This post is part of our 2023 cybersecurity prediction series.
Karl Mattson, CISO at Noname Security
Financial Services Sets the Pace in API-led Transformation
API-led banking initiatives are at the center of today's digital transformation in financial services. While APIs themselves are not new, they are increasingly becoming the primary software enabler for critical business processes and sensitive data exchange. Open banking standards, real-time payments, crypto wallets and a range of FinTech services offerings continue to push the industry towards API-first and cloud-friendly technologies. This transformation creates new attack surfaces, regulatory risks and data loss potential legacy controls are poorly equipped to handle.
In 2023, we anticipate the accelerated transition to real-time payments via public internet channels and the move from batch file transmission to API calls will create new risks and vulnerabilities for the financial services sector.
Meanwhile, financial institutions will increase their pursuit of ancillary API-led services, such as pricing, quantitative analytics, ML services and others which present FIs with a range of business accelerants at lower costs and faster delivery times. While these trends have been long underway, the macroeconomic pressures push financial services firms towards more expedient, cost-effective services consumption at an even greater pace.
The API Security Category Will Continue to Expand
API Security sits on an axis that includes API Specifications, API Implementation, API Identity, and Access Management, the infrastructure APIs are deployed on, and the underlying systems that APIs abstract (Databases, SaaS Applications, Devices)
Current definitions of API security can include capabilities offered by network elements (API Gateways, Web Application Firewalls, Load Balancers, etc.) as well as the capabilities offered by new entrants that GAtew test API implementations, monitor APIs at runtime, and perform posture management of infrastructure and more.
In 2023, we see a continued progression of API security into other areas, like API Identity and access and Data security.
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