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02/08/2026 9:41 am
TL;DR: API security issues hit 99% of organisations in the past 12 months, and 55% delayed releases because of them, according to StackHawk. Continuous API security testing is now a development control, not a post-release safeguard, because broken authentication and authorization failures are exploitable before teams notice them.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by StackHawk: API Security Testing: A Complete Guide for Developers
By the numbers:
- 99% of organizations experienced API security issues in the past 12 months, with over half forced to delay application releases due to security concerns
- Fixing vulnerabilities in production costs 100x more than catching them during development
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams implement API security testing in CI/CD pipelines?
A: Start by automating the endpoints that carry privileged actions, sensitive data, or access decisions.
Q: Why do APIs create identity risk even when the application code is secure?
A: APIs create identity risk because the code can be clean while the credentials behind it remain exposed, over-privileged, or reused.
Q: What breaks when Broken Object Level Authorization is missed?
A: A valid user can often retrieve or modify another user’s data by changing an identifier in the request.
Practitioner guidance
- Inventory every API path and schema Build a complete inventory of REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, internal service, and third-party API endpoints, then record their auth method, data sensitivity, and ownership.
- Test object-level authorisation on live endpoints Run authenticated tests that change resource identifiers, replay tokens, and attempt cross-user access on high-value endpoints.
- Separate test credentials from production access Create dedicated testing accounts with realistic but non-production privileges so scans can exercise authentication and role boundaries without risking real customer or employee data.
What's in the full article
StackHawk's full guide covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Step-by-step walkthroughs for setting up API security testing in CI/CD pipelines
- Detailed examples of DAST, SAST, SCA, and manual penetration testing in API environments
- Operational guidance on authentication credentials, rate limits, and scan tuning for first runs
- Remediation workflow design, including triage, reproduction, and validation steps
👉 Read StackHawk's complete guide to API security testing →
API security testing and broken auth: are your controls keeping up?
Explore further
02/08/2026 12:35 pm
API security testing is becoming a control for identity enforcement, not just vulnerability finding. The article shows that broken authentication and authorization are now among the most common API failure modes, which means the real issue is whether identity checks hold at runtime. In modern architectures, the API is often the enforcement layer for access decisions, so testing must validate those decisions continuously. Practitioners should treat API testing as part of the access control stack.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should teams do when API tests reveal broken authentication?
A: Triage the issue as an access control failure, not just a bug. Check token expiry handling, session validation, identity provider integration, and any alternate endpoint that may bypass the intended login flow. Then retest the fix in the running API before considering the issue closed.
👉 Read our full editorial: API security testing closes the gap between broken auth and exposure
