API Security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

A new "comprehensive toolset" called  AlienFox  is being distributed on Telegram as a way for threat actors to harvest credentials from API keys and secrets from popular cloud service providers. "The spread of AlienFox represents an unreported trend towards attacking more minimal cloud services, unsuitable for crypto mining, in order to enable and expand subsequent campaigns," SentinelOne security researcher Alex Delamotte  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The cybersecurity company characterized the malware as highly modular and constantly evolving to accommodate new features and performance improvements. The primary use of AlienFox is to enumerate misconfigured hosts via scanning platforms like  LeakIX  and  SecurityTrails , and subsequently leverage various scripts in the toolkit to extract credentials from configuration files exposed on the servers. Specifically, it entails searching for susceptible servers associated with popular web framewor

The emergence of smart mobility services and applications has led to a sharp increase in the use of APIs in the automotive industry. However, this increased reliance on APIs has also made them one of the most common attack vectors. According to Gartner, APIs account for 90% of the web application attack surface areas.  With no surprise, similar trends are emerging also in the smart mobility space. A recent  Automotive and Smart Mobility Cybersecurity Report  by Upstream Security indicates that the automotive and smart mobility ecosystem has seen a 380% increase in API-based incidents in 2022, compared to 2021. Additionally, APIs accounted for 12% of total cyber incidents in 2022, up from only 2% in 2021.  When examining smart mobility applications and services, Upstream's threat intelligence team reported that black-hat actors were found to be behind 53% of incidents, indicating malicious intent as the driving force of the majority of API-related attacks. The impact of these in

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a strategic framework that helps organizations continuously assess and manage cyber risk. It breaks down the complex task of managing security threats into five distinct stages: Scoping, Discovery, Prioritization, Validation, and Mobilization. Each of these stages plays a crucial role in identifying, addressing, and mitigating vulnerabilities - before they can be exploited by attackers.  On paper, CTEM sounds great . But where the rubber meets the road – especially for CTEM neophytes - implementing CTEM can seem overwhelming. The process of putting CTEM principles into practice can look prohibitively complex at first. However, with the right tools and a clear understanding of each stage, CTEM can be an effective method for strengthening your organization's security posture.  That's why I've put together a step-by-step guide on which tools to use for which stage. Want to learn more? Read on… Stage 1: Scoping  When you're defin

As digital transformation takes hold and businesses become increasingly reliant on digital services, it has become more important than ever to secure applications and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). With that said, application security and API security are two critical components of a comprehensive security strategy. By utilizing these practices, organizations can protect themselves from malicious attacks and security threats, and most importantly, ensure their data remains secure. Interestingly enough, despite the clear advantages these disciplines provide, businesses are struggling to understand which security approach is best for their needs. So in this article, we'll discuss the differences between application and API security, best practices that you should consider, and ultimately make the case for why you need both.  What is Application Security Application security, better known as AppSec, is a critical aspect of any organization's cybersecurity strategy.

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new malicious package on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that impersonates a software development kit (SDK) for SentinelOne, a major cybersecurity company, as part of a campaign dubbed  SentinelSneak . The package, named  SentinelOne  and now taken down, is said to have been published between December 8 and 11, 2022, with nearly two dozen versions pushed in quick succession over a period of two days. It claims to offer an easier method to access the  company's APIs , but harbors a malicious backdoor that's engineered to amass sensitive information from development systems, including access credentials, SSH keys, and configuration data. What's more, the threat actor has also been observed releasing two more packages with similar naming variations –  SentinelOne-sdk  and  SentinelOneSDK  – underscoring the  continued threats  lurking in open source repositories. "The SentinelOne imposter package is just the lat

API attacks are on the rise. One of their major targets is eCommerce firms like yours.  APIs are a vital part of how eCommerce businesses are accelerating their growth in the digital world.  ECommerce platforms use APIs at all customer touchpoints, from displaying products to handling shipping. Owing to their increased use, APIs are attractive targets for hackers, as the following numbers expose:  API attack traffic increased by  681% in 2021    77% of retail respondents experienced API security incidents in 2021– according to  Noname security If left unaddressed, API abuse can damage your reputation, harm consumers, and affect the bottom line. Hence  API security  is worthy of consideration for eCommerce stakeholders. Why do eCommerce companies need APIs? API makes it easy for retailers and eCommerce platforms to handle product listings and orders. It transformed the static website into a completely customizable headless store. Retailers use APIs for various functions, inclu

There are several myths and misconceptions about API security. These myths about securing APIs are crushing your business.  Why so? Because these myths are widening your security gaps. This is making it easier for attackers to abuse APIs. And API attacks are costly. Of course, you will have to bear financial losses. But there are other consequences too:  Reputational damage  Customer attrition  Loss of customer trust  Difficulty in acquiring new customers Legal costs  Massive fines and penalties for non-compliance In this article, we will debunk the top 5 myths about  securing APIs   Secure APIs Better: Top 5 API Security Myths Demystified  Myth 1: API Gateways, Existing IAM Tools, and WAFs are Enough to Secure API Reality:   These aren't enough to secure your APIs. They are layers in API security. They need to be part of a larger security solution.  API gateways monitor endpoints. They provide visibility into API usage. They offer some level of access control and rate-l

Security threats are always a concern when it comes to APIs. API security can be compared to driving a car. You must be cautious and review everything closely before releasing it into the world. By failing to do so, you're putting yourself and others at risk. API attacks are more dangerous than other breaches. Facebook had a 50M user account affected by an API breach, and an API data breach on the Hostinger account exposed 14M customer records.  If a hacker gets into your API endpoints, it could spell disaster for your project. Depending on the industries and geographies you're talking about, insecure APIs could get you into hot water. Especially in the EU, if you're serving the banking, you could face massive legal and compliance problems if you're discovered to be using insecure APIs.  To mitigate these risks, you need to be aware of the potential  API vulnerabilities  that cybercriminals can exploit.   6 Commonly Overlooked API Security Risks #1 No API Visibili

July may positively disrupt and adrenalize the old-fashioned Dynamic Application Security Scanning (DAST) market, despite the coming holiday season. The pathbreaking innovation comes from ImmuniWeb, a global application security company, well known for, among other things, its free  Community Edition  that processes over 100,000 daily security scans of web and mobile apps.  Today, ImmuniWeb announced that its new product –  Neuron  – is publicly available. This would be another boring press release by a software vendor, but the folks from ImmuniWeb managed to add a secret sauce that you will unlikely be able to resist tasting. The DAST scanning service is flexibly available as a SaaS, and unsurprisingly contains all fashionable features commonly advertised by competitors on the rapidly growing global market, spanning from native CI/CD integrations to advanced configuration of security scanning, pre-programmed or authenticated testing.  But the groundbreaking feature is Neuron's

With the growth in digital transformation, the API management market is set to grow  by more than 30%   by the year 2025 as more businesses build web APIs and consumers grow to rely on them for everything from mobile apps to customized digital services. As part of strategic business planning, an API helps generate revenue by allowing customers access to the functionality of a website or computer program through custom applications. As more and more businesses are implementing APIs, the risk of API attacks increases. By 2022, Gartner predicted that API (Application Programming Interface) attacks would become the most common attack vector for enterprise web applications. Cybercriminals are targeting APIs more aggressively than ever before, and businesses must take a proactive approach to  API security  to combat this new aggression. API and The Business World With integrating APIs into modern IT environments, businesses are becoming increasingly data-driven. Just as a restaurant

The following article is based on a  webinar series on enterprise API security by Imvision , featuring expert speakers from IBM, Deloitte, Maersk, and Imvision discussing the importance of centralizing an organization's visibility of its APIs as a way to accelerate remediation efforts and improve the overall security posture. Centralizing security is challenging in today's open ecosystem When approaching API visibility, the first thing we have to recognize is that today's enterprises actively avoid managing all their APIs through one system. According to IBM's Tony Curcio, Director of Integration Engineering, many of his enterprise customers already work with hybrid architectures that leverage classic on-premise infrastructure while adopting SaaS and IaaS across various cloud vendors.  These architectures aim to increase resilience and flexibility, but are well aware that it complicates centralization efforts' to: 'These architectures aim to increase resilie

This article was written by Peter Gerdenitsch, Group CISO at Raiffeisen Bank International, and is based on a presentation given during Imvision's Executive Education Program, a series of events focused on how enterprises are taking charge of the API security lifecycle. Launching the "Security in Agile" program Headquartered in Vienna, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) operates across 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe with around 45,000 employees. Our focus is on providing universal banking solutions to customers, as well as developing digital banking products for the retail and corporate markets. Accordingly, RBI has a substantial R&D division, making for a very large community of IT and engineering professionals all over Europe. Back in 2019, we began shifting to a product-led agile setup for RBI, introducing various security roles contributing and collaborating to achieve our strategic goals. As part of this journey, we established the security champ