A robust API security strategy is no longer optional; it's essential. But what separates effective API security platforms from inadequate solutions? Let's explore the five critical capabilities that should form the foundation of your API security approach.

1. Comprehensive API Discovery

The first rule of API security is elegantly simple: you cannot protect what you cannot see. A comprehensive discovery capability serves as your security program's foundation, enabling you to:

• Identify every API in your ecosystem—whether internal, external, shadow, or third-party

• Support both inline monitoring and out-of-band analysis methods

• Flag outbound calls to unmanaged or unknown services

• Automatically generate and verify OpenAPI specifications against actual traffic patterns

Without thorough discovery, your security posture remains fundamentally incomplete. The most dangerous APIs are the APIs you don’t know about.

2. Runtime Protection & Monitoring

While preventative measures are valuable, runtime protection delivers security where attacks actually happen, in production. Effective runtime capabilities should include:

• Advanced anomaly detection powered by behavioral analytics

• Flexible deployment options, including inline proxies or sidecars for active threat blocking

• Robust safeguards for sensitive data categories like PII, PHI, and PCI

• Continuous monitoring to identify suspicious patterns and policy violations

Runtime protection serves as your last line of defense, catching the threats that inevitably slip through preventative controls.

3. Security Testing in CI/CD Pipelines

Modern security requires "shifting left"—embedding security earlier in the development lifecycle without creating friction. Essential testing capabilities include:

• Seamless integration with popular CI/CD platforms for automated testing

• Comprehensive detection of OWASP API Top 10 vulnerabilities

• Advanced testing methodologies like fuzzing and boundary testing

• Developer-friendly remediation guidance that accelerates fixes

By addressing vulnerabilities before deployment, organizations dramatically reduce both risk and remediation costs.

4. Posture Management & Risk Detection

API environments are dynamic, with constant changes that can introduce new vulnerabilities. Effective posture management provides:

• Immediate alerts for API modifications and schema drifts

• Tracking of version changes and deprecated endpoints

• Historical visibility into API activity and security posture evolution

• Continuous compliance monitoring against regulatory requirements

This proactive approach prevents silent security regressions that often lead to breaches.

5. Cloud-Native, Scalable Architecture

Finally, your API security platform must align with modern infrastructure requirements:

• Native support for major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP)

• Coverage across API types: REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and emerging formats

• Flexible deployment options from agentless to Kubernetes-native integrations

• Performance optimization to handle enterprise-scale API traffic

The right architecture ensures your security scales alongside your API ecosystem.

Building Your API Security Strategy

As API-driven architectures continue to dominate modern development, implementing these five critical capabilities provides the foundation for comprehensive protection. Organizations that prioritize these elements in their security approach will establish resilience against the growing sophistication of API-targeted attacks.

Download our RFP template to accelerate vendor evaluation with a structured, comprehensive checklist of capabilities.

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See how Akto’s Agentic API Security Platform can help you discover, test, and protect every API—automatically.