Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) solutions have become increasingly vital in today’s cybersecurity strategies, providing essential defenses against attacks targeting web applications and APIs. It’s no surprise that APIs are growing in popularity, with 80% of companies reporting that more than half of their applications depend on APIs—a figure projected to reach 88% within the next 24 months (ESG Research, 2025). Additionally, a new Tactic, Technique, and Procedure (TTP) is used in attacks almost daily. However, as the attack surface expands and cyber threats evolve, traditional WAAP solutions often struggle to keep up, leading to challenges such as inventory gaps, alert fatigue, and management complexity.
Recognizing these evolving challenges, Akamai has identified API detection and response strategies that are critical enhancements to traditional WAAP frameworks. To effectively combat API-targeted threats, organizations must implement platforms that excel in ten critical capabilities:
- Platform-Neutral Protection: Modern solutions must monitor APIs regardless of the infrastructure or technologies used, ensuring visibility across all environments and organizational units, including shadow APIs.
- Continuous API Discovery and Posture Management: Unlike earlier WAAP approaches, modern solutions provide real-time, continuous inventory and risk assessment, which is crucial for uncovering hidden APIs and proactively addressing vulnerabilities.
- Visualization of API Behavior: Current security tools now include enhanced visualization capabilities that enable security teams to examine detailed API interactions, facilitating quick investigation and collaboration among teams.
- Tracking Multiple User Entities: Modern WAAP solutions can monitor multiple user entities to identify what is normal and what is not, significantly reducing false positives.
- B2B and East-West API Coverage: Addressing a long-standing gap, contemporary platforms now comprehensively monitor external-facing (north-south) and internal (east-west) APIs, addressing previously overlooked attack vectors.
- Behavioral Analytics and Detection: Traditional WAAP solutions relied heavily on signatures and rule-based detection, often overlooking nuanced attacks. Modern behavioral analytics identify anomalies by continuously monitoring and establishing baseline normal API usage patterns.
- Meaningful Alerts with Context: Alert fatigue has been a significant issue, as many organizations cite overwhelming complexity and cost management challenges in their traditional web application firewall (WAF) environments. Modern WAAP solutions address this problem by providing context-rich, actionable alerts, which greatly simplify management.
- Customized, Automated Responses: Enhanced behavioral analytics enable precise automated responses that effectively mitigate threats without manual intervention, addressing previous challenges associated with complex response management.
- Proactive Investigation and Threat Hunting: Organizations can now investigate threats proactively by analyzing historical API data, significantly advancing beyond reactive strategies.
- Observable Context through Data Lakes: Advanced platforms maintain comprehensive historical logs of API behavior, preserving essential context for identifying vulnerabilities, monitoring threats, and conducting thorough forensic investigations.
Today’s advanced API detection and response capabilities enable organizations to address key API security challenges, such as inventory gaps, alert fatigue, and management complexity, while actively defending APIs against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. With smart threat detection, automated responses, and full visibility, modern API security solutions effectively counter the tactics used by cybercriminals.
Organizations can enhance their API security strategies through these advanced capabilities, which provide robust protection against sophisticated attacks, simplify management, and mitigate alert fatigue. Download the full Akamai 10 Critical Capabilities of API Detection and Response report to discover detailed information about these capabilities and learn how your organization can actively secure its API landscape.
