Modern software is built on the backs of APIs (Application Programming Interface). It unites separate bits of the web, allowing systems to communicate with each other. With APIs being used on such a wide scale, managing them becomes a mammoth task.
To add to the chaos, we’ve got shadow APIs, too. Shadow APIs live in a company’s systems somewhere but without official knowledge and use. They are created as band-aids, side projects, or hacky solutions but can create problems if left unchecked.
We will now pick up the torch and show what shadow APIs are, why they are harmful, and how to detect and restrain them. We will also look at some great tools and tactics to give you back control over your API security landscape.
What is a Shadow API?
A shadow API is an unmanaged and, in most cases, undocumented or unofficial internal API inside the organization’s IT environment. These API endpoints circumvent standard governance processes and are invisible to IT and security teams.
Internal Shadow APIs can be homegrown and unregistered, or merged with an outside API without a proper process. These systems tend to have little or no documentation, security controls and are not properly maintained which carries a large amount of risk.
These hidden APIs arise from rushed development, legacy systems, third-party integrations, or lack of centralized API management. Their proliferation is further driven by shadow IT practices.
Business leaders need to deal with shadow APIs, as they can lead to security issues, non-compliance with data protection laws and regulations, tech debt, and efficiency killers.
Without visibility into all shadow APIs, your organization will be limited in strategically planning and executing any API initiative or dealing with security breaches and deployment errors that can spoil the organization’s name.
Risks Associated with Shadow APIs
Shadow APIs open up a number of risks that are more likely to tangent in the future at times when there will be fewer organizations considering their API exposure.
Therefore, easily and effectively managing these threats is important for any issue management on systems like this.
- Security Vulnerabilities: Security controls are almost always missing or incomplete in shadow APIs because they aren’t part of a company’s API catalog, so threat actors/hackers seek them out. A breach of the shadow API would allow hackers to access even more data.
- Breach of Compliance: Shadow APIs can unintentionally contravene data protection laws, such as GDPR compliance or HIPAA laws, which may lead to huge fines and legal action.
- Operational Inefficiencies: Shadow APIs can also cause operational inefficiencies, such as duplication of efforts and hidden system dependencies. This makes maintenance and upgrades more difficult, costing you a great deal of money down the road.
Lastly, shadow APIs can harm business reputation and customer trust. Additionally, security breaches or service outages resulting from unmanaged APIs can undermine customer confidence and result in churn and bad PR.
How to Prevent Shadow API Exposure
Given the risks associated with shadow APIs, preventing their exposure becomes a crucial challenge for organizations today. Some of the key strategies to prevent exposure include:
Creating an API-First Mentality
An API-aware culture is essential here to avoid exposure to shadow APIs. It’s always good to have regular API best practices training and workshops with all staff. Be sure to educate your team at all company levels on how easy it is to build unofficial APIs quickly.
Open an API Usage discussion across departments. If everyone is on the same page about maintaining solid API hygiene, they will more likely adhere to compliance and be vigilant in identifying such APIs.
Implementing API Governance
Define API creation, deployment, and management policies. Establish a single source of truth for APIs in your organization by recording every API the developers use centrally, containing documentation and approval before usage. Enforce automated Shadow API discovery tools.
Check your API landscape for governance adherence as part of a regular audit. Adopt API gateways and management platforms for greater visibility and control.
Giving Developers Automony (While Keeping an Eye on Things)
Give developers access to the latest development tools for faster development and API creation/development. Introduce self-service portals through which developers can simply register and document their APIs.
Provide API design guidelines and ready-to-use. This way, you can be a better innovator and still have the much-needed oversight.
Regular Review and Monitoring
Regularly review your API strategy to ensure it meets business goals and security requirements. Continuous monitoring should be in place for your API ecosystem so that any abnormal activities and unauthorized APIs will raise the alarm.
Shift Left Security
One of the best ways to detect shadow APIs early on is to have security in place from the start when developing your API. When a secure design is the default, you’re not just stopping vulnerabilities—you’re establishing a culture in your organization that produces APIs protected by security as a standard and does things right because of it.
Why Astra is the best in pentesting?
- We’re the only company that combines automated & manual pentest to create a one-of-a-kind pentest platform.
- Vetted scans ensure zero false positives.
- Our intelligent vulnerability scanner emulates hacker behavior & evolves with every pentest.
- Astra’s scanner helps you shift left by integrating with your CI/CD.
- Our platform helps you uncover, manage & fix vulnerabilities in one place.
- Trusted by the brands you trust like Agora, Spicejet, Muthoot, Dream11, etc.
What is API Discovery, and How Can it Help?
Shadow API Discovery is a way of finding all APIs in an organization, including those that are hidden or undocumented (the functionality may still be available). This is also an essential practice that benefits organizations by keeping a consolidated view of their APIs, making them easy to monitor, secure, and govern.
API Discovery provides comprehensive coverage of the challenge of defending against such APIs. It enables organizations to discover APIs that may be living in production but undiscovered or forgotten – which would prove to be a security threat and make things go wrong.
Identifying these APIs allows teams to address them through proper management, establishing use under appropriate controls and security standards, and overall API strategies. In this way, duplicate efforts and resources can be avoided.
Different Tools to Detect Shadow APIs
Defending shadow APIs needs a blend of specialized tools and domain knowledge. Below is a summary of some important tools and ways to go about it:
Astra Pentest
Astra Pentest is a complete security testing platform that can help you discover and perform a thorough security test. Some of the features include:
- Automatic API discovery across your network
- API-specific vulnerability scanning
- Ongoing security testing integration with CI/CD pipelines
The key benefits of using Astra Pentest are visibility into your API landscape, reduced risk of data breaches, and ease of compliance management.
Open-source Options
- OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy): OWASP ZAP is an open-source security testing tool that can act as a reverse proxy. The tool can intercept API traffic and, therefore, discover typically undocumented APIs (being used behind the scenes). ZAP is also capable of basic security testing, so it serves as a dual-purposed discovery and preliminary audit tool for shadow APIs.
- Fiddler: Fiddler is a web debugging proxy that can intercept, modify, and analyze API traffic. Its ability to intercept all HTTP and HTTPS traffic also makes it a valuable tool for locating such APIs, particularly in client-side (web or mobile) applications.
- Mitmproxy – mitmproxy is a free and open-source interactive HTTPS proxy. You can use it to inspect, modify, and replay API requests, which makes it a great tool for discovering hidden APIs.
Astra Pentest is built by the team of experts that helped secure Microsoft, Adobe, Facebook, and Buffer
Advanced Shadow API Mitigation Strategies
As organizations mature in API management practices, more sophisticated approaches are needed to mitigate shadow APIs fully. Following are some ways to level up your API security game:
Zero-trust Architecture for APIs
A zero-trust architecture assumes that, by default, no API can be trusted, even within the internal network. This approach involves:
- API requests individual checks for authentication and authorization
- Micro-segmentation of API access based on least privilege principles
- Ongoing validation of API consumer’s authentication and authorization
- All API traffic is encrypted, both in transit and at rest.
API Monitoring and Anomaly Detection
Continuous monitoring is more than once-in-a-while scans; it is full visibility into the API behavior in real-time.
- Utilize AI-powered tools to create baseline API behavior patterns.
- Set alerts for any abnormal API activity, unusual access, or increased traffic volumes.
- Possible API detection based on traffic analysis using Machine Learning algorithms.
API Versioning and Deprecation Strategies
If there’s one coding chore/task that is a nightmare for developers, it’s API versioning. APIs’ true lifecycle cannot be understood or managed until a proper versioning and deprecation strategy is implemented to help address these shadow APIs.
- Get specific versioning enabled across all APIs (internal & external).
- Give your stakeholders as much advanced notice about API changes and deprecations.
- Migrate away from deprecated APIs and identify the migration path by providing a transition to newer versions of managed services.
- Streamline identification and consolidation of dormant and sunset API versions.
Automated API Security Scans
You need proper automated security testing to monitor the 24/7 load in your API ecosystem. This is where Astra’s automated API security testing comes in:
- Regularly monitor your API environment for security vulnerabilities
- Detection engine for common API security vulnerabilities such as injection flaws, broken authentication, and improper access controls
- CI/CD pipeline integration for left shift security practices
The power of Astra’s platform extends far beyond basic testing and provides a more holistic view by assessing API security in its entirety.
Final Thoughts
Shadow APIs substantially threaten security, compliance, and operational efficiency. To address these challenges, organizations must have an API-aware culture and policy enforcement mechanism and rely on discovery tools supplemented by automation.
Constant monitoring and specific security testing are necessary to secure the API ecosystem.
Such APIs need to be managed on an ongoing basis. A well-managed API landscape is less risky and supports more innovation and efficiency.
So, if you want to start improving API security, consider conducting a proper assessment. Tools such as Astra’s pentest platform could help detect and eliminate hidden API risks.
FAQs
What is the difference between shadow API vs. zombie API?
Shadow APIs are undocumented, but active APIs that are created outside official channels. Zombie APIs, on the other hand, are deprecated, forgotten remnants of past versions. Both pose security risks due to a lack of oversight.