July 18, 2023
Definitions are always tough in the world of networking. The initial concept was all hardware: a group of computers connected through cards, routers, and cables. Oh, how things have changed in a mere fifty years!
Software virtualization allowed systems administrators to spin up “hard drives” in no time. This was so practical that it was applied to the network itself in something called a Software Defined Network. Unfortunately, it took several decades for hardware to catch up to this kind of virtualization.
The hybrid cloud has accelerated the adoption of virtual networks in today’s federal tech landscape. Combining networks means leveraging an old concept called Application Programming Interfaces, or “APIs.” They allowed two or more programs to communicate.
"I think one of the trends that we've seen over the last year is that scraping of API's is sort of the new data breach"
Unfortunately, this innocuous part of networking has become
a target for malicious actors. During the interview, Patrick Sullivan from Akamai gives a broad background on the importance of understanding where APIs fit in federal network visibility.
Attacking systems via the API has become so popular that
scraping content has gone from websites to the API itself; Patrick mentions a new phrase called, “API Scraping.”
Network managers demand visibility and awareness, it seems
like they should start to consider one of the newest attack vectors, the API. There is some validity to starting to look at the API as the network.
If you enjoyed this article, you may want to listen to Ep. 78 What’s How and What’s not at the AWS Washington Conference
John Gilroy
John Gilroy appeared on National Public Radio in Washington DC for 25 years. He wrote 523 technology columns for The Washington Post. Currently, John is an award-winning lecturer at Georgetown University. Forgot to mention — he has recorded over 1,000 interviews.
Leave a Reply