APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are an intrinsic part of the modern digital landscape. They allow different systems to communicate and exchange data, enabling a range of functionalities from simple data retrieval to complex interactions across platforms. As we grow increasingly reliant on complex digital interactions for our day-to-day operations, API use has grown exponentially. APIs now account for over 80% of all internet traffic.
It should go without saying that you can’t afford to leave that traffic unsecured. And with the surge in API usage comes a rise in API-specific security threats, as cyberattackers seek to intercept sensitive data, exploit vulnerabilities, and disrupt services, underscoring the critical need for robust API security measures. Read on to learn how WAAP can protect your business from API security vulnerabilities.
Why APIs Are a Security Risk
APIs handle a significant amount of web traffic, from regular consumer site visits to more complex machine-to-machine traffic. But unlike traditional web applications, APIs operate behind the scenes without a user interface, leading to a lack of visibility and awareness of their complexity and vulnerabilities. This, along with the high volume of traffic APIs manage, makes them a crucial but often overlooked component of web security.
Additionally, APIs are often developed and deployed by teams that don’t have stringent security protocols front of mind. The rapid development cycle and frequent deployment of APIs can sometimes result in security lapses, since they may be deployed without thorough testing or adequate security measures. This can lead to vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. For example, APIs might be left active unintentionally, leading to a critical blind spot where organizations are unaware of which APIs are actually exposed to the internet. This visibility gap can result in a discrepancy between what an organization believes is exposed and what is truly accessible.
What Happens if Your APIs are Unsecured?
Having an unsecured API in your infrastructure can leave your organization vulnerable to several significant risks. Unauthorized users could use an insecure API as a gateway to access your application, perform actions beyond their role or permissions, or access sensitive data. This could lead to outages or data breaches in which your or your users’ sensitive information is exposed. Malicious users may exploit these vulnerabilities to disrupt your service, causing it to crash or slow down, and leading to downtime which can affect your organization’s operations and user satisfaction.
These incidents often receive extensive media coverage, leading to long-term reputational damage. Even companies with strong security measures aren’t immune. Microsoft, for example, faced one of the largest-ever attacks in 2021, when hackers exploited critical vulnerabilities to compromise the data of over 60,000 organizations globally.
APIs can be used as gateways to execute more sophisticated attacks. They may also serve as stepping stones to access more sensitive areas of your application and execute sophisticated cyberattacks.
How Different Types of API Attacks Harm Your Business
APIs can be vulnerable to various types of attacks, each posing significant risks to businesses, including:
- Insufficient or missing authentication: Attackers often scan for exposed API endpoints that lack proper authentication or have weak access controls. These endpoints can be exploited to gain unauthorized access or disrupt services, steal data, or disrupt services. For your company, this can mean compromised customer data, service interruptions, and potential financial losses.
- Credential stuffing: Stolen credentials, frequently acquired from breaches on other platforms, can be used to access APIs illegitimately. Attackers exploit these credentials to manipulate API functions and access protected resources. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, fraudulent transactions, and damage to your organization’s reputation.
- OWASP top-ten attacks: OWASP top-ten breaches can have severe consequences, including loss of data integrity, exposure of confidential information, and significant operational disruption. For example, SQL injections manipulate API requests to execute malicious SQL commands on the database, potentially corrupting data, compromising the database, and causing severe operational disruptions. Cross-site scripting XSS involves injecting malicious scripts into API responses, which are then executed by the user’s browser leading to session hijacking, data theft, and compromised user accounts.
- L7 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks: Attackers overwhelm an API with artificial traffic, such as a flood of requests, causing it to become unresponsive. This overload can disrupt services, leading to downtime and impacting legitimate users’ ability to access the API. The resulting service interruptions can harm business operations, customer trust, and overall user satisfaction.
- Data breaches: APIs with unprotected or poorly secured endpoints can be exploited to access sensitive data, risking data leakage, privacy loss, and legal repercussions. Businesses that fall victim to data breaches could face significant regulatory fines, loss of customer trust, and reputational damage.
- Shadow APIs: Undocumented or forgotten APIs that are not actively monitored can pose significant security risks. Attackers can exploit these shadow APIs to gain access to sensitive data or system functionalities that administrators may not be aware of. This can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and vulnerabilities that undermine your company’s overall security posture.
Strategies for Effective API Protection
A multi-layered protection strategy is essential to defend against threats. Look for these features in a WAAP; they’re non-negotiables for robust API security:
- API discovery: Make sure to choose a WAAP solution that constantly monitors the organization’s traffic and features API discovery, including discovering and mapping all endpoints, both known and unknown. This thorough approach means you’re aware of every potential point of attack, leaving no potential security gaps left unchecked.
- Configuration management: Once identified, APIs need proper configuration. The WAAP you select should enable grouping and tagging APIs based on their function and access needs, allowing you to apply appropriate security functions based on these classifications, streamlining management and enhancing security.
- Access control: Strong authentication and authorization are key to a powerful WAAP. Look for a solution that provides robust access controls to APIs to compensate for missing or weak existing access controls and ensure that only authorized users can interact with APIs. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
- Vulnerability detection: Continuous monitoring helps spot vulnerabilities that may arise from poor configuration or negligence. Be sure to pick a WAAP that identifies and addresses these issues before they can be exploited.
- Seamless integration: Select a WAAP that integrates smoothly with other security solutions, including DDoS protection and network security tools. This integrated approach ensures comprehensive protection across your entire digital landscape. Choose a solution that offers most of its functionalities out of the box, requiring minimal configuration, and allowing you to benefit from enhanced security immediately.
The Unique Advantages of Gcore WAAP
Operating at the network edge, Gcore WAAP delivers protection that complements your existing operations, providing advanced security with flawless performance. Our edge-based approach ensures that security measures are applied efficiently and effectively. For your business and end users, this means fast, reliable access to applications and services, with low latency and minimized downtime.
A standout feature of Gcore WAAP is its ability to leverage data from across its security cloud. This allows for dynamic, responsive protection tailored to the specific vulnerabilities of each API, providing a level of adaptation and precision that many other vendors lack. Machine-learning (ML) technology and heuristic behavioral analysis are at the core of this adaptive protection, enabling Gcore WAAP to detect and respond to evolving threats with accuracy.
Gcore WAAP is more than a standalone product. In addition to an advanced security cloud system and dynamic protection systems, by applying machine learning and behavioral analysis to monitor and defend against API threats, Gcore WAAP manages every aspect of your security cohesively, offering peace of mind for your APIs and beyond!
Securing APIs Against Emerging Threats
As APIs continue to be an integral facet of digital operations, ensuring their protection against a range of security threats is critical. Gcore WAAP offers a sophisticated and integrated solution for API security, going beyond the capabilities of traditional security solutions and combining advanced detection, thorough management, and seamless integration with broader security measures. For organizations seeking to secure their digital infrastructure against API-related threats, our cutting-edge solution effectively tackles both current and emerging risks.
Get more information on how Gcore WAAP can enhance your API security strategy. Stay up to date with our latest insights and developments on cybersecurity solutions on the Gcore Blog or learn more about API security best practices with our dedicated guide.
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Protecting networks at scale with AI security strategies
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Introducing Gcore for Startups: created for builders, by builders
Building a startup is tough. Every decision about your infrastructure can make or break your speed to market and burn rate. Your time, team, and budget are stretched thin. That’s why you need a partner that helps you scale without compromise.At Gcore, we get it. We’ve been there ourselves, and we’ve helped thousands of engineering teams scale global applications under pressure.That’s why we created the Gcore Startups Program: to give early-stage founders the infrastructure, support, and pricing they actually need to launch and grow.At Gcore, we launched the Startups Program because we’ve been in their shoes. We know what it means to build under pressure, with limited resources, and big ambitions. We wanted to offer early-stage founders more than just short-term credits and fine print; our goal is to give them robust, long-term infrastructure they can rely on.Dmitry Maslennikov, Head of Gcore for StartupsWhat you get when you joinThe program is open to startups across industries, whether you’re building in fintech, AI, gaming, media, or something entirely new.Here’s what founders receive:Startup-friendly pricing on Gcore’s cloud and edge servicesCloud credits to help you get started without riskWhite-labeled dashboards to track usage across your team or customersPersonalized onboarding and migration supportGo-to-market resources to accelerate your launchYou also get direct access to all Gcore products, including Everywhere Inference, GPU Cloud, Managed Kubernetes, Object Storage, CDN, and security services. They’re available globally via our single, intuitive Gcore Customer Portal, and ready for your production workloads.When startups join the program, they get access to powerful cloud and edge infrastructure at startup-friendly pricing, personal migration support, white-labeled dashboards for tracking usage, and go-to-market resources. Everything we provide is tailored to the specific startup’s unique needs and designed to help them scale faster and smarter.Dmitry MaslennikovWhy startups are choosing GcoreWe understand that performance and flexibility are key for startups. From high-throughput AI inference to real-time media delivery, our infrastructure was designed to support demanding, distributed applications at scale.But what sets us apart is how we work with founders. We don’t force startups into rigid plans or abstract SLAs. We build with you 24/7, because we know your hustle isn’t a 9–5.One recent success story: an AI startup that migrated from a major hyperscaler told us they cut their inference costs by over 40%…and got actual human support for the first time. What truly sets us apart is our flexibility: we’re not a faceless hyperscaler. We tailor offers, support, and infrastructure to each startup’s stage and needs.Dmitry MaslennikovWe’re excited to support startups working on AI, machine learning, video, gaming, and real-time apps. Gcore for Startups is delivering serious value to founders in industries where performance, cost efficiency, and responsiveness make or break product experience.Ready to scale smarter?Apply today and get hands-on support from engineers who’ve been in your shoes. If you’re an early-stage startup with a working product and funding (pre-seed to Series A), we’ll review your application quickly and tailor infrastructure that matches your stage, stack, and goals.To get started, head on over to our Gcore for Startups page and book a demo.Discover Gcore for Startups
Outpacing cloud‑native threats: How to secure distributed workloads at scale
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Organizations need centralized platforms that pull real-time data from every endpoint, regardless of platform or location, and present it through a single management dashboard. This gives IT and security teams full, end-to-end visibility over threats, system health, and compliance posture. It also allows security policies to be deployed, updated, and enforced consistently across every environment, without relying on multiple, siloed tools.Unification strengthens security, simplifies operations, and dramatically reduces overhead, critical for scaling securely at cloud-native speeds. That’s why at Gcore, our integrated suite of products includes security for cloud, network, and AI workloads, all managed in a single, intuitive interface.Why choose Gcore for cloud-native security?Securing cloud-native workloads requires more than legacy firewalls and patchwork solutions. 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How to comply with NIS2: practical tips and key requirements
The European Union is boosting cybersecurity legislation with the introduction of the NIS2 Directive. The new rules represent a significant expansion in how organizations across the continent approach digital security. NIS2 establishes specific and clear expectations that impact not just technology departments but also legal teams and top decision-makers. It refines old protocols while introducing additional obligations that companies must meet to operate within the EU.In this article, we explain the role and scope of the NIS2 Directive, break down its key security requirements, analyze the anticipated business impact, and provide a checklist of actions that businesses can take to remain in compliance with continually evolving regulatory demands.Who needs to comply with NIS2?The NIS2 Directive applies to essential and important organizations operating within the European Union in sectors deemed critical to society and the economy. NIS2 also applies to non-EU companies offering services within the EU, requiring non-EU companies that offer covered services in the EU without a local establishment to appoint a representative in one of the member states where they operate.In general, organizations with 50 or more employees and an annual turnover above €10M fall under NIS2. Smaller entities can also be included if they provide key services, including energy, transport, banking, healthcare, water supply, digital infrastructure, and public administration.4 key security requirements of NIS2Under the NIS2 Directive, organizations are required to have an integrated approach to cybersecurity. There are 10 basic measures that companies subject to this legislation must follow: risk policies, incident handling, supply-chain security, MFA, cryptography, backups, BCP/DRP, vulnerability management, security awareness, crypto-control, and “informational hygiene”. In this article, we will cover the four most important of them.These four are necessary steps for limiting disruptions and achieving full compliance with stringent regulatory demands. They include incident response, risk management, corporate accountability, and reporting obligations.#1 Incident responseUnder NIS2, a solid incident response is required. Companies must document processes for the detection, analysis, and management of cyber incidents. Additionally, organizations must have a trained team ready to respond quickly when there's a breach, reducing damage and downtime. Having the right plan in place can make the difference between a minor issue and a major disruption.#2 Risk managementContinuous risk evaluation is paramount within NIS2. Businesses should constantly be scouting out internal vulnerabilities and external dangers while following a clear, defined risk management protocol. Regular audits and monitoring help businesses stay a step ahead of future threats.#3 Corporate accountabilityNIS2 emphasizes corporate accountability by requiring clear cybersecurity responsibilities across all management levels, placing direct oversight on executive leadership. Additionally, due to the dependency of most organizations on third-party suppliers, supply chain security is paramount. Executives need to check the security measures of their partners. One weak link in the chain can destroy the entire system, making stringent security measures a prerequisite for all partners to reduce risks.#4 Reporting obligationsTransparency lies at the heart of NIS2. Serious incidents need to be reported promptly to maintain the culture of accountability the directive encourages. Good reporting mechanisms ensure that vital information is delivered to the concerned authorities in a timely manner, akin to formal channels in data protection legislation such as the GDPR.What NIS2 means for applicable organizationsSome of the potential implications of NIS2 include an increased regulatory burden, financial and reputational risks, and operational challenges. These apply to all businesses that are already established in the European Union. With compliance now becoming mandatory in all member states, businesses that have lagged behind in implementing effective cybersecurity measures will be put under increased pressure to improve their processes and systems.Increased regulatory burdenFor most firms, the new directive means a huge increase in their regulatory burden. The broadened scope of the directive applies to more industries, and this may lead to additional administrative tasks. Legal personnel and compliance officers will need to sift through current cybersecurity policies and ensure all parts of the organization are in line with the new requirements. This exercise can entail considerable coordination between different departments, including IT, risk management, and supply chain management.Financial and reputational risksThe penalty for non-compliance is steep. The fines for failure to comply with the NIS2 Directive are comparable to the GDPR fines for non-compliance, up to €10 million or 2% of a company's worldwide annual turnover for critical entities, while important organizations face a fine of up to €7M or 1.4% of their global annual turnover. Financial fines and reputational damage are significant risks that organizations must take into account. A single cybersecurity incident can lead to costly investigations, legal battles, and a loss of trust among customers and partners. For companies that depend on digital infrastructure for their day-to-day operations, the cost of non-compliance can be crippling.Operational challengesNIS2 compliance requires more than administrative change. Firms may have to make investments into new technology when trying to meet the directive's requirements, such as expanded monitoring, expanded protection of data, and sophisticated incident response protocols. Legacy system firms can be put at a disadvantage with the need for rapid cybersecurity improvements.NIS2 compliance checklistDue to the comprehensive nature of the NIS2 Directive, organizations will need to adopt a systematic compliance strategy. Here are 5 practical steps organizations can take to comply:Start with a thorough audit. Organizations must review their current cybersecurity infrastructure and identify areas of vulnerability. This kind of audit helps reveal areas of weakness and makes it easier to decide where to invest funds in new tools and training employees.Develop a realistic incident response plan. It is essential to have a short, actionable plan in place when things inevitably go wrong. Organizations need to develop step-by-step procedures for handling breaches and rehearse them through regular training exercises. The plan needs to be constantly updated as new lessons are learned and industry practices evolve.Sustain continued risk management. Risk management is not a static activity. Organizations need to keep their systems safe at all times and update risk analyses from time to time to combat new issues. This allows for timely adjustments to their approach.Check supply chain security. Organizations need to find out how secure their third-party vendors are. They need to have clear-cut security standards and check periodically to help ensure that all members of the supply chain adhere to those standards.Establish clear reporting channels. Organizations must have easy ways of communicating with regulators. They must establish proper reporting schedules and maintain good records. Training reporting groups to report issues early can avoid delays and penalties.Partner with Gcore for NIS2 successGcore’s integrated platform helps organizations address key security concerns relevant to NIS2 and reduce cybersecurity risk:WAAP: Real-time bot mitigation, API protection, and DDoS defense support incident response and ongoing threat monitoring.Edge Cloud: Hosted in ISO 27001 and PCI DSS-compliant EU data centers, offering scalable, resilient infrastructure that aligns with NIS2’s focus on operational resilience and data protection.CDN: Provides fast, secure content delivery while improving redundancy and reducing exposure to availability-related disruptions.Integrated ecosystem: Offers unified visibility across services to strengthen risk management and simplify compliance.Our infrastructure emphasizes data and infrastructure sovereignty, critical for EU-based companies subject to local and cross-border data regulation. With fully-owned data centers across Europe and no reliance on third-party hyperscalers, Gcore enables businesses to maintain full control over where and how their data is processed.Explore our secure infrastructure overview to learn how Gcore’s ecosystem can support your NIS2 compliance journey with continuous monitoring and threat mitigation.Please note that while Gcore’s services support many of the directive’s core pillars, they do not in themselves guarantee full compliance.Ready to get compliant?NIS2 compliance doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We offer tailored solutions to help businesses strengthen their security posture, align with key requirements, and prepare for audits.Interested in expert guidance? Get in touch for a free consultation on compliance planning and implementation. We’ll help you build a roadmap based on your current security posture, business needs, and regulatory deadlines.Get a free NIS2 consultation
Securing vibe coding: balancing speed with cybersecurity
Vibe coding has emerged as a cultural phenomenon in 2025 software development. It’s a style defined by coding on instinct and moving fast, often with the help of AI, rather than following rigid plans. It lets developers skip exhaustive design phases and dive straight into building, writing code (or prompting an AI to write it) in a rapid, conversational loop. It has caught on fast and boasts a dedicated following of developers hosting vibe coding game jams.So why all the buzz? For one, vibe coding delivers speed and spontaneity. Enthusiasts say it frees them to prototype at the speed of thought, without overthinking architecture. A working feature can be blinked into existence after a few AI-assisted prompts, which is intoxicating for startups chasing product-market fit. But as with any trend that favors speed over process, there’s a flip side.This article explores the benefits of vibe coding and the cybersecurity risks it introduces, examines real incidents where "just ship it" coding backfired, and outlines how security leaders can keep up without slowing innovation.The upside: innovation at breakneck speedVibe coding addresses real development needs and has major benefits:Allows lightning-fast prototyping with AI assistance. Speed is a major advantage, especially for startups, and allows faster validation of ideas and product-market fit.Prioritizes creativity over perfection, rewarding flow and iteration over perfection.Lowers barriers to entry for non-experts. AI tooling lowers the skill floor, letting more people code.Produces real success stories, like a game built via vibe coding hitting $1M ARR in 17 days.Vibe coding aligns well with lean, agile, and continuous delivery environments by removing overhead and empowering rapid iteration.When speed bites backVibe coding isn’t inherently insecure, but the culture of speed it promotes can lead to critical oversights, especially when paired with AI tooling and lax process discipline. The following real-world incidents aren’t all examples of vibe coding per se, but they illustrate the kinds of risks that arise when developers prioritize velocity over security, skip reviews, or lean too heavily on AI without safeguards. These three cases show how fast-moving or under-documented development practices can open serious vulnerabilities.xAI API key leak (2025)A developer at Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, accidentally committed internal API keys to a public GitHub repo. These keys provided access to proprietary LLMs trained on Tesla and SpaceX data. The leak went undetected for two months, exposing critical intellectual property until a researcher reported it. The error likely stemmed from fast-moving development where secrets were hardcoded for convenience.Malicious NPM packages (2024)In January 2024, attackers uploaded npm packages like warbeast2000 and kodiak2k, which exfiltrated SSH keys from developer machines. These were downloaded over 1,600 times before detection. Developers, trusting AI suggestions or searching hastily for functionality, unknowingly included these malicious libraries.OpenAI API key abuse via Replit (2024)Hackers scraped thousands of OpenAI API keys from public Replit projects, which developers had left in plaintext. These keys were abused to access GPT-4 for free, racking up massive bills for unsuspecting users. This incident shows how projects with weak secret hygiene, which is a risk of vibe coding, become easy targets.Securing the vibe: smart risk mitigationCybersecurity teams can enable innovation without compromising safety by following a few simple cybersecurity best practices. While these don’t offer 100% security, they do mitigate many of the major vulnerabilities of vibe coding.Integrate scanning tools: Use SAST, SCA, and secret scanners in CI/CD. Supplement with AI-based code analyzers to assess LLM-generated code.Shift security left: Embed secure-by-default templates and dev-friendly checklists. Make secure SDKs and CLI wrappers easily available.Use guardrails, not gates: Enable runtime protections like WAF, bot filtering, DDoS defense, and rate limiting. Leverage progressive delivery to limit blast radius.Educate, don’t block: Provide lightweight, modular security learning paths for developers. Encourage experimentation in secure sandboxes with audit trails.Consult security experts: Consider outsourcing your cybersecurity to an expert like Gcore to keep your app or AI safe.Secure innovation sustainably with GcoreVibe coding is here to stay, and for good reason. It unlocks creativity and accelerates delivery. But it also invites mistakes that attackers can exploit. Rather than fight the vibe, cybersecurity leaders must adapt: automating protections, partnering with devs, and building a culture where shipping fast doesn't mean shipping insecure.Want to secure your edge-built AI or fast-moving app infrastructure? Gcore’s Edge Security platform offers robust, low-latency protection with next-gen WAAP and DDoS mitigation to help you innovate confidently, even at speed. As AI and security experts, we understand the risks and rewards of vibe coding, and we’re ideally positioned to help you secure your workloads without slowing down development.Into vibe coding? Talk to us about how to keep it secure.
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