New Report Focuses on Emerging Threats Such as BOLA and SSTI
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 18,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai Technologies, Inc.
(NASDAQ: AKAM), the cloud company that powers and protects life
online, today released a new State of the Internet (SOTI) report
that focuses on the increasing proliferation of application and API
attacks. Titled, Slipping through the Security Gaps:
The Rise of Application and API Attacks, the report
finds that such attacks are growing in both frequency and
complexity as adversaries look for more innovative ways to exploit
this growing attack surface.
Last year was another record-breaking year for application and
API attacks as they grew by 137 percent. This is a major concern
since organizations are adopting more web applications and APIs to
enhance their business and increase ease of use for customers. The
report finds that Local File Inclusion (LFI) remains the top attack
vector with year-over-year growth of 193 percent.
The new Akamai research also provides details on several
emerging attack vectors such as Server-Side Template Injections
(SSTI). With this technique, attackers abuse notable
vulnerabilities such as Log4Shell, Spring4Shell and the Atlassian
confluence vulnerability. SSTI poses serious business risks as
attacks can lead to remote code execution and data exfiltration.
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks are another
up-and-coming attack vector that poses a substantial threat to
organizations. Akamai observes a daily average of 14 million SSRF
attempts against our customers' web applications and APIs.
In addition, Security Gaps: The Rise of Application and API
Attacks spotlights Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA).
The top concern in the API threat landscape according to the OWASP
API Top 10, BOLA is a simple, yet high risk attack that enables
access to the information of other users. The report offers
guidance and best practices around mitigating this growing
vulnerability.
Other main findings of the report include:
- Attacks on the healthcare industry grew by 82 percent. The
adoption of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in the healthcare
sector expands the attack surface of this vertical and could lead
to increased vulnerabilities.
- Median attacks on the manufacturing sector grew by 76 percent
due to the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) connections
and the massive data collected from equipment in this sector.
Successful cyberattacks against operating technologies in this
industry enable real-world impacts like supply chain issues.
- The new proposed OWASP API Top 10 emphasizes the divergence of
attack vectors between web applications and APIs.
- API attacks directed at the business logic of the API are
complicated to detect and mitigate and cannot be determined at the
individual request level. Pre-existing knowledge is required,
such as the specific business logic and the resources accessible by
each user.
- Webshells allow for a simple and effective way to interact with
web servers as they are stealthier than regular shells and present
an attractive arsenal for attackers. Trending webshells discussed
in the report include the China Chopper and Behinder
webshells.
"As cybercriminals evaluate who provides the best return on
investment based on the level of effort, the value of data or the
likelihood of paying extortion, we often see shifts in attack
trends," said Rupesh Chokshi, Senior
Vice President and General Manager, Application Security at
Akamai. "Security Gaps: The Rise of Application and API
Attacks offers insight into the attacks that organizations
should be most concerned about and provides mitigation strategies
for countering these threats such as stopping vectors at the edge,
segmentation and patching."
For additional information, the security community can access,
engage with, and learn from Akamai's threat researchers by visiting
the Akamai Security Hub and following the team on Twitter at
@Akamai_Research.
About Akamai
Akamai powers and protects life online. Leading companies
worldwide choose Akamai to build, deliver, and secure their digital
experiences — helping billions of people live, work, and play every
day. With the world's most distributed compute platform — from
cloud to edge — we make it easy for customers to develop and run
applications, while we keep experiences closer to users and threats
farther away. Learn more about Akamai's security, compute, and
delivery solutions at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or
follow Akamai Technologies on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Contacts
Jim Lubinskas
Akamai Media Relations
703.907.9103
jlubinsk@akamai.com
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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.