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Solving API Performance, Reliability, and Security Challenges

APIs, or application programming interfaces, are increasingly becoming the foundation upon which mobile applications, websites, and other applications are based. If you aren’t already, you could be using an API very soon and you will want to have the knowledge base to know which API works best for you.

What questions should enterprises be asking themselves as they review existing APIs and future APIs?

First, let’s start with an understanding.

An API is a particular set of rules and specifications that software programs can follow to communicate with each other. It serves as an interface between different software programs and facilitates their interaction.

APIs are built for everything from native mobile apps and single-page apps to search results on a website and government open data sharing. Users especially have high expectations for performance and APIs help to gather and load information that end users request quickly.

However, just like web servers, API endpoints are exposed to threats from hackers and bots. APIs can also be accidentally misused by inputting code that doesn’t fit into the use case the publisher envisioned when creating the API, creating an unintentional DDoS attack.

Understanding API vulnerabilities is only part of the solution. There are many different approaches to managing API security and ensure availability.

  • Utilizing a third-party to deliver your APIs and serve as a distributed layer of protection.
  • Offloading API requests from your API origin infrastructure.
  • Using third-party services to route to multiple API origins based on performance and other characteristics.

A true in-depth defence strategy should always be deployed when it comes to API development. It should include:

  •  A positive security model by defining how the API should be consumed
  •  A negative security model by protecting API endpoints from Layer-7 web application vulnerabilities
  •  API-specific reporting for increased visibility into how end users interact with available APIs

Once in place, you can be confident that your data is secure and your API infrastructure will not be overwhelmed, all without impacting performance.

As APIs becoming a strong medium for communication between a software or application and its user, the route must be secure for both parties involved.

If you want to know more about the best ways to solve API performance, reliability and security challenges, click the link below for more information.