Advanced API Security on Google Cloud’s Apigee API Management Platform
The latest addition to Google Cloud’s API Management platform is Advanced API Security. This feature uses behavioral analytics and machine learning to proactively identify and mitigate threats. In addition, it allows users to analyze the flow of API traffic to discover any patterns that may be indicative of malicious bots. It works by identifying and blocking malicious bots before they can cause harm.
Apigee is the most popular API management platform in the cloud. It offers a complete set of tools to help enterprises to manage their APIs, including API security, traffic routing, fault handling, and operational monitoring. With its flexible deployment options and best practices, it helps enterprises protect themselves and maximize the value of their digital assets. It also helps organizations collaborate with external partners.
The recent explosion of API usage has created a larger attack surface, and API-driven attacks are becoming a growing concern. Many companies have fallen victim to API-driven attacks. In addition, more and more businesses are shifting to digital experiences, which increases API traffic volumes.
In response to the growing API threat, Google has introduced Advanced API Security. This feature identifies misconfigured APIs and prevents malicious bots from stealing private information. It enables organizations to get ahead of potential security problems before they occur, helping to reduce security risks to sensitive information. Using a pre-configured set of rules, Advanced API Security can also monitor API traffic for suspicious patterns. It can then alert users of malicious bots and identify bots that generate an HTTP 200 OK success status.
The Google Cloud Security system is designed to catch bots before they do anything harmful, allowing good traffic through. It uses preset rules that are able to identify unusual patterns of bot traffic from a single IP address. For example, a rule may identify unusual bot traffic from a single IP address originating from a nation-state or region. For a healthcare application, a rule could identify an exploit in progress.
Aside from detecting malicious bots, the Advanced API Security framework also provides risk assessments for APIs. Specifically, it can help organizations detect and prevent business logic attacks, which are a leading cause of API-driven security incidents. It can also identify and block reconnaissance activities, which are common when hackers gain access to sensitive information.
Apigee has already been working with Equinix, and has helped them improve their API security practices. The company has also been instrumental in helping customers secure their APIs, providing comprehensive and high-performing solutions. With the Advanced API Security framework, the Apigee team will continue to work on additional features.
The Advanced API Security framework is an outgrowth of the Google Cloud acquisition of Apigee in 2016, and it’s the first step in a long journey to protect the world’s largest and most trusted cloud applications. The product will provide users with a deeper understanding of how their APIs interact with the cloud and will weed out bot traffic, helping them to quickly and easily identify and solve potential security risks.
Written by Ido Vapner, CTO at Kyndryl
