Akamai Announces API Security Product To Protect APIs From Business Abuse And Data Theft

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 2, 2023

API security has become a critical concern for organizations as API attacks continue to grow. A recent State of the Internet report by Akamai noted that 2022 was a record year for application and API attacks. Once an API has been authorized by a web application and API protection (WAAP) product, security teams have no visibility into its use within the organization. Malicious actors are aware of this blind spot and have shifted to abusing the vast API attack surface.

Akamai's stand-alone API Security solution is a result of Akamai's acquisition of Neosec, announced in April of this year. It works with any API gateway, WAAP or cloud implementation. Akamai customers can also take advantage of edge connector, an integration that saves the time, energy, and cost of product integration with the click of a button.

The API Security product provides complete visibility into API activity, uses behavioral analytics to detect complex threats and improves detections by analyzing historical data uniquely stored in a data lake. The offering delivers API discovery, visibility and risk auditing combined with detection and response capabilities that enable full investigation and threat hunting. With API Security's differentiating Shadow Hunt threat hunting managed service, machine learning signals are delivered to human analysts for investigation. Users can see their APIs, which means they can ensure protection by recording API activity, detecting any possible breaches and keeping customer data safe.

"Akamai's API Security helps us with discovering and monitoring our critical APIs for all applications," said Stan Lee, CISO of Earnin, a financial technology company. "It helps us to improve compliance and risk management while enabling business process agility and outcomes."

"Recent breaches have painfully revealed the necessity of API security solutions. Preventing API-based attacks by guarding endpoints and checking credentials is no longer sufficient," said Rupesh Chokshi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Application Security at Akamai. "Akamai's API Security gives organizations the ability to monitor API behavior in any platform or gateway to ensure that business processes are running smoothly and securely."