APIs are crucial in our digital world, but they also introduce new vulnerabilities. Attackers often exploit these vulnerabilities by concealing malicious payloads within encrypted traffic, rendering them undetectable to traditional security tools. As we observe Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it’s important to emphasize the significance of advanced solutions that can detect hidden threats.

eBPF: Illuminating the Dark Corners of API Traffic

eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) is a powerful method for inspecting network traffic, including encrypted traffic. It works within the Linux kernel to analyze API calls at a detailed level, identifying and blocking malicious activity with speed and efficiency. eBPF provides significant advantages in detecting and responding to hidden API threats without complex decryption processes.

Why eBPF Matters for API Security

eBPF offers several key advantages for API security:

• Deep API Visibility: eBPF offers unparalleled visibility into encrypted API traffic, enabling security teams to detect and respond to hidden threats.
• Performance and Scalability: eBPF is designed to be highly efficient and scalable, making it ideal for analyzing large volumes of API traffic without impacting system performance.
• Flexibility and Extensibility: eBPF is a flexible framework that can be extended to support a wide range of API security use cases, including threat detection and prevention, compliance monitoring, and incident response.

Salt Security and eBPF: A Powerful Combination

Salt Security, a leader in API security, has utilized eBPF to gain exceptional visibility into encrypted API traffic. By leveraging eBPF, Salt Security can:

• Inspect Encrypted Traffic: eBPF enables Salt Security to inspect encrypted API traffic at the kernel level, after ssl termination. This capability allows Salt Security to detect suspicious patterns and anomalies within encrypted payloads, providing essential protection against attacks that would otherwise be unnoticed.
• Increased Visibility: eBPF gives Salt Security detailed insight into API calls, including request and response headers, payloads, and metadata. This information allows Salt Security to create thorough API behavioral profiles, pinpoint subtle deviations from normal patterns, and accurately identify potential threats.

The Future of API Security with eBPF

The evolving nature of API attacks highlights the increasing importance of eBPF in API security. With its ability to offer comprehensive visibility, high performance, and flexibility, eBPF enables security teams to proactively protect their APIs from advanced threats, especially when combined with next-generation security solutions like Salt Security. Salt Security’s incorporation of eBPF support demonstrates the potential for this technology to revolutionize how organizations approach API security. eBPF will be a critical component of our future API protection capabilities, allowing us to achieve comprehensive security across all layers by integrating it with our existing AI-powered engine. This integration will facilitate the identification and mitigation of threats at both the kernel and application levels, providing unparalleled protection against sophisticated attacks.

If you want to learn more about Salt and how we can help you on your API Security journey through discovery, posture management, and run-time threat protection, please contact us, schedule a demo, or check out our website.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Salt Security blog authored by Eric Schwake. Read the original post at: https://salt.security/blog/seeing-the-unseen-salt-security-and-ebpf