RSAC Fireside Chat: APIs are wondrous connectors — and the wellspring of multiplying exposures

By Byron V. Acohido

At the close of 2019, API security was a concern, though not necessarily a top priority for many CISOs.

Related: GenAI ignites 100x innovation

Then Covid 19 hit, and API growth skyrocketed, a trajectory that only steepened when Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) burst onto the scene.

As RSA Conference 2024 gets underway next week at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, dealing with the privacy and security fall out of those back-to-back disruptive developments will command a lot attention.

Ahead of conference, I had the chance to visit with Sanjay Nagaraj, CTO and co-founder, Traceable.ai, a supplier of advanced API security systems.

We discussed how enterprises in 2019 were deep into making the transition from on-premises networks to cloud-centric, edge-oriented operations when the global pandemic hit. Instantly, API connections skyrocketed to support connected services for a quarantined world. Then machine learning made a giant leap forward as GenAI and LLMs made AI capabilities directly accessible to every man, woman and child.

At this moment, companies are in a mad scramble to innovate cool, new user experiences, and thus drive-up revenue, Nagaraj observes. Of course, cybercriminals are in intensive innovation mode, as well.

It has become table stakes for companies to discover all of their APIs, now imperative for companies not just to discover all of their APIs, but also to understand them and categorize them according to risk level, Nagaraj argues. For a full drill down, please give the accompanying podcast a listen.

APIs are the synaptic connections of our hyper-interconnected existence. Securing them has become paramount. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.

Acohido

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.

May 1st, 2024