Cloud, assists with the designing, building, testing, deployment and monitoring of APIs. This is done by permitting developers to follow traffic patterns, error rates and response times. Users make their APIs visible on Apigee through API proxies which serve as simpler alternatives to back-end services.
By using these proxies, Apigee can keep the front-end apps running without interruption, regardless of any code changes on the back end.
Assertible
Not only does Assertible enable you to test your API easily and effectively, but it also comes with turnkey assertions- like JSON schema validation and JSONPath data integrity checks. Additionally, it integrates with commonly used development tools such as GitHub and Slack, as well as PagerDuty and Zapier.
It’s also possible to chain several HTTP requests together in order to test more advanced conditions using setup steps. These setup steps enable you to capture test variables from an HTTP request too.
Conclusion
API security testing is important in order to ensure data confidentiality. The top API security testing tools include Astra’s Pentest, Apache JMeter, Apigee, and Assertible. Each of these tools has its own unique features and benefits that make it well-suited for API security testing. challenges of API security testing include the need for strong technical knowledge and the lack of integration with development tools.
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