With Each API We Increase The Attack Surface Area

It is easy for me to get excited about a new API. I'm an engineer. I'm a dude. I am the API Evangelist. It easy to think about the potential for good when it comes to APIs. It is much harder to suspend the logical side of my brain and think about the ways in which APIs can be used in negative ways. As a technologist it is natural for me to focus in on the technology, and tune out the rest of the world--it is what we do. It takes a significant amount of extra effort to stop, suspend the portion of your brain that technology whispers to, and think about the unintended consequences, and the pros and cons of why we are doing APIs.

Technologists aren't very good at slowing down and thinking about the pros/cons of connecting something to the Internet, let alone whether or not an API should even exist in the first place (it has to exist!). As I read a story about the increases in DDOS attacks on the network layer of our online world, I can't help but think that with each new API we deploy, that we are significantly increasing the attack surface area for our businesses, organizations, institutions, and government agencies. It feels like we are good at thinking about the amazing API potential, but we really suck at seeing what a target we are putting on our back when we do APIs.

We seem to be marching forward, drunk on the potential of APIs and Internet-connected everything. We aren't properly securing the technology we have, something we can see playing out with each wave of vulnerabilities, breaches, and leaks. We are blindly pushing forward with new API implementations, and using the same tactics we are using for our web and mobile technology, something we are seeing play out with the Internet of Things, and the vulnerable cameras, printers, and another object we are connecting to the Internet using APIs.

With each API we add, we are increasing the attack surface area for our systems and devices. APIs can be secured, but from what I'm seeing we aren't investing in security with our existing APIs, something that is being replicated with each wave of deployments. We need to get better at thinking about the negative consequences of doing APIs. We need to stop making ourselves targets. We need to get better at thinking about whether or not an API should exist or not. We need a way to better visualize the target surface area we've crafted for ourselves using APIs, and be a little more honest with ourselves about why we are doing this.