API Security
API security is the discipline of designing, building, and operating APIs that are resistant to the attacks that have become the dominant vector for data breaches and unauthorized access.
APIs are the attack surface of the modern web. The OWASP API Security Top 10 — broken object level authorization, broken authentication, broken object property level authorization, unrestricted resource consumption, broken function level authorization, unrestricted access to sensitive business flows, server-side request forgery, security misconfiguration, improper inventory management, and unsafe consumption of APIs — describes the failure modes that enable the majority of API-related breaches. Each is an engineering problem with an engineering solution.
Authentication and authorization are the highest-leverage API security investments. Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) — the top OWASP API vulnerability — occurs when an API endpoint fails to verify that the requesting user is authorized to access the specific object being requested. This allows attackers to access other users' data by manipulating identifiers in requests. Prevention requires that every API endpoint verifies authorization for the specific resource being requested, not just that the user is authenticated.
API security must be tested continuously, not reviewed periodically. Static analysis tools can identify insecure authentication patterns and injection vulnerabilities in code. Dynamic testing tools can probe running APIs for authorization failures, rate limiting gaps, and input validation weaknesses. API gateways can enforce authentication, rate limiting, and schema validation as runtime controls. The combination — shift-left testing that catches vulnerabilities during development, and runtime controls that limit blast radius when vulnerabilities reach production — is the defense-in-depth approach required for APIs handling sensitive data.
We build API security into the design, not the review — designing authorization models that correctly scope every operation to the authenticated principal, implementing authentication with industry-standard protocols, integrating API security testing into the CI/CD pipeline, and deploying API gateway controls for runtime enforcement. Our API security implementations align with OWASP API Security Top 10 and are designed to satisfy the API security requirements of SOC 2, PCI-DSS, and enterprise security reviews.
Compliance-Native Architecture Guide
Design principles and a structured checklist for building software that is compliant by default — not compliant by retrofit. Covers data architecture, access controls, audit trails, and vendor due diligence.