What is an API endpoint?

By Katrina Thompson

While only part of a whole, API endpoints may be the most important part of that whole. When considering APIs in general, it is understood that they act as a hub between applications, allowing multiple computing services to ‘talk to each other’ while not sharing too much else and running light. This has caused them to underpin nearly every digital application we use today, facilitating the rapid digital scalability we’ve seen over the past few years.

However, the humble API endpoint is where the rubber hits the road.

What is an API endpoint?

An API endpoint is the tip of the spear. It’s the exact digital location at which an API receives a request (API call) for information. This is a critical junction.

This point at which the API connects with the software program of a requesting service forms one end of a communication channel. It specifies where the API can access the resources requested in the API call and is typically a URL containing the location of the resource on the server. Following this exchange, calls are funneled through the API gateway which acts as middleware between the endpoint and backend services. From there, the request can be routed, processed, and responded to.

Software programs can contain multiple API endpoints. For example, on a social media platform one API endpoint can be used for creators to moderate comments, another to measure interactions, and a third to find hashtagged content.

Why are API endpoints so important?

APIs enable scalability by allowing organizations to quickly and easily share information for free. While this does wonders for business, it also creates a lot of security threats (we’ll cover that next). However, the benefit of the API economy has been enough for companies to endure the risk.

1. They allow for fast development. Specialized, skilled software developers are a premium and not everyone is good at everything. When an organization has a new idea off the fly, it’s much easier to contract out with a third-party than it is to recruit, hire, train, and educate new staff. API integration makes this happen, and API endpoint are where this happens.
2. They leverage opportunities for the API owner. By integrating with APIs, Company A can allow third parties to access its proprietary resources, making the third-party application ‘better’. Now Company A has a stake in the third-party and has increased market viability. The more that can integrate (via API endpoints), the better for business. Before, collaborations like these would have required extensive software integration, perhaps a purchase, and hours of decision-maker time.
3. They make things more accessible for customers. Once several services come together in an ecosystem (connected via API endpoints), they can more easily trade with each other’s resources and make things more convenient for their customers. A weather app, for example, exposes its software functionality via APIs so that developers in other lanes can use that feature in their technology – a fitness tracker that tells you if it will rain on your job, a news app that features weather updates, or a traffic app that takes flooding into account.

API endpoints are the gears that allow a business to focus on its core competency and share that competency with others. This creates business benefits and an easily connected ecosystem with a lot of well-made software services handy. Now companies don’t have to be an expert in every niche – they can just easily integrate with a service that is via their API endpoint.

Threats to APIs and API endpoints

This connectedness comes at a price. If an API acts as a hub, then an attacker that gains illicit access to that hub also has access to everything it’s connected to. All the organizations that integrate in are now at risk, which is why API security – and understanding API risk intake – is so important.

Per API security firm Salt Security, API attacks are on the rise. Here are some stats based on their customer data.

• ● API attacks increased by 400% in the latter part of last year

• ● 48% of companies are talking about API security at the C-suite level

• ● 94% of respondents experienced some security issue with their production API

• ● Zombie APIs top the list of API-related concerns

• ● 62% of API security programs remain immature

Securing API endpoints

To take advantage of all of the boom (and none of the bust) that comes with leveraging API endpoints, proper management of the API lifecycle. Some best practices for API endpoint security include:

1. Using vetted techniques. Organizations such as NIST and OWASP have developed in-depth API security guidelines, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
2. Identify all APIs. Often, APIs used for testing and development can get lost in the ecosystem, much like a scalpel that is horrifyingly left in a patient after surgery. Or new ones are created and the old ones are never replaced or updated, leaving them to sit as liabilities until a hacker finds them out. Identifying where all your APIs are in space is a critical first step to any API security strategy. You can’t secure what you can’t see.
3. Streamline threat modeling. Once you’ve identified your APIs (and their endpoints) it’s best to prioritize. Chances are you have more than you know what to do with, and that’s fine. Just start by confining threat modeling to your most critical APIs and the ones that get the most use. You can build out from there, but this will give you the most bang for your buck.
4. Shift left API security practices. A secure API is one that is built with security in mind. This includes leveraging API keys, so each API request is authenticated to the API before information goes out. Engineers need to understand API security best practices as they build, because the pace of API development is so fast that if you don’t combine the two steps in one, something is likely to get missed.
5. Make APIs mistake-proof. Don’t just vet for vulnerabilities. Ensure that your API ecosystem is inoculated against negligence and misuse. The Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report states that 82% of breaches involve the ‘human element’ and a ham-handed API breach is just as bad as an intentional one.

Doing good business fast is a requirement of the modern technological era. As companies continue to utilize the API economy, it's imperative that they keep an eye on the security of their API endpoints and the services they are connected to. Done well, API endpoints facilitate major growth, collaboration, and development. Not watched carefully, API endpoints could be the touchpoint where exponential data loss occurs.

An ardent believer in personal data privacy and the technology behind it, Katrina Thompson is a freelance writer leaning into encryption, data privacy legislation and the intersection of information technology and human rights. She has written for Bora, Venafi, Tripwire and many other sites.

This content was first published by KISS PR Brand Story. Read here >> What is an API endpoint?