No matter your industry, you’re likely surrounded by application programming interface (API) usage and impacted by vulnerable APIs.
Akamai estimated that 83% of all web traffic was API-related in 2019. Gartner predicts that by 2022, APIs will become the most frequent attack vector. Many major recent data breaches and leaks have involved APIs for some facet of the attack.
Below, we outline API benefits as well as how to avoid their vulnerabilities.
What is an application programming interface (API)?
Application Programming Interface (API) is a technology that enables and facilitates communication between different applications.
They’re an essential part of the current technological revolution — pipelines that enable a quick and seamless transfer of information and application functionality.
What is the value of APIs?
All industries can use and find value with APIs as they provide a bridge between two systems in order to obtain information.
The plethora of programming languages don’t work well together. So, when one app needs to interact with the functionality of another app, things can get messy and challenging.
APIs solved this problem by acting as a common set of functions that can act as a translator or intermediary between different apps.
What are the advantages of API-driven development?
APIs bring a new level of modularity to applications. APIs allow developers to leverage the expertise of other applications. When an organization develops an application, they no longer need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to things like authentication, communication, payment processing, and maps.


