Your API Is Your Biggest Attack Surface. You're Guarding It with a Checklist.
In the modern application landscape, the API is the front door. It is the gateway to your most valuable data and your most critical business logic. As a result, it has also become the primary target for attackers. Securing your APIs is not a "nice-to-have" feature; it is a fundamental requirement for business survival.
But true API Security is not about running a vulnerability scanner at the end of the development cycle. It is a discipline that must be embedded in every stage of the API lifecycle, from design and implementation to testing and operation. It requires a developer to think like an attacker, to anticipate threats, and to build defenses into the very architecture of the API.
An engineer who knows the OWASP Top 10 list is not an API Security expert. An expert understands how to implement a secure authentication and authorization model with OAuth 2.0 and OIDC. They know how to prevent broken object level authorization (BOLA) by designing their APIs with care. They can build a robust rate limiting and throttling strategy to defend against denial-of-service attacks. This playbook explains how Axiom Cortex finds the developers who have this deep, proactive security mindset.
Traditional Vetting and Vendor Limitations
A nearshore vendor sees "API Security" on a résumé and assumes proficiency. The interview might involve asking the candidate to define "cross-site scripting." This superficial approach fails to test for the critical, hands on skills needed to secure a complex API ecosystem.
The predictable and painful results of this flawed vetting are common across the industry:
- Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA): An attacker discovers they can access another user's data by simply changing an ID in the URL (e.g., `/api/users/123` to `/api/users/456`). This is the most common and most severe API vulnerability.
- Broken Authentication: The API has a weak password policy, does not protect against brute-force attacks, or uses insecure JWT (JSON Web Token) implementations, allowing attackers to easily compromise user accounts.
- Excessive Data Exposure: An API endpoint returns the entire user object from the database, including hashed passwords and other sensitive information that the client does not need, creating an unnecessary information disclosure risk.
- Lack of Rate Limiting: The API has no rate limiting, allowing a single malicious user to overwhelm the service with requests, leading to a denial-of-service for legitimate users.
How Axiom Cortex Evaluates API Security Developers
Axiom Cortex is designed to find the engineers who have an attacker's mindset and an architect's discipline. We test for the practical skills that are essential for building and operating secure APIs. We evaluate candidates across four critical dimensions.
Dimension 1: Authentication and Authorization
This is the foundation of API security. This dimension tests a candidate's ability to design and implement a robust identity and access management system.
We provide a scenario and evaluate their ability to:
- Design an Auth Model: Can they explain the difference between authentication and authorization? Are they familiar with standards like OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect? Can they design a system with different roles and scopes?
- Prevent BOLA: How would they design an API to ensure that a user can only access their own data? A high scoring candidate will talk about checking ownership in the business logic of every request.
Dimension 2: Secure API Design and Implementation
This dimension tests a candidate's ability to write code and design APIs that are secure by default.
We present a feature requirement and evaluate if they can:
- Practice Input Validation: Do they rigorously validate all incoming data to prevent injection attacks and other vulnerabilities?
- Avoid Excessive Data Exposure: Do they design their API responses to return only the necessary data, using patterns like Data Transfer Objects (DTOs)?
- Implement Rate Limiting: Can they design and implement a strategy for rate limiting to protect the API from abuse?
Dimension 3: API Testing and Hardening
An elite API Security developer is also a skilled tester who can proactively find and fix vulnerabilities.
We evaluate their knowledge of:
- Security Testing Tools: Are they familiar with tools for dynamic application security testing (DAST) and static application security testing (SAST)?
- API Design Best Practices: Do they follow best practices for logging, error handling, and using security headers?
From a Vulnerable Endpoint to a Hardened API Platform
When you staff your team with engineers who have passed the API Security Axiom Cortex assessment, you are making a strategic investment in the resilience and trustworthiness of your entire digital platform. They will not just fix security bugs; they will build a system where entire classes of vulnerabilities are architecturally impossible, allowing your team to innovate faster and more safely. For more, see our full Security Engineering playbook, or our specific vetting for Penetration Testing.