Organizations continue their digital transformation, with APIs now serving as the main communication links between applications, platforms, services, and partners.
The widespread use of APIs introduces new security risks despite their common presence. The growing number of APIs significantly increases the cyber risks that security teams must address as they keep up with technological advances.
The Akamai State of the Internet report shows that APIs made up more than 80% of internet traffic between 2023 and 2024. This major shift has exposed multiple security weaknesses as it has happened.
The main challenge organizations face is identifying and controlling their growing attack surface. The increase in APIs used creates multiple potential entry points for attackers.
Externally accessible APIs often exist by mistake, allowing attackers to perform unauthorized actions and possibly causing data breaches and API exploitation. The problem gets harder because organizations often don’t have a clear view of their assets: shadow APIs, unknown endpoints, and undocumented interfaces stay hidden. Without a complete inventory, security teams are left in the dark and cannot fully protect their systems.
API security standardization remains inconsistent, causing major problems. The rush to deliver quickly often leads development teams to implement authentication and encryption policies carelessly. Many API releases still lack basic security measures.
API authentication and authorization systems encounter continuous security challenges. Protocols like OAuth and JWT provide robust frameworks, but their complexity can lead to implementation issues across many APIs. Improper implementation of these protocols creates security gaps that attackers can exploit for privilege escalation or unauthorized data access. The fast-paced DevOps environment heightens the risk of vulnerabilities. When APIs are updated, security settings often lag, causing configuration drift and introducing new security risks.
API security testing often receives inadequate attention from many organizations, raising serious concerns. APIs in applications usually undergo less thorough testing before launch compared to traditional software. This results in numerous security flaws, including business logic errors, data exposure vulnerabilities, and potential abuse attack scenarios, often remaining undetected. These vulnerabilities in APIs allow attackers to execute logic-based attacks, credential stuffing, and denial-of-service attacks, ultimately damaging services and increasing operational costs.
Security tools that rely on traditional methods struggle to detect threats targeting APIs specifically. Relying solely on perimeter defenses fails to catch common attacks that exploit payloads or injection flaws. Ensuring API encryption and managing keys adds extra complexity, especially when data moves through multiple cloud systems in hybrid environments.
The last challenge comes from the human factor. Organizations struggle because they lack the resources and specialized knowledge needed to defend APIs against threats. Securing APIs requires staff who understand application development, network security, and cloud architecture principles. Cybersecurity teams are often understaffed and lack the technical skills to handle all types of API threats.
LevelBlue Managed WAAP offers comprehensive API security with automated exposure detection, real-time threat intelligence, and data protection features, supported by Akamai’s industry-leading technology. The distinctive managed security solution detects suspicious API activities, blocks them, and monitors excessive queries to prevent abuse tactics like credential stuffing and site scraping before they can harm the business.
LevelBlue provides API security through expert-led services, combined with layered defenses, to make protection easier for users. This platform offers robust operational security through proactive monitoring and incident reporting, as well as off-hours configuration assistance to minimize the workload on internal teams. LevelBlue shifts WAAP from just a product to an active security strategy, allowing organizations to secure their APIs and drive secure innovation in their business.
LevelBlue Managed WAAP acts as a vital partner in environments where APIs serve as both business enablers and potential security threats, providing transparency along with management and protection against complex challenges. Unlike traditional tools, LevelBlue Managed WAAP offers a comprehensive management solution that addresses modern API security needs. Available in multiple tiers, it provides a solution for organizations of all sizes and security maturity levels to meet their application and API security goals.