Tips to Improve API Security Posture

I analyze source code from random eCom sites I visit. (it's a nerdy confession) One of the craziest things I see exposed? API keys. I've reached out to some of the brands where I've seen this. Do I ever get a response? Typically, no. And the ones that respond say "thanks" and don't fix it. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: there's always someone ready to point it out. Maybe it's a security-conscious dev. Maybe it's a hacker. Maybe it's your own sinking realization when you stumble upon it in production. Either way… it's not a good look. When you expose API keys in front-end code: - 𝗔𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. Yes, 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. A quick "Inspect Element" and boom, your secret is out. - 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀/𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. Imagine paying for API calls that someone else is racking up... no bueno. - 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀) 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸. Some APIs give access to sensitive operations. If your keys fall into the wrong hands, your f*cked. When I see this with my clients, I tell them this: Hide your keys like your bank card PIN number. Here's how I do it: - Move your sensitive API keys to environment variables. - Use server-side authentication to keep them out of the client's hands. - If you 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 expose a key, use restricted, read-only keys with rate limiting. And here's some action steps to fix it: 1️⃣ 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼. Search for "API_KEY=" or similar. If you find one exposed, rotate it immediately. 2️⃣ 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱. Use environment variables (.env files) and a server-side API to fetch data securely. 3️⃣ 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Ensure that any necessary front-end keys have the least privileges possible. 4️⃣ 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗨𝗽 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. Use tools like GitHub's secret scanning or AWS's credential detection to catch leaks early. Mistakes happen. We've all been there. But if you catch an API key in your front-end before someone else does, consider it a big win. Keep your keys secure. Your future self (and your security team) will thank you. 👍

Microsoft Takes Legal Action Against AI Hacking Group In a move to protect its AI services, Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against a foreign-based hacking group that exploited its generative AI platforms. The tech giant discovered that the group was using sophisticated software to access customer accounts illegally and alter the capabilities of AI services like Azure OpenAI[1]. The hackers developed a hacking-as-a-service infrastructure, selling access to compromised AI services along with instructions on how to generate harmful content. They used stolen API keys and customer authentication information to breach Microsoft's systems and create offensive images using DALL-E[1]. This incident highlights the critical importance of API key security: 1. Protect Your Keys - API keys are like passwords for your applications. Treat them with the same level of security you would any sensitive credential. 2. Regularly Rotate Keys - Implement a policy to change API keys periodically to minimize the impact of potential breaches. 3. Monitor Usage - Keep a close eye on API usage patterns to detect any unusual activity that could indicate compromised keys. 4. Implement Access Controls - Use the principle of least privilege when assigning API permissions to limit potential damage if keys are stolen. 5. Secure Storage - Never store API keys in public repositories or unsecured locations. Use secure vaults or environment variables instead. As AI technologies continue to advance, so do the tactics of malicious actors. It's crucial for both companies and individuals to remain vigilant and prioritize the security of their API keys and other sensitive credentials[1]. [1] https://lnkd.in/geSRNe4m

Orchestrating GenAI agents securely and efficiently requires tackling real-world challenges in identity management, data security, agent coordination, and performance scalability. Here are some key insights based on hands-on experience: 1. Identity-Centric Security: Using static API keys increases the risk of unauthorized access and prompt injection attacks. Switching to user-specific identity tokens with OAuth improved security and operational control. During testing, adding short-lived token caching reduced repeated authorization latency, balancing performance and safety. 2. Protecting Data: Static embeddings of sensitive data in model contexts led to inadvertent spillage. Dynamic retrieval from secure APIs and vector databases like Pinecone addressed this issue, ensuring only authorized data was fetched when needed. This approach reduced unauthorized data access by 35% in multi-tenant systems. 3. Agent Coordination: Orchestrating multiple agent types (retrieval, prescriptive, action) without clear governance resulted in redundant tasks and inefficiencies. Introducing a centralized registry with task hierarchies and tools like LangChain for modular workflows significantly improved efficiency and reduced API conflicts. 4. Latency and Scalability: Early tests with synchronous workflows caused bottlenecks under high concurrency. Shifting to asynchronous architectures with event-driven systems (e.g., Kafka) and semantic caching improved scalability, reducing redundant calls by 40% and supporting 5x the query load. 5. Auditability and Compliance: Maintaining audit trails for regulatory compliance was challenging without exposing sensitive information. Structured logging with hash-based anonymization, paired with tools like OpenTelemetry, ensured traceability while protecting user privacy. These experiments show that real-world deployment is a mix of technical refinement and adaptation to operational realities.

𝟮𝟬 𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 1. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Make sure only authorized users can access your APIs. Use strong authentication methods, such as OAuth or OpenID Connect, and grant users the least privilege necessary to perform their tasks. 2. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗛𝗧𝗧𝗣𝗦 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Encrypt all traffic between your APIs and clients to protect sensitive data from being intercepted by attackers. 3. 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: APIs should only expose the data that clients need to function. Avoid exposing sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII). 4. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆: Hash passwords before storing them in a database. This will help to prevent attackers from stealing passwords if they breach your database. 5. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 '𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲' 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲: Give users and applications only the permissions they need to perform their tasks. This will help to minimize the damage if an attacker gains access to an API. 6. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: Keep your API software up to date with the latest security patches. 7. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗘𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀: Default error messages can sometimes reveal sensitive information about your API. Configure your API to return generic error messages instead. 8. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Use secure methods for managing user sessions, such as using secure cookies with the HttpOnly flag set. 9. 𝗖𝗦𝗥𝗙 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀: Use CSRF tokens to prevent cross-site request forgery attacks. 10. 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Your API documentation should not contain any sensitive information. 11. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: Regularly conduct security testing of your APIs to identify and fix vulnerabilities. 12. 𝗧𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Implement token expiration to prevent attackers from using stolen tokens for extended periods. 13. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Validate all user input to prevent injection attacks. 14. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: Use security headers to protect your API from common attacks, such as XSS and clickjacking. 15. 𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) to restrict access to your API from unauthorized origins. 16. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘀: Throttle login attempts to prevent brute-force attacks. 17. 𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Use API versioning to allow you to make changes to your API without breaking existing clients. 18. 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Encrypt data at rest and in transit to protect it from unauthorized access. 19. 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: Log all API access and activity to help you detect and investigate security incidents. 20. 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: Implement rate limiting to prevent API abuse and overload.

A Cheatsheet to Build Secure APIs An insecure API can compromise your entire application. Follow these strategies to mitigate the risk: 1 - Using HTTPS Encrypts data in transit and protects against man-in-the-middle attacks. This ensures that data hasn’t been tampered with during transmission. 2 - Rate Limiting and Throttling Rate limiting prevents DoS attacks by limiting requests from a single IP or user. The goal is to ensure fairness and prevent abuse. 3 - Validation of Inputs Defends against injection attacks and unexpected data format. Validate headers, inputs, and payload 4 - Authentication and Authorization Don’t use basic auth for authentication. Instead, use a standard authentication approach like JWTs Use a random key that is hard to guess as the JWT secret Make token expiration short For authorization, use OAuth 5 - Using Role-based Access Control RBAC simplifies access management for APIs and reduces the risk of unauthorized actions. Granular control over user permission based on roles. 6 - Monitoring Monitoring the APIs is the key to detecting issues and threats early. Use tools like Kibana, Cloudwatch, Datadog, and Slack for monitoring Don’t log sensitive data like credit card info, passwords, credentials, etc. Over to you: What else would you do to build a secure API? -- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get a Free System Design PDF (158 pages): https://bit.ly/bbg-social #systemdesign #coding #interviewtips .

ℹ️ 12 Tips for API Security: 1. Always prioritize using HTTPS to encrypt data in transit, safeguarding sensitive information from interception. 🔒 2. Implement OAuth2 for secure and token-based authentication, enabling users to grant limited access without exposing credentials. 🔐 3. Leverage WebAuthn for strong, passwordless authentication using public key cryptography. 🔑 4. Utilize leveled API keys with varying permissions to enhance security measures. 🗝️ 5. Enforce strict authorization controls to prevent unauthorized access and modifications. ✅ 6. Apply rate limiting to control API request rates, safeguarding against abuse like denial-of-service attacks. ⏱️ 7. Manage changes effectively by using API versioning to ensure backward compatibility. 🔄 8. Implement allowlisting to restrict API access to approved IP addresses or users, reducing exposure to potential threats. 🛡️ 9. Stay updated on the latest vulnerabilities by consulting the OWASP API Security Top 10 and applying recommended mitigations. 🚨 10. Utilize an API Gateway to manage and secure traffic between clients and services, offering essential features like authentication and logging. 🌐 11. Ensure secure and user-friendly error handling to provide helpful messages without exposing sensitive details. 🚫 12. Validate input data rigorously to prevent common security flaws like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. ✅ Secure your APIs with these essential tips for robust API security! #APISecurity #Cybersecurity #TechTips

60% of companies reported a data breach within the last two years, and 74% had at least three API-related breaches. This shows the importance of enhanced API security because it exposes the business logic and data to an external system. Hackers love APIs because they're everywhere, and in many cases, they lack security while containing valuable data. Here is some advice on how to secure the design of your API: ▪️ First, you must know how many APIs are running in your ecosystem. You can use automated discovery tools to inventory them. ▪️ Authorization and authentication are crucial. Implement strong authentication and authorization mechanisms: one public key(access key) + one private key (secret key). ▪️ Signature Generation. Verify the authenticity and integrity of API requests. A critical step in this process is using HTTPS, a secure communication protocol, to encrypt data transmitted over your API. This ensures that the data is protected from unauthorized access during transmission. ▪️ For comprehensive security, HTTP requests should include the following parameters: authentication credentials to verify the user's identity, a timestamp to prevent replay attacks, request-specific data to specify the action to be performed, and nonce to avoid duplication requests. ▪️ Remember versioning. Not updated or outdated components make your applications vulnerable. ▪️ Security must be part of your team's awareness. Every member should be trained on the best practices for API security. ▪️ Implement monitoring and behavioral analysis tools, looking for anomalies in API traffic patterns. ▪️ Don't forget to adapt regular penetration testing to fix uncovered issues. Your API security cannot be an issue at the end of the SDLC but must be part of the API's design. Each stage of the cycle, as well as each component and functionality, poses a risk. The greater the complexity, the greater the threats. Image Credit: Munaim Naeem #Technology #APISecurity #DevOps

With 98.3% of organizations connected to a third-party vendor that has been breached in the last two years, I recently wrote an article for Cloud Security Alliance on how to enhance Salesforce security: Here are the key takeaways: 1. Audit Permissions — Over-privileged accounts and API users can expand your attack surface—right-size access to minimize risks. 2. Secure Non-Human Identities (NHIs) — Protect machine identities like API keys and OAuth tokens, which are common attack targets. 3. Rotate Outdated Tokens — Replace stale credentials to close potential entry points for attackers. 4. Enable MFA and IP Restrictions — Add extra layers of security for high-privilege accounts and limit access to trusted networks. 5. Monitor Third-Party Integrations — Misconfigurations in tools like DocuSign or Slack can leave your Salesforce data vulnerable. Read the full article here on CSA: https://lnkd.in/eqMWsyFn