The global IT communications sector is witnessing unprecedented transformations driven by innovations technologies like 5G, 6G, Open RAN, satellite connectivity, and AI. At the heart of these industry disruptors are application programming interfaces (APIs).
Telecommunication operators and developers shift from competition to collaboration to deploy, standardize, test, maintain, and operate new networks for global customers. And the use of APIs in the industry increased exponentially. Acumen Research and Consulting estimated that the transformation of global telecommunications is driving the Telecom API sector to an all time high. Growing at a CAGR of 20.2%, the market’s predicted worth is $1,113 billion by 2030 .
From facilitating video calls, text messaging, and online content to sharing business-critical data between enterprises, APIs are essential for the new telecommunication digital supply chain.
But how secure are your APIs? And what are the main threats and solutions for API security? This report will dive into the latest advancements and challenges in API security, and why every business must protect their APIs from cyberattacks.
Are your APIs low-risk, high-reward targets?
APIs are software interfaces that allow different applications to communicate and exchange data with each other. They enable businesses to offer innovative services, enhance customer experience, streamline operations, and integrate with partners.: From social media platforms to e-commerce sites, cloud services, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices—APIs are everywhere.
Despite being so critical, most developers, programmers, and organizations treat API security as an afterthought, neglecting to include basic concepts that can mitigate most threats from the early start of the project. However, tTelecommunications are not immune to API attacks. Recently, an attacker accessed the data of 37 million customers after breaching a T-Mobile API. And this is not an isolated incident.
In 2022, Optus, the second largest telecommunication company in Australia, was held ransom by a hacker who breached their API and obtained data from over 11 million users, demanding a $1 million dollar payment.
It's essential to understand API risks especially today, as the telecommunication industry is in full transformation swing. APIs can expose sensitive and business data to external parties. Furthermore, they are the gateway into wider systems. This is why APIs are preferred targets for hackers. According to Gartner analysts, by 2022, API abuses will be the most frequent attack vector resulting in data breaches for enterprise web applications.
Securing APIs is a technical issue and a business imperative. When APIs are poorly developed, they become a low-risk, high-reward target for cybercriminals around the world. Without proper actions and best practices, APIs are a weakness in your digital attack surface which hackers will not hesitate to exploit. Nevertheless, companies can rapidly revert this trend by applying simple security techniques from the start of each project. But before diving into the solutions, let's look into the major security incidents.
API security from design to deployment and operation
The Salt Security “State of API Security Report ” revealed that 94% of companies experienced security incidents in production APIs. 20% stated their organizations suffered a data breach as a result of security gaps in APIs.
All API security incidents can be classified in two main categories: design flaws and implementation and operation flaws. Both of these have been beautifully covered in the OWASP API Top 10 document. I would urge every CTO to read that document first before opening up any public APIs on your SaaS Tools.
API design security flaws
Design flaws are inherent in the way an API is designed and specified. There are three main categories of security loopholes here:
1. Broken object level authorization
Broken object level authorization risks happen when API developers do not embed the proper security designs to properly check if a user is authorized to access–or manipulate—a specific resource or object. Attackers can exploit object level authorization weakness to access other digital assets connected to the API, including users' data. Additionally, once inside the system, they can make changes or perform unauthorized actions by manipulating the object identifier in the API request.
2. Broken authentication
If API programmers do not implement adequate mechanisms to verify the identity of users or clients accessing it, the flaw is known as a broken authentication. Cybercriminals commonly use these flaws to bypass authentication checks or steal credentials by exploiting weak passwords, insecure tokens, or misconfigured OAuth flows.
3. Lack of encryption
Encryption is vital to securing digital assets in the era of ransomware and data privacy priorities. When APIs employ weak encryption or do not encrypt all data—in use, in transit, or at rest—attackers gain the upper hand and can exploit this flaw to intercept or modify data by performing man-in-the-middle attacks or accessing unencrypted storage.
API implementation and operation security flaws
Implementation flaws are introduced during APIs' development, deployment, operation, and maintenance. Because most APIs are not built with security at their core, these types of errors are common and known to affect every type of company, large, medium, or small.
Injection attacks
This attack happens when an API does not correctly validate user input before passing it to a backend system such as a database or a command interpreter. For example, an attacker could exploit this flaw to execute malicious commands or queries by injecting SQL code, OS commands, or XML code into the API parameters.
Improper error handling
An attacker can exploit improper error handling to gain insights into the internal workings of an API or its backend systems. This is done by triggering errors and analyzing the error messages. The solution? The API needs to be resilient and handle errors gracefully without returning verbose or sensitive information to users or clients.
Misconfiguration
Misconfiguration is one of the top weaknesses used by cybercriminals. In API environments, they occur when deployed with insecure settings or defaults. For example, an attacker could access unprotected endpoints, debugging interfaces, or administrative functions by exploiting weak access controls, missing headers, or outdated software versions.
How to ensure your API security: Best practices
To mitigate the design and implementation risks, APIs need to follow secure design principles. One of the most important being the principle of least privilege. This means developers should only grant access rights necessary for each user role or client type.
Additionally, developers must implement deep security layers—embedding security into every aspect of their APIs. This includes encryption, authentication, authorization, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), logging, and monitoring.
On top of that, coders should always adopt secure coding practices that validate input, escape output, hande errors properly, and use safe libraries and frameworks.
Finally, companies that rely on APIs must have an outsourced, in-house, or hybrid security team ready to act at all times. From shutting down attackers to running scans, identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses, patching them up, or creating virtual patches, staying one step ahead of cybercriminals is critical.
Ultimately, the best cybersecurity prevention strategy is to go on the offense. Releasing APIs into the digital world—ripe with sophisticated cyber threats—without offensive security programs in place, is a disaster just waiting to happen.
Fully managed platforms that integrate web application scanners (WAS), web application firewalls (WAF), DDoS & BOT mitigation (DBM), Content Delivery Network (CDN), and threat intelligence engines (TIE) are the latest innovation in offensive API security.
Combined with vulnerability scans, automated Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) () scanners, and on-demand manual penetration testing certified security experts, these solutions are the best tools companies have to secure their APIs. And consequently, strengthen the security posture of their entire organization.
