APIs allow business applications to interact with each other and are widely used; because they enable access to sensitive software functions and data; hence, they are becoming a primary target for attackers.

A secure API can assure the confidentiality of the information it handles by making it visible only to the Users, Apps, and Servers authorized to consume it. Likewise, it must ensure the quality of the information it receives from the partners it interacts with. For example, it will only process information if it knows that a third party has not modified it.

While many organizations rely on MuleSoft to keep their operations going, the ability to test API security directly needs a lot of focus on the outside approach.

However, MuleSoft is a compelling API management platform; it provides basic API protection and helps organizations implement security policies that can harden the API defense mechanism. These security policies include:

While integrating APIs, the development team can focus on key API security points.

Identity services are the most important and commonly used security services. Identity services recognize the apps that consume the API and the server from where the request comes. The most used identity service is Active Directory. MuleSoft integrates with LDAP services, and Active Directory is the popular LDAP service.

This is the simplest form of authentication in which username and password are authenticated. However, as time changes, people move away from usernames and passwords and towards multi-factor authentication (MFA). The reason is that passwords can be predicted, and maintaining or memorizing them for longer could be difficult.

Multi-factor authentication demands the User enter a one-time token that could be received on mobile as SMS or email. The user may also have a digital key, a token that the App can authenticate. An RSA SecurID is a good example of this.

A new alternative to usernames and passwords is token-based credentials, which provide higher security and a more stable form of authentication and authorization. The idea is to issue a token based on the initial authentication request with a username and password.

API and server authentication is a process in which API authenticates Apps while consuming them. API interacts with the server, and both authenticate each other.

Every business has different business departments, and the users of these departments manage their respective operations. For example, HR handles Human resource operations and confidential data related to employees and their compensation; similarly, Finance handles the information related to payments, salary disbursements, and many other operations. Therefore, to simplify this, user groups are created in Active Directory or LDAP, where identity providers are responsible for retrieving the group information from the identity store.

Role-based access control (RBAC) represents a straightforward access control method. An App need not keep a record of every user’s level of access to its functions and data.

Unlike RBAC, where the access is shared with a static group, Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) intends to facilitate the dynamic group of users to access the information based on certain circumstances with availability at the time of API calls. Things like the time of day, the role, the location-based API, the location of the App, and combinations of conditions, contribute to the access.

OAuth 2.0 API must collaborate with an OAuth 2.0 authorization Server, check each incoming call for an access token which it must authenticate with the authorization Server. The response from the authorization Server will show whether the access token is valid (the OAuth Provider issued it, and it hasn’t expired) and the extent of access for which the token was issued.

The token-based authentication allows issuing of token validation—thus facilitating the centralization of identity management. The developer needs to integrate validation logic within the API so that upon request, it looks for the token in the request and then authenticates it with the centralized Identity Provider. If the token is deemed valid (i.e., the User or App to whom the token was issued has sufficient authorization for this call), then the API should process the call.

The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an enterprise-level Identity Federation industry standard. It lets Identity providers communicate authentication and authorization information about Users to Service Providers in a standard way. A SAML Assertion can be released by an Identity Provider in one security context and be inherently understandable by an Identity Provider in another context. SAML assertions typically communicate information about the User, including the organizational groups to which the User belongs, together with the expiry period of the assertion. No password information is provided—the Identity Provider which issues the assertion signs it. The Identity Provider, which must validate the assertion, must have a trust relationship with the issuing Identity Provider.

OpenID Connect is developed on top of OAuth 2.0 to give a Federated Identity mechanism that lets you secure your API similarly to what you would get if you exploited WS-Security with SAML. It was created to support native and mobile apps while catering to enterprise federation cases. It is an attractive and lightweight methodology to achieve SSO within the enterprise than the corresponding WS-Security with SAML. It’s simple JSON/REST-based protocol has resulted in its accelerated adoption.

Confidentiality, Integrity, and availability go beyond the authentication of the App and the user and include any malicious activity that has not compromised the verification of the message like the message. It includes digital signatures and the safety of the message.