New Checkmarx API Security Enables Developer/AppSec Partnership to Protect the Entire API and Software Development Lifecycle

Checkmarx, the global leader in developer-centric application security testing (AST) solutions, announced the availability of Checkmarx API Security, the first true “shift-left” API security solution. Building on the launch of Checkmarx Fusion, which prioritizes and correlates vulnerability data from across different AppSec engines, Checkmarx API Security is delivered as part of the industry-leading application security platform Checkmarx One. The developer workflow-oriented solution inventories even shadow and zombie APIs as part of the most comprehensive inventory and remediation solution available to secure the entire API lifecycle.

 According to Gartner®, “Every connected mobile, modern web or cloud-hosted application uses and exposes APIs. These APIs are used to access data and to call application functionality. APIs are easy to expose but difficult to defend. This creates a large and growing attack surface, leading to a growing number of publicized API attacks and breaches. Traditional network and web protection tools do not protect against all the security threats facing APIs, including many of those described in the  OWASP API Security Top 10.”

 While other API security offerings can only discover APIs already deployed in production, Checkmarx API Security addresses security issues earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This differentiation uniquely enables:

• Comprehensive visibility of APIs: Discovers shadow and zombie APIs with the most accurate and up-to-date view into the entire API attack surface.
• True shift-left approach: Detects APIs in application source code to identify and fix problems earlier in the SDLC – faster, with less cost and lower risk.
• Prioritized remediation: Enables developers and AppSec teams to focus on solving the most critical issues first by prioritizing API vulnerabilities based on their real impact and risk.
• Holistic view into application risk: Scans entire applications with a single solution, eliminating the need for additional API-specific tools to reduce the overhead on already pressured AppSec teams.

 “Modern application development is increasingly dependent on APIs, which are notoriously difficult to document. Often the only place that a given API’s documentation exists is on the developer’s laptop,” said Checkmarx CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen. “Our global enterprise customers are focusing on the transition to cloud-native application development, yet their tools have only been able to address part of the API challenge that cloud-native development imposes. The Checkmarx goal is to secure every component of every application in a way that keeps developers productive and simplifies processes for AppSec leaders, thereby keeping their organizations agile, secure and competitive.”

 Taking a unique, API-centric view into the problem, Checkmarx API Security offers:

• Automatic API discovery: Automatic identification of API endpoints without requiring manual API definition or registration by AppSec teams or developers. 
• Complete API inventory: The ability to discover newly created or updated APIs as the source code is checked in or compiled by developers, as early as possible in the SDLC.
• Unknown API identification: Automatic comparison of an application’s complete API inventory against its API documentation to identify unknown, shadow and zombie APIs. 
• API-centric remediation: API-specific views that allow AppSec teams and developers to prioritize remediation of API vulnerabilities and OWASP Top 10 risks. 
• Whole-application coverage: A single application security testing (AST) solution for the entire application, which may include both API- and non-API-based components, offering a holistic view of security risk and prioritization for vulnerability remediation.

Gartner has also reported that “Attacks on applications are shifting to focus on APIs, and the pace of attacks is increasing. API abuses and exploits are a common attack categories that can result in data breaches. DevSecOps teams are focusing attention on the need for improved API testing in development. To identify the optimal approach to API testing, they are looking to a mix of traditional tools (such as static AST [SAST] and dynamic AST s[DAST]) and emerging solutions focused specifically on the requirements of APIs.”

Checkmarx API Security is available now. For more information, visit this page.