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An API is one of the best ways to integrate your systems with other companies’ systems and apps (when it makes sense) to extend your business reach. Because this kind of sharing involves many hands, you need to open up part of the back-end infrastructure so an API implementation is viable.

That’s where the question arises: doesn’t all this “openness” put your own data security at risk? The reality is that, without a strong API distribution strategy, it can be relatively risky to move in that direction.

When you build an interface of this kind, services and apps become legitimately more exposed, since their code needs to be handled by other people. The first investment to prevent increased reach from turning into a nightmare is in the security mechanisms that keep the business running—such as gateways, for example.

From there, you need to reinforce security across the entire project, because if an attacker gets past the gateway, your data may be exposed, overloading the systems where it’s made available. The result—beyond total insecurity around your information—is wasted time and money trying to reverse a problem that could have been avoided if the first step had been done properly.

But as mentioned, strengthening your API gateways is only the first step.

5 ways to ensure a secure API

After hiring a strong development team—or a software factory recognized in the market—to build your API, it’s time to follow a few basic tips so your data distribution strategy doesn’t go differently than planned.

Here are five key ones:

Validate parameters

You need absolute certainty that all data received by the API is valid and won’t cause short-, medium-, or long-term damage. To do that, create a clear description of acceptable input types so the system can enforce the rules of the game.

Also remember that some tools used to build APIs can limit parameter coverage, which can reduce the detection of potential threats. So sketch things out (even by hand) to avoid language/definition errors when setting priorities.

Enable threat detection

After validating parameters, run a comprehensive scan to identify attack signatures and create protection mechanisms—don’t stick only to “basic” possibilities.

After all, incidents can happen in many ways, from raw input abuse to denial-of-service scenarios.

Use SSL

Having SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is no longer a luxury—it’s an obligation for any company that truly wants software development to go hand-in-hand with data security.

This requirement is effective against attacks and provides integrity for data exchanged between clients and servers. So use SSL wherever possible within your API security strategy.

Be strict with authentication and authorization

Don’t build an interface that can’t collect basic information about who can use it—such as user identity and the requesting application. Knowing what you provide, to whom, and with what type of access is one of the main ways to avoid surprises and prevent misuse.

Use proven solutions

Last but not least: don’t try to be “creative” with unproven solutions when distributing your APIs. If there are security frameworks that have already been tested and approved for this purpose, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.

That doesn’t mean building your own is forbidden, but it’s better to test new security approaches when your data isn’t truly on the line. Use solutions that already exist, are recognized by the market, and are easy to apply—because mistakes can make protection less effective than it should be.

Do you still have questions about how to improve your business’s API strategy? Talk to X-Apps!