Shadow APIs are an increasing risk for organizations of all sizes because they can mask malicious behavior and lead to massive data loss. For those unfamiliar with the term, a shadow API is an application programming interface (API) that is not officially documented or supported.
Contrary to popular belief, unfortunately it’s all too common to have an API in production that no one on your operations or security team knows about. Enterprises manage thousands of APIs, many of which are not routed through proxies such as API gateways or web application firewalls. This means they are not monitored, rarely audited, and most vulnerable to attack.
Because shadow APIs are invisible to security teams, they provide hackers with an undefended path to exploit vulnerabilities. Malicious actors could manipulate these APIs to access a range of sensitive information, from customer addresses to company financial records. Given the potential for massive data breaches and serious compliance violations, preventing unauthorized access through shadow APIs has become mission-critical.
To help you get started, I’ll explore how APIs are hidden and discuss how shadow APIs can be used for malicious purposes. You’ll also learn the importance of monitoring API usage and traffic, and how to identify shadow APIs and reduce risk with purpose-built security controls.
API how to hide
Many factors can lead to a lack of API visibility, including poor API management, lack of governance, and insufficient documentation. Without adequate governance, organizations may have too many APIs that are not being effectively utilized.
A large portion of shadow APIs is caused by employee turnover. Frankly, developers don’t share all their tribal knowledge when leaving a new opportunity. With the developer job market so hot, it’s easy to see how this could happen. Especially when you consider how many projects they are working on. Even employees with the best intentions can miss something during a handover.
There are also APIs that are passed on due to mergers or acquisitions that are often forgotten. Inventory loss may occur during system integration, a difficult and complex operation, or the inventory may not exist at all. Large companies that acquire multiple smaller businesses are particularly at risk, as smaller businesses are more likely to have poorly documented APIs.
Another culprit is APIs with poor security or known vulnerabilities that are still being used. Sometimes, during an upgrade process, an older version of the software may have to run alongside the newer version for a period of time. Then unfortunately, the person responsible for eventually decommissioning the API either left, was given a new task, or forgot to delete the previous version.
How Hackers Utilize Shadow API
Shadow APIs are powerful tools for malicious actors, allowing them to bypass security measures and access sensitive data or disrupt operations. Hackers can use shadow APIs to conduct a variety of attacks, such as data exfiltration, account hijacking, and privilege escalation. They can also be used for reconnaissance purposes, gathering information about target critical systems and networks.
As if this wasn’t dangerous enough, hackers can circumvent authentication and authorization controls via shadow APIs to gain access to privileged accounts that can be used to launch more sophisticated attacks. All of this is done without the knowledge of the organization’s security team. For example, API attacks are also starting to surface in the automotive industry, putting drivers and their passengers at extreme risk.
By leveraging APIs, cybercriminals can retrieve sensitive customer data such as their address, credit card information and VIN numbers from sales quotes, which has clear implications for identity theft. These exploited API vulnerabilities could also expose vehicle locations or enable hackers to compromise remote management systems. This means cybercriminals will have the ability to unlock the vehicle, start the engine or even disable the starter entirely.
As organizations increasingly rely on cloud-based services, it becomes increasingly important to discover shadow APIs to protect their data and systems from malicious actors.
How to identify and mitigate shadow API risks
Identifying shadow APIs is an important part of API security. It involves discovering all the APIs running in your environment, understanding their purpose, and ensuring they are secure. This can be done through API discovery tools, which scan all APIs running in the environment and provide detailed information about them.
By using these tools, organizations can identify any shadow APIs that may exist in their environment and take steps to protect them before they become a greater security risk. This may include monitoring network traffic for suspicious activity, performing regular vulnerability scans, and ensuring all API requests are authenticated.
Once identified, organizations should take steps to reduce the risks associated with these APIs, such as implementing data encryption, restricting access, and enforcing security policies. Additionally, organizations should ensure that they have adequate logging systems in place so that any unauthorized access attempts can be quickly identified and addressed.
Find and eliminate shadow APIs with noname security
Now that you’ve made it to the end, let’s wrap things up so you truly understand the task before you. The bottom line is that shadow APIs present unique challenges to organizations like yours. They provide hackers with a way to hide their activities because they are often difficult to detect and track. At the very least they are a threat to data security and privacy.
Having said that, Noname Security can help you accurately track all APIs, especially shadow APIs. They provide a single pane of glass, giving you complete visibility into all data sources, whether on-premises or in the cloud.
Their API security platform monitors load balancers, API gateways, and web application firewalls, enabling you to find and catalog every type of API, including HTTP, RESTful, GraphQL, SOAP, XML-RPC, JSON-RPC, and gRPC. Believe it or not, their customers often find that there are 40% more APIs in their environment than they previously thought.
Shadow API refers to an unauthorized or uncontrolled third-party API, which poses potential security risks and harms to applications and systems.
Using the shadow API may cause the following problems:
- Security vulnerabilities: Shadow APIs may have security vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit to invade systems, steal sensitive information, or perform malicious operations.
- Data leakage: Through shadow APIs, sensitive data may be obtained and abused by unauthorized third parties, causing user privacy or business secrets to be leaked.
- Service reliability: Shadow API may not be able to provide stable and reliable services, and there may be delays, failures or unavailability, thus affecting the normal operation of the application.
- Comply with compliance requirements: Using unauthorized shadow APIs may violate regulations, compliance requirements, or corporate policies, which may result in legal disputes or damage to the organization’s reputation. Here is a sample code snippet showing a scenario using the shadow API:
python
import requests
def get_user_data(user_id):
url = "https://shadowapi.com/get_user_data"
params = {
"user_id": user_id
}
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
if response.status_code == 200:
return response.json()
else:
return None
In the above code, a shadow API named “shadowapi.com/get_user_data” is used to obtain user data. However, this API is not an authorized or controlled official API, and there are potential risks. If there are security holes or malicious operations in this API, it may lead to user data leakage or other security issues.
To avoid the hazards of shadow APIs, you should:
- Only use authorized and trusted APIs and avoid unknown or unverified third-party APIs.
- Regularly review the APIs used in applications and systems to ensure that all APIs are authorized and compliant.
- Implement API access control and authentication to restrict access to the API and ensure that only authorized users or systems can use the API.
- Monitor and audit API activities to detect abnormal behaviors or potential security threats in a timely manner.
- Strengthen API management and security training to improve developers and administrators’ awareness and understanding of API security.
The harm of shadow APIs is mainly reflected in security risks, data leakage, service reliability and compliance requirements. Properly managing and controlling the use of APIs is an important step in ensuring system security and data confidentiality.
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