Salt Security State of API Security Report Reveals API Attacks Increased 681% in the Last 12 Months
Key findings show API attack traffic grew at more than twice the rate of non-malicious traffic, and API security concerns are inhibiting innovation for two-thirds of organizations.
March 2, 2022
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PRESS RELEASE
PALO ALTO, Calif.–March 2, 2022–Salt Security, the leading API security company, today released the Salt LabsState of API Security Report, Q1 2022. In its latest version, the bi-annual report found that 95% of surveyed organizations have experienced an API security incident in the past 12 months. Despite the dramatic increase in attacks and incidents, these organizations, all of whom are running production APIs, remain unprepared for API attacks, with 34% of respondents lacking any kind of API security strategy. This lack of defense presents significant business risk to enterprises in the form of slowed business innovation, compromised consumer confidence, and disruption to modernization efforts.
The State of API Security Report pulls from a combination of survey responses and empirical data from the Salt SaaS cloud platform. Attempted attacks against Salt customers, blocked by our platform, grew steeply – malicious API traffic increased 681% compared to a 321% increase in overall API traffic. Understandably, 62% of survey respondents acknowledged slowing down the rollout of a new application because of API security concerns.
“To thrive today, every company must be a software company, and APIs reside at the heart of their application innovation. Digital businesses have emerged as the leaders of our modern economy, and at the same time, they’ve become the leading targets for bad actors,” said Roey Eliyahu, co-founder and CEO, Salt Security. “We’re seeing API attacks accelerating significantly year over year. Even more concerning, the pace of growth in API usage and attacks continues to outpace enterprise readiness and defenses. Organizations must invest the time and effort to understand the API attack landscape and the critical capabilities needed to protect their most vital assets.”
With nearly every survey respondent (95%) identifying an API security incident in their production APIs, the need to devise a robust API security strategy is urgent. Salt customers also experienced increasing frequency in attacks, with 12% enduring an average of more than 500 attacks every month.