DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Software Design and Architecture
  3. Cloud Architecture
  4. Cloud APIs and How to Mitigate the Security Risks

Cloud APIs and How to Mitigate the Security Risks

APIs and insecure interfaces from the cloud are some the most vulnerable aspects of cloud computing.

Daniel Thor user avatar by
Daniel Thor
·
Apr. 30, 19 · Opinion
Like (2)
Save
Tweet
Share
13.35K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Due to its agile, flexible, and cost-efficient services, cloud solutions are inevitable for business operations and so are the unavoidable security risks and the probability of malicious attacks that you might have to endure. Cloud security threats are plenty. CSA’s nefarious twelves have listed and positioned Cloud API and insecure interfaces in the number three among the other persistent risk factors that are associated with cloud computing and the OWASP Top Ten report also acknowledged it as a primary security concern that demands intensive risk mitigation efforts.

Cloud Application Programming Interface (Cloud API)

A Cloud Application Programming Interface (Cloud API) is what facilitates the cloud services by enabling the development of applications and services provisioning the cloud hardware, software, and platforms. Cloud API is a gateway that provides access to the direct and indirect cloud infrastructures and software as the services. Cloud APIs are the means to interact with the cloud infrastructure to designate the computing, storage, and network resources for the concerned cloud applications or services. A key element in provisioning the cloud services cloud APIs are primarily based on the REST and SOAP frameworks. Along with cross-platform and cloud providers' APIs, there are also open APIs and vendor-specific APIs that helps to control the cloud resources and their distribution.

Insecure Interfaces and API

The APIs are provided by the cloud service providers to software developers to design the interfaces and through these interfaces, they can interact with the cloud services. Another layer built on the framework raises the complexity of the cloud allowing the vulnerabilities to enter in the cloud. The treats of clear-text authentication or transmission of content, improper authorizations, anonymous access, reusable passwords or tokenization can arise, hampering the cloud services and customer access, limiting monitoring and logging capabilities, creating unknown services, and API dependencies resulting in leading to the repudiation and denial of services.

Mitigating the Risk

The risk can be mitigated by adopting an effective security model for Cloud provider’s interface and employing strong authentication and access control mechanism in tandem with encrypted transmission along with a clear understanding of the dependency chain of the APIs. The added layer of protection by using cybersecurity technology is also a good idea to keep unauthorized access at bay. Cloud APIs are designed to facilitate data access and integration that has served as the pivotal factor to drive the cloud innovation. But this also brings a lot of vulnerabilities that can lead to serious security breaches and system meltdown. So before adopting the cloud model, carefully discern the security and design your cloud security policies well.

Cloud computing security

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • GPT-3 Playground: The AI That Can Write for You
  • 3 Ways That You Can Operate Record Beyond DTO [Video]
  • How To Avoid “Schema Drift”
  • Comparing Flutter vs. React Native

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: