API Penetration Test
Trusted Cyber Security Experts
25+ Years Industry Experience
Ethical, Professional & Pragmatic
An API Penetration Test provides you with a detailed analysis of exploitable vulnerabilities that could provide hackers an easy way into your web application through Internet-exposed API endpoints.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are now considered to be commonplace for mobile applications and web applications that need to communicate with a backend application through exposed API endpoints. API’s are also often used for inter-application communication, where multiple applications may need to send requests or consume data which may be hosted on partner applications.
While web and mobile applications are often well-secured against attack, it is often the case that API endpoints are overlooked when conducting penetration testing. Ensuring that your application development lifecycle includes API penetration testing helps you identify security weaknesses that could allow an attacker to interact directly with your backend application through the API.
Our CREST accredited penetration testers have extensive experience in conducting API penetration tests for a wide range of customers – from insurance companies through to healthcare providers. Using cutting edge penetration testing testing tools and the latest OWASP API testing methodology, our consultancy team are fully equipped to identify the latest application-level vulnerabilities that an attacker could use to compromise your web application API.
What types of vulnerabilities can an API Penetration Test identify?
Conducting a targeted API penetration test of your web application provides you with visibility of the security flaws that may be identified and exploited by an Internet-based attacker. Some common security weaknesses that we often find during API penetration testing include:
- Authentication flaws
- Code injection vulnerabilities
- Sensitive information disclosure
- Broken object level authorisation
- Vulnerable 3rd party libraries
- Business logic flaws
- Lack of rate limiting
- Mass assignment vulnerabilities
Testing Process & Methodology
During an API penetration test, our consultants use a combination of automated tools & scripts and detailed manual testing. This allows us to efficiently & accurately test your API endpoints and maximise the number of tests that can be performed in the time allocated to the API penetration test. By conducting both unauthenticated and authenticated testing using multiple user roles, we can replicate the level of access that an anonymous Internet-based attacker may have, in addition to malicious insiders who may have been able to obtain a set of valid credentials.
All of our API penetration tests are conducted in line with the industry standard OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) API testing methodology. This ensures that we test for the very latest application-level vulnerabilities through a recognised & rigorous API penetration testing methodology.
At a minimum, we will concentrate on the following OWASP Top-10 API Security Risks that are commonly found during API penetration tests:
In addition to the common vulnerabilities listed above, we also conduct testing around the following areas:
Preparing for your API Penetration Test
In order for us to perform an API penetration test of your application, we will require the following prior to the test commencing:
- A signed & completed Testing Consent Form.
- The base URL that the in-scope API endpoint(s) reside under.
- API description document (preferably in the OpenAPI Specification (OAS) (e.g. Swagger) format).
- Two sets of credentials for each user role to be tested.
- A technical contact (e.g. API developer) who can provide our testing team with a walk-through of the various API interactions.
- If a Web Application Firewall (WAF) resides in front of the application, we will need this to be disabled or SecureTeam’s IP address range to be ‘whitelisted’ for the duration of the testing. This ensures that the WAF does not interfere with the testing and allows us to provide you with an accurate set of results.
Reporting
Our clear & concise penetration test reports enable everyone in your organisation to understand the vulnerabilities that have been identified and the real-world risk that your systems and data are exposed to.
Our API penetration test reports include:
- A “board-level friendly” Executive Summary
- Comprehensive, evidence-based vulnerability reporting
- Risk-based vulnerability ranking with CVSS Scoring
- Technical references and links for further research by your technical team
Debrief Call
Once you have received our final report, you have the option of attending a conference call between the consultant(s) involved in delivering your project and individuals within your organisation who you feel would benefit from a more in-depth discussion of the report’s findings.
After Care
Once our consultancy engagement is complete and our final report has been delivered to you, our consultancy team remain available to you indefinitely for any questions you may have surrounding the report’s findings or our consultancy engagement with you.
Why Choose SecureTeam?
- UK-based Consultancy Team
- Customer Focused
- Security Vetted Consultants
- Ethical Scoping & Pricing
- 25+ Years Industry Experience
- ISO 9001 & 27001 Certified
- CREST Accredited
- Comprehensive Reporting
Ready to take your cyber security to the next level ?
Trusted Cyber Security Experts
As an organisation, SecureTeam has provided penetration testing and cyber security consultancy to public & private sector organisations both in the United Kingdom and worldwide. We pride ourselves in taking a professional, pragmatic and customer-centric approach, delivering expert cyber security consultancy – on time and within budget – regardless of the size of your organisation.
Our customer base ranges from small tech start-ups through to large multi-national organisations across nearly every sector – in nearly every continent. Some of the organisation’s who have trusted SecureTeam as their cyber security partner include:
Customer Testimonials
"Within a very tight timescale, SecureTeam managed to deliver a highly professional service efficiently. The team helped the process with regular updates and escalation where necessary. Would highly recommend"
IoT Solutions Group Limited
“First class service as ever. We learn something new each year! Thank you to all your team.”
Royal Haskoning DHV
“We’ve worked with SecureTeam for a few years to conduct our testing. The team make it easy to deal with them; they are attentive and explain detailed reports in a jargon-free way that allows the less technical people to understand. I wouldn’t work with anyone else for our cyber security.”
Capital Asset Management
“SecureTeam provided Derbyshire's Education Data Hub with an approachable and professional service to ensure our schools were able to successfully certify for Cyber Essentials. The team provided a smooth end-to-end service and were always on hand to offer advice when necessary.”
Derbyshire County Council
“A very efficient, professional, and friendly delivery of our testing and the results. You delivered exactly what we asked for in the timeframe we needed it, while maintaining quality and integrity. A great job, done well.”
AMX Solutions
“We were very pleased with the work and report provided. It was easy to translate the provided details into some actionable tasks on our end so that was great. We always appreciate the ongoing support.”
Innovez LtdGet in touch today
If you’d like to see how SecureTeam can take your cybersecurity posture to the next level, we’d love to hear from you, learn about your requirements and then send you a free quotation for our services.
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We know that every organisation is unique, so our detailed scoping process ensures that we provide you with an accurate quotation for our services, which we trust you’ll find highly competitive.
Get in touch with us today and a member of our team will be in touch to provide you with a quotation.
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“We were very impressed with the service, I will say, the vulnerability found was one our previous organisation had not picked up, which does make you wonder if anything else was missed.”
Aim Ltd Chief Technology Officer (CTO)