API (application programming interface) cybersecurity isn’t as thorough as it needs to be. When it comes to pentesting, web APIs are often lumped in with web applications, despite 90% of web applications having a larger attack surface exposed via APIs than user interfaces, according to Gartner. However, that kind of testing doesn’t cover the full spectrum of APIs, potentially leaving vulnerabilities undiscovered. As APIs become both increasingly important and increasingly vulnerable, it’s more important than ever to keep your APIs secure.

APIs vs. Web Applications

APIs are how software programs talk to each other. APIs are interfaces that allow software programs to transmit data to other software programs. Integrating applications via APIs allows one piece of software to access and use the capabilities of another. In today’s increasingly connected digital world, it’s no surprise that APIs are becoming more and more prevalent.

When most people think of APIs, what they’re really thinking about are APIs  exposed via a web application UI, usually by means of an HTTP-based web server. A web application is any application program that is stored remotely and delivered via the internet through a browser interface. 

APIs, however, connect and power everything from mobile applications, to cloud-based services, to internal applications, partner platforms and more. An organization’s APIs may be more numerous than those that can be enumerated through browsing a web application.

Differences in Pentesting

Frequently, organizations that perform pentesting on their web applications assume that a clean bill of health for web applications means that their APIs are just as secure. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. An effective API security testing strategy requires understanding the differences between web application testing and API security testing. 

Web application security mostly focuses on threats like injection attacks, cross-site scripting and buffer overflows. Meanwhile, API breaches typically occur through issues with authorization and authentication, which lets cyber attackers get access to business logic or data.

Web application pentesting isn’t sufficient for testing APIs. Web application testing usually only covers the API calls made by the application, though APIs have a much broader range of functioning than that.

To begin a web application pentest, you provide your pentesters with a list of and they test all of the fields associated with these URLs. Some of these fields will have APIs behind them, allowing them to communicate with something. If the pentesters find a vulnerability here, that’s an API vulnerability – and that kind of API vulnerability will be caught. However, any APIs that aren’t connected to a field won’t be tested.

Most organizations have more APIs than just the ones attached to web application fields. Any time an application needs to talk to another application or to a database, that’s an API that might still be vulnerable. While a web application pentest won’t be able to test these APIs, an API pentest will.

The Importance of API Pentesting

Unlike web applications, APIs have direct access to endpoints, and cyber attackers can manipulate the data that these endpoints accept. So, it’s important to make sure that your APIs are just as thoroughly tested as your web applications. By performing separate pentesting for APIs and web applications, you make sure that you have your attack surface covered.

Synack can help. To learn more about the importance of pentesting for APIs, read this white paper and visit our API security solution page.

The post Don’t Let API Penetration Testing Fall Through the Cracks appeared first on Synack.

Wade Lance is the Field CISO for Synack.

Are you more secure this quarter than last quarter? Are members of your team learning and getting better? Are you finding deficiencies in your cybersecurity program and fixing them – or are you just swimming along from patch to patch, hoping for the best?

These tough questions are driving many organizations to overhaul their approach to security testing. It’s easy to argue a given security initiative reduces risk. The board is now demanding that you prove it.

Traditional security testing tends to be coin-operated: Perhaps you schedule a one-off pentest, find a vulnerability, fix it, report it to regulators if needed– end of story. There’s no attempt to actually learn about your overall security posture or change your long-term risk level.

Through our Synack Platform, you can review metrics that show the root causes of your security risks, giving you the tools and information to demonstrate to management that you’re actually solving problems. It’s a transformational approach that delivers the kind of information security leadership is demanding.

No more whack-a-mole

In one recent case, we tested a customer across an entire year. About 80% of the vulnerabilities we found over that timeframe had to do with authentication weaknesses. Yes, we’re going to keep finding the flaws and yes, members of our elite Synack Red Team of security researchers can keep validating they’re successfully patched.

Finding and fixing bugs is all fine and good. But if you keep seeing fruit flies in your house, shouldn’t you try to find the source rather than brushing them away one by one?

It was clear that this particular organization needed to boost its developers’ understanding of secure authentication practices so they could stop introducing new vulnerabilities. That deeper insight into authentication problems wouldn’t have emerged from piecemeal security testing aimed solely at ticking checkboxes for compliance.

Our Platform isn’t just about tactical advantages of tapping into a global network of 1,500-plus diverse, vetted security pros. Of course, we believe diverse perspectives in security testing are essential to hardening systems against the full spectrum of cyberthreats. But the Platform is also about offering customers adversarial testing that shows patterns and trends, so CISOs or security leadership have answers when the board comes knocking. That’s a game changer in today’s security landscape.

At Synack, we use transformational security testing to:

• Identify security process and posture weaknesses
• Track improvement in those conditions over time
• Communicate that risk reduction to senior leadership

Yes, we can augment your operational teams with scalable pentests, succinct (and fast) reporting and surge capacity for emergencies like the Log4j vulnerability. But we can also bring the receipts needed to document your security journey and show progress to executives. You won’t get that from traditional testing.

To learn more about the strategic value of the Synack Platform, book a demo or contact us here.

The post Leveling Up Your Security Strategy with the Synack Platform appeared first on Synack.