APIs allow easy communication between apps, making them essential for modern digital ecosystems. But with that convenience comes risk - attackers often look for authentication weaknesses, injection attacks, and misconfigurations. To stay secure, security engineers should use strong testing practices to catch and fix vulnerabilities before they impact applications.

API Security Testing Vendors and API Scanning Tools help automate this process by scanning APIs, checking access controls, and performing accurate risk assessments.

This blog will explore what API security testing tools do, key features to look for, and how to choose the right solution. Learn more about the top 10 API security testing tools to better protect your APIs.

What are API Security Testing Tools?

API security testing tools or API security scanning tools are designed to help find all vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security issues across API endpoints. It allows to detect complex API requests and responses for vulnerabilities such as broken authentication, improper access control, and injection attacks. By automating security reviews, they help security engineers identify threats that could lead to data breaches, unauthorized access, or service interruptions.

Many solutions provide full reports with relevant information, allowing teams to effectively handle challenges. API security testing tools also help to ensure that APIs follow best practices. API Security testing Tools connect easily with CI/CD pipelines and allow organizations to find security risks before they are exploited by attackers.

Key Features of API Security Scanning Tools

API security testing tools help to find vulnerabilities and use security best practices. Here are some features to protect APIs:

Authentication and Authorization Testing

Strong authentication and authorization systems help to prevent unauthorized access to APIs. API Scanning tools analyze OAuth, API keys, JWTs, and role-based access help to ensure sufficient enforcement. These tools detect weak authentication policies and improper access controls. They also analyze token expiration, refresh techniques, and session management. Identifying authentication vulnerabilities helps to prevent credential abuse and privilege escalation.

Input Validation and Injection Prevention

APIs must check all user inputs to avoid security vulnerabilities. API scanning tools help to detect vulnerabilities like SQL injection, XML external entity (XXE) attacks, and command injection. They analyze API requests to detect risky data processing behaviors. Enforcing strict input validation keeps attackers from executing malicious payloads. Managing these issues reduces the likelihood of unauthorized data access and system damage.

Rate Limiting and DoS Protection

APIs should handle request throttling to prevent abuse and service interruptions. Security tools use many API calls to verify the application of rate-limiting policies and to find misconfigurations that could make a system vulnerable to such attacks. Finding vulnerabilities in the DoS will go a long way to prevent breaches and service disruption.

Identify Security Misconfiguration

Security misconfigurations expose APIs to unauthorized access, data leakage, and exploitation.  Everything can be detected by security testing tools — from the missing security headers, and exposed debug endpoints, to inadequate access control.  Finding these misconfigurations allows security engineers to increase API security. Regular security checks allow security engineers to ensure that APIs are properly installed and can protect organizations against new threats.

Automated Vulnerability Scanning and Reporting

Continuous security tests help security engineers to find vulnerabilities before they are exploited by attackers. Security tools use API scanning to find issues like broken authentication, insecure endpoints, and outdated connections. They provide full reports, separate the risk according to severity levels and provide fixation methods. Regular vulnerability scanning ensures that APIs meet with security best practices. Automation reduces manual effort and improves overall security posture.

CI/CD Pipeline Integration

Combining security testing into CI/CD workflows ensures that vulnerabilities are detected early. API Protection tools work with development pipelines to automate security checks. They use security policies before deployment, preventing vulnerable APIs from entering production. Detecting and fixing vulnerabilities during development will reduce remediation costs. Combining security with CI/CD pipelines will improve API security without slowing down development.

How to Choose the Right API Scanning Tools

Here is how to choose before choosing the best API security testing tool:

Vulnerability Detection Features

The tool should be able to identify various types of API vulnerabilities, like authentication issues, injection attacks, misconfigurations, and rate-limiting concerns. Deep scanning detects vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. These API protection tools provide deep analysis of API requests and responses to reveal hidden risks. Security engineers should prioritize methods for detecting both known and developing threats. A powerful vulnerability detection tool improves overall API security.

Connectivity of Existing Workflows

API protection tools should combine easily with existing development and security workflows to ensure continuous protection.  Effective tools support CI/CD pipelines by allowing automated security testing without affecting development operations.  Combining with issue tracking and security management tools allows to find solutions easily.  Security engineers benefit from quick notifications and detailed data, which allow them to respond quickly to possible risks.

Easy to Use

An effective API protection tool should be simple to install and have automatic scanning features. Automated vulnerability detection reduces manual work and allows to perform continuous security tests. Security engineers should choose tools that have simple interfaces and provide clear remedial instructions. These tools should give deep reports and have easy reporting features that allow security engineers to easily prioritize risks and solve them.

Compliance and Security Standards

Organizations should make sure that API scnning tools meet compliance rules like GDPR. If they follow compliance rules and provide complete it allows help organizations to meet regulatory requirements. Security engineers should check if the tool has built-in compliance checks. Adherence to security standards decreases the risks associated with non-compliance. A tool for compliance auditing allows regulatory reporting.

Effective Reporting and Remediation Guidance

Security engineers can manage vulnerabilities easily with the help of full reports separated risks by priorities and provided remediation methods. The tool should provide data about vulnerabilities and suggest solutions. Clear reporting allows security teams to check security trends and dashboards that show security risks can help to make the right decisions. These insights simplify remediation and improve API security posture.

Top 10 API Security Testing Tools

Here are the top 10 API security testing tools and API Security Testing vendors that allow organizations to perform automatic scanning, and authentication testing, and help them to protect their data.

1. Akto

Akto is an API security platform that offers continuous monitoring, automated security testing, and accurate risk analysis. It enables security engineers to identify vulnerabilities like authentication issues, misconfigurations, and injection attacks continuously. It easily combines with  CI/CD to allow active API security without affecting development operations.

Source

Key Features

• Allows automatic API security testing and risk checks

• Continuously monitors APIs to identify risks.

• Combines easily with CI/CD processes.

• It allows to find authentication and authorization vulnerabilities.

• Provides deep insights and security reports

2. OWASP ZAP

OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) is an open-source security testing tool that detects vulnerabilities in APIs and online applications. It also allows for penetration testing and security tests. Security engineers can use ZAP's plugin support to improve security analysis.

Source: OWASP ZAP

Key Features

• Supports both manual and automated penetration testing.

• Provides plugins for improved functionality

• Detects injection issues, broken authentication, and misconfigurations.

• Combines easily with CI/CD pipelines.

3. Postman

Postman is an API development and testing tool that offers various security testing features.  It allows security engineers to check API requests, analyze authentication strategies, and detect weaknesses.  Postman has a simple interface and easy automation features that simplify and speed API security testing.

Source: Post man

Key Features

• API Request Interception and Security Testing

• Supports OAuth, API keys, and JWT authentication validation.

• Automated test scripts to detect vulnerabilities.

• API response validation and error handling checks.

• Combines with CI/CD pipelines for automated testing.

4. Burp Suite

Burp Suite is a penetration testing tool that offers full API security testing features. It provides deep security analysis by monitoring and changing API calls. Security engineers use Burp Suite to perform manual and automated API security checks.

Source: Burp Suite

Key Features

• Track, analyze, and change API communication.

• Performs scans for injection attacks, authentication issues, and security misconfigurations.

• Automated vulnerability scan and risk assessment

• Complete reporting and security insights

• Connect with external security testing tools

5. APIsec

APIsec is a completely automated API security testing platform that continuously monitors APIs for vulnerabilities. It offers deep risk checks and connects with DevSecOps workflows. APIsec allows security engineers to find vulnerabilities without the need of any human.

Source: APIsec

Key Features

• Automated API security testing and continuous monitoring

• Detection of authentication and access control vulnerabilities.

• Compatible with CI/CD pipelines for immediate security verification.

• Check compliance with OWASP API Security Top 10.

6. 42Crunch

42Crunch is an API security platform that focuses in automated security audits, policy enforcement, and compliance validation. It helps security engineers to detect weaknesses in authentication, authorization, and data exposure. 42Crunch uses continuous monitoring and risk checks to ensure that APIs follow security best practices and industry requirements.

Source: 42Crunch

Key Features

• API security review and vulnerability evaluation

• Enforcing security policies to prevent misconfigurations

• Automated testing of authentication, authorization, and input validation

• Continuous API security monitoring and risk assessment.

• Connection with API Gateways and Security Tools

7. Apigee

Apigee is an API management platform that offers various security testing features. It supports API traffic monitoring, security enforcement, and automated threat detection. Security engineers use Apigee to defend APIs from common risks.

Source: Apigee

Key Features

• API traffic analysis and anomaly detection.

• Authentication and authorization enforcement with OAuth and JWT

• Rate limiting and DDoS protection for API endpoints

• Security monitoring and compliance checks.

• Connectivity of cloud-based security solutions

8. Cequence

Cequence is an API security tool that prevents bot attacks, API abuse, and data breaches. It allows continuous API discovery, risk checks, and automated threat detection. Cequence helps security engineers to avoid API attacks and use security standards without affecting performance.

Source: Cequence

Key Features

• Allows to discover APIs and perform continuous risk checks

• Detecting API attacks by bots and credential stuffing attacks.

• Uses automatic security policy enforcement.

• Provides protection against DDoS attacks based on AI and data theft

9. AppKnox

AppKnox is a security testing platform that uses API vulnerability scanning as part of its security suite. It allows security engineers to identify API misconfigurations, weak authentication, and injection vulnerabilities. AppKnox allows to perform both automated and manual security checks.

Source: AppKnox

Key Features

• It allows API vulnerability scanning to find authentication and authorization issues

• It helps to find injection attacks, configuration errors, and data exposure risks

• Performs compliance tests to follow industrial security rules

• Performs API security risk checks and provides deep reporting.

• Compatibility with DevSecOps processes for continuous testing.

10. Probely

Probely is an API security scanner that detects vulnerabilities in APIs and web applications. It combines automated security testing with practical remedy suggestions. Probely is used by security engineers to continuously validate the security of APIs.

Source: Probely

Key Features

• Automatic API Security scanning tools for OWASP API Security Top 10 Risks

• Detecting authentication, authorization, and data exposure flaws

• Connect with development and API Scanning tools for smooth testing.

• Compliance reporting for regulatory security criteria.

• Continuous security testing requires minimal manual work.

Final Thoughts

API security scanning tools is essential to protect applications against new threats. Security engineers should use automated testing methods to identify vulnerabilities, use authentication methods, and prevent API attacks.

Akto is an API security platform that allows organizations to perform continuous security testing and accurate risk identification and easily combines with CI/CD. It automates vulnerability checks and allows security engineers to identify authentication issues, misconfigurations, and injection risks. Schedule a API Security demo today to see how Akto can help you protect your organization.