Digital transformation accelerated the modern application landscape. Organizations now rely on digital assets to drive innovation and help reach customers around the world faster than ever. It's increasingly important to secure these business-critical applications and the application programming interfaces (APIs) that support them. 

Application and API security requires creativity and rigor. Every code commit introduces risk, such as a new or changed endpoint (API), the exposure of sensitive data (PII, PCI, PHI), new open-source dependencies, new technologies (DB, authentication framework), business logic, data flows, and more. 

These applications and APIs require high availability and performance yet demand the highest level of security and observability. They are vital for the organization's integrity and resilience against cyber threats. 

Application security

Integrating secure development practices into the software development lifecycle is vital to building resilient applications, but many organizations struggle to implement and enforce secure coding practices and standards, identify and prioritize vulnerabilities in the software supply chain, and manage the security risks associated with third-party and open-source software components. 

Traditionally, security assessments and testing are conducted at the end of the development process or after the application is deployed. To successfully secure applications, organizations must "shift left," incorporating security measures — including secure coding, threat modeling, security testing, and code reviews — in the initial phases of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). 

API security

Applications rely heavily on APIs for data exchange, functionality and integration, creating a complex and interconnected ecosystem. APIs give access to large amounts of data, yet many organizations fail to properly secure that data and lack a clear understanding of their API landscape. 

Organizations need full visibility and clarity into the inventory, volume and traffic of APIs to understand the data risks protect and improve API security posture.