With the boom in cloud computing, the role of the application programming interface (API) has never been more important. An API is the code that allows two different software programs to communicate, request services and expose data. With the proliferation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)), the number of enterprise APIs has skyrocketed, and so have the issues related to API lifecycle management and security.

Organizations rely on APIs to connect applications to create business workflows and define processes that differentiate the customer experience. However, as the number of APIs grow, scaling existing systems and managing the growing number of APIs becomes more difficult. Developers and IT managers are looking for new tools to address API sprawl, tame API complexity, and deal with design, functional and structural inconsistencies.

Enterprise APIs at MACH (News - Alert) Speed

To tame API complexity and promote scalability, API developers are leveraging new architectures, such as MACH (Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless):

• Microservices are individual components of functionality tied together by the API. Each microservice is independently developed, deployed and managed.
• API-first means that all functionality is exposed by the API to make it easier to link two or more applications.
• Cloud-native refers to SaaS applications that provide greater elasticity and highly available resources, plus they don’t need to be manually updated.
• Headless means that the API front end is decoupled from the back end, which provides more freedom in designing the user interface to connect to multiple channels.

By embracing a MACH architecture, developers can shorten API development time, generating prototypes faster. They also have the freedom to use the best technology available since MACH is more open and versatile. A MACH architecture also simplifies API customization and handles changes rapidly and elegantly.

Another API innovation is the emergence of no-code and low-code API development. Abstracting code complexity and building automation into the API development platform makes creating and modifying APIs easier without understanding the underlying code structure. This makes API development faster and helps with API standardization and development best practices.

APIs and Enterprise Security

APIs play an important role in cybersecurity. As APIs have become a central part of the enterprise infrastructure, they also have become the target vector for hacker attacks.

The versatility and widespread adoption of APIs make them the ideal target for cybercriminals. APIs not only make operations faster and easier, but they also prove to be a weak point in enterprise security. While APIs are designed to be used by multiple applications and people, they provide an easy access point for hackers, and breaches are difficult to detect without the proper API security.

One way to promote better API security is with better documentation. A recent global security survey revealed that 92% of security professionals believe their APIs are secure, but 62% acknowledge that one-third or more of their APIs are undocumented. Lack of documentation can result in the exposure of sensitive data to threats and makes finding vulnerabilities difficult. Hackers also find poorly protected API beta code or code used for staging and testing as a vulnerable point of attack.

One way to combat API cyberattacks is through observability. API observability makes it easier for developers, operations managers and security teams to collaborate, identifying performance bottlenecks and security vulnerabilities. Using observability to gain an in-depth understanding of the applications driven by APIs makes it easier to proactively identify and address security flaws.

Governance and Compliance

Any organization adopting an API-first approach needs API governance. Governance is the application of rules such as API standards and security policies to ensure APIs are complete, compliant and consistent.

Part of what makes APIs attractive for enterprise workflows is they can be reused, which makes them ideal tools for enforcing standardized corporate rules, policies and processes. For example, a centrally managed API platform limits the possibility of inconsistent customer interactions since it standardizes the user experience across all channels (web, mobile, desktop, phone) while insulating them from backend activities.

API governance is especially important in large-scale enterprise environments. APIs encapsulate business capabilities, and as the number of APIs grows, governance ensures these APIs become building blocks that define and differentiate the business.

Effective governance is also the key to regulatory compliance. Governance is all about consistency, including enforcing the rules required to comply with best practices and corporate and government rules and regulations.

APIwiz Offers a Better Approach to API Lifecycle Management

To manage the growing number of APIs, enterprise organizations are adopting API lifecycle management tools to oversee APIs from development to retirement. APIwiz is a comprehensive API lifecycle management solution, giving enterprises total API control at scale.

APIwiz, gives developers a low-code approach to API development. Low-code development makes standardizing API development practices easier to promote consistency and compliance. And APIwiz automatically generates documentation, cataloging the code to provide a single source of truth to simplify debugging and troubleshooting.

APIwiz also manages the problem of API sprawl, providing a single platform for API portfolio management. The number of APIs from different sources will continue to grow and become increasingly complex, but using APIwiz to manage the API lifecycle helps developers control sprawl and identify weaknesses that could lead to security issues. API observability and monitoring are also built in to provide insights to improve API reliability and identify and stop cyberattacks before they happen.

Automated support for API governance and compliance is part of APIwiz 2.0. As part of API lifecycle management, APIwiz automates the application of common rules for API standards and security, ensuring the consistency of reusable API components. Compliance is automated as well, since APIwiz ensures APIs conform to best practices, are compatible with other systems and have been tested for security vulnerabilities.

There is no doubt that APIs will continue to proliferate and become more complex, which makes API lifecycle management and security increasingly important. Platforms like APIwiz provide a centralized API management solution that provides absolute control over API development and deployment, making APIs seamless, collaborative, compliant, secure and cost-effective.