Rising API Breaches & Criticality of API Security

As technology advances at an exponential pace, so does the sophistication of cyberattacks. To navigate this intricate domain effectively, it's crucial to stay informed about the latest data breaches and attacks. This awareness will enable you to analyze and implement effective security strategies.  

Data breaches are costing fortunes to organizations around the globe. According to a latest report, 2023 has witnessed an all-time surge in the average cost of a data breach as it stands at USD 4.45 million. This cost indicates a 2.3% rise from what it was in 2022, at USD 4.35 million. 

The most effective approach to shield yourself from such devastating consequences of data breaches is prevention. But to be able to prevent a data breach, you need to first understand it by comprehending its various aspects.  

Considering that more than 80% of internet traffic flows through APIs, it won’t be astonishing to note that cybercriminals frequently seek opportunities to exploit them. 

According to a report by Forbes, “Gartner predicted that by 2022, application programming interface (API) attacks will become the most frequent attack vector, causing data breaches for enterprise web applications." 

The same report further revealed another trend - The overall API exploits rose from 50 to 142 per quarter between the first and the second quarter of 2022. 

An API can be understood as an intermediary software tool that serves as an intermediary that facilitates different software components to communicate and work together. Usually, APIs contain information about their structures and methods of implementation. 

When cybercriminals manage illegal access to this information, they may use it to orchestrate cyberattacks. This makes it essential to note that API attacks can happen in various forms and ways. These attacks often exhibit unique characteristics, which can pose challenges in terms of detection, prediction, and protection. 

Significant API Breaches of Recent Times 

Some of the most significant and recent API breaches between 2021 and 2023 will enhance your understanding of how the prevailing API vulnerabilities are affecting businesses. 

1. Twitter: The leading online social media platform and microblogging service, Twitter, experienced a major API breach when hackers exploited its API vulnerability to access the data of over 5.4 million Twitter users.  
2.  Dropbox: Cloud storage and file-sharing platform Dropbox suffered an API breach caused by a phishing scam through which hackers were able to access 130 GitHub repositories, a few containing API keys and user data. 
3. Optus: The Optus API beach is said to have exposed 11.2 million customer records compromising their data including their phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, date of birth, and home addresses. The value of this data breach is estimated to be over $140 million. 
4. 3Commas: The cryptocurrency trading platform called 3Commas got hacked to the tune of $22 million when hackers stole their API keys. Hackers dumped approximately 10,000 API keys anonymously on Twitter, multiplying the damage and chaos.  
5. Beetle Eye: The marketing platform Beetle Eye experienced a massive API breach that exposed a whopping seven million customer records. According to a report “Beetle Eye, had a misconfigured Amazon Web Services cloud storage bucket exposing more than 6,000 files, totaling more than 1 GB of data.”

These and similar data breaches reveal some interesting challenges that are faced by the API industry. When the API keys are created to integrate with third-party applications, it raises challenges for API security issues. The best way to keep such nightmares at bay is to prevent them.  

Understanding the intricacies of these breaches is the first step toward effective prevention. Considering that over 80% of internet traffic flows through APIs, it is not surprising that cybercriminals actively seek opportunities to exploit them. 

APIs, serving as intermediaries facilitating communication between software components, become vulnerable when cybercriminals gain illegal access to their structures and implementation methods. The unique characteristics of API attacks pose challenges in terms of detection, prediction, and protection. 

To mitigate the risks associated with API breaches, organizations must prioritize preventive measures. This includes implementing rigorous security protocols, staying informed about emerging threats, and addressing vulnerabilities in API integrations. The challenges presented by API breaches underscore the necessity for continued vigilance and innovation in cybersecurity practices to safeguard digital ecosystems.