Discovering New APIs Through Security Alerts
17 Oct 2016
I tune into a number of different channels looking for signs of individuals, companies, organizations, institutions, and government agencies doing APIs. I find APIs using Google Alerts, monitoring Twitter and Github, using press releases and via patent filings. Another way I am learning to discover APIs is via alerts and notifications about security events.
An example of this can be found via the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team out of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (@icscert), with the recent issued advisory ICSA-16-287-01 OSIsoft PI Web API 2015 R2 Service Acct Permissions Vuln to ICS-CERT website, leading me to the OSIsoft website. They aren't very forthcoming with their API operations, but this is something I am used to, and in my experience, companies who aren't very public with their operations tend to also cultivate an environment where security issue go unnoticed.
I am looking to aggregate API related security events and vulnerabilities like the feed coming out of Homeland Security. This information needs to be shared more often, opening up further discussion around API security issues, and even possibly providing an API for sharing real-time updates and news. I wish more companies, organizations, institutions, and government agencies would be more public with their API operations and be more honest about the dangers of providing access to data, content, and algorithms via HTTP, but until this is the norm, I'll continue using API related security alerts and notifications to find new APIs operating online.
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