Center of Excellence Security - API Penetration Testing

API Penetration
Testing

Protect your APIs with COE Security. Our penetration testing finds vulnerabilities before attackers do.

API Penetration Testing at COE Security

At COE Security, our API Penetration Testing service is designed to help organizations identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in their application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs serve as the backbone of modern web and mobile applications, facilitating data exchange between systems. As such, they are a prime target for attackers seeking to exploit weaknesses that can lead to data breaches, unauthorized access, or service disruptions.

We simulate real-world attacks on your APIs whether RESTful, SOAP, GraphQL, or gRPC using both manual testing and automated scanning to uncover vulnerabilities such as improper authentication, broken access controls, and data leakage. Our approach aligns with industry best practices and OWASP API Security Top 10, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of your API’s security posture.

With COE Security’s API Penetration Testing, you gain critical insights into your API security, allowing you to harden your defenses and prevent exploitation by malicious actors.

Our Approach

Define scope and inventory APIs: Identify all target APIs, environments, and endpoints, including third-party or undocumented interfaces.
Review API documentation and schemas: Examine OpenAPI, Swagger, or Postman specs to understand parameters, methods, and functional behavior.
Test authentication and authorization: Evaluate tokens, session handling, and access controls for IDOR, privilege escalation, or token mismanagement risks.
Validate input and injection flaws: Perform fuzzing and payload testing to identify SQLi, NoSQLi, and command injection attack surfaces.
Assess rate limiting and abuse controls: Test endpoints for mass assignment, brute force, or throttling bypass to prevent misuse and overload.

Evaluate data exposure and leakage: Inspect responses, logs, and metadata for unintentional sensitive data disclosures or overly verbose information sharing.
Analyze business logic vulnerabilities: Identify insecure workflows, function misuse, or bypasses that violate intended API behavior and user authorization flow.
Review error handling and responses: Trigger faulty requests to detect verbose errors, stack traces, or code disclosures aiding an attacker’s understanding.
Conduct replay, tampering, and manipulation tests: Attempt token reuse, timestamp forgery, and request manipulation to exploit insecure signature validation processes.
Report findings with remediation steps: Provide clear, actionable, and prioritized remediation advice with reproducible PoCs for each verified vulnerability discovered.

Code Assisted

Business Logic Flaws

Indepth Validation

Cryptography

API Penetration Testing Process

Our established methodology delivers comprehensive testing and actionable recommendations.

Analyze

Threat Model

Active Testing

Business Logic Analysis

Reporting

Why Choose COE Security’s API Penetration Testing?

Deep API expertise across modern stacks: Skilled in REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and WebSocket testing across industries.
Manual-first, tool-assisted approach: Realistic attack simulation beyond what scanners or automation alone can detect.
OWASP API Top 10 focused methodology: Comprehensive coverage aligned with industry-recognized API security risks.
Contextual, developer-friendly reporting: Actionable insights with code-level guidance to speed up remediation.
Support for agile and DevSecOps workflows: Easily integrates with CI/CD for pre-deployment and recurring testing.

Proven results for high-impact APIs: Trusted by fintech, SaaS, and healthcare firms handling sensitive transactions.
Real-time collaboration and updates: Transparent testing progress via dashboard access and instant alerting.
Flexible testing models (black/gray box): Tailored engagements based on documentation, tokens, and access levels.
Post-remediation validation included: Retesting ensures that security gaps are fully and effectively closed.
Trusted partner in your API lifecycle: From dev to production, we help secure every stage of your API journey.

Five Areas Section of API Penetration Testing

Application Penetration Testing

Our Application Penetration Testing service is integral to identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in your API integrations. APIs often serve as the communication bridge between applications, making them a prime target for attackers. We conduct thorough testing to simulate real-world attacks targeting your API endpoints, identifying weaknesses such as insecure authentication, insufficient authorization controls, data exposure, and misconfigured permissions. By uncovering these vulnerabilities early, we provide actionable insights to help secure your APIs, preventing unauthorized access, data breaches, or service disruptions.

Penetration Testing as a Service

With Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS), we provide continuous, on-demand testing of your APIs to ensure they remain secure against evolving threats. This service goes beyond one-time assessments by offering regular penetration testing and security monitoring for your APIs. Whether your APIs are public or private, PTaaS identifies vulnerabilities, from broken authentication to improper data encryption and logic flaws, ensuring that your APIs stay protected in the long term. Regular testing keeps your API ecosystem secure, proactive, and resilient against emerging security threats, mitigating the risk of exploitation by attackers.

Application Security Consulting

In addition to penetration testing, our Application Security Consulting service helps you design and implement a robust API security strategy. We guide your development teams in adopting best practices for securing APIs, such as strong authentication mechanisms (OAuth, JWT), proper data validation, and rate-limiting techniques. We also assist in integrating security during the API lifecycle from development to deployment ensuring that security concerns are addressed early in the development process. By aligning security with your application architecture, we help you minimize the risk of vulnerabilities and ensure that your APIs are both functional and secure.

Software Compliance Testing

Our Software Compliance Testing service ensures that your APIs comply with industry-specific regulations and standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and others. Compliance is critical when handling sensitive data through APIs, and our testing ensures that your API implementations meet legal and regulatory requirements. We assess your API for data encryption standards, proper consent management, access controls, and data retention policies. By ensuring that your APIs meet compliance requirements, we help mitigate the risk of legal penalties, data breaches, and reputational damage due to non-compliance.

Cloud Security Consulting

Many APIs are hosted on cloud platforms, which introduces unique security considerations. Our Cloud Security Consulting service focuses on securing the cloud infrastructure that supports your APIs. We assess your cloud configurations to ensure that your APIs are protected against potential vulnerabilities like misconfigured access controls, inadequate encryption, and insecure service integrations. By providing guidance on securing cloud-based APIs and services, we help ensure that your cloud environments are resilient to attacks, comply with industry standards, and provide a secure foundation for your API-driven applications.

Advanced Offensive Security Solutions

COE Security empowers your organization with on-demand expertise to uncover vulnerabilities, remediate risks, and strengthen your security posture. Our scalable approach enhances agility, enabling you to address current challenges and adapt to future demands without expanding your workforce.