Reader small image

You're reading from  Defending APIs

Product typeBook
Published inFeb 2024
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781804617120
Edition1st Edition
Right arrow
Author (1)
Colin Domoney
Colin Domoney
author image
Colin Domoney

Colin Domoney (BSc. MSc. CSSLP, CEH) is an API Security Research Specialist and Developer Advocate with deep expertise in the development of secure software. As VP of AppSec, he took on the challenge of securing software on a large scale and running the global AppSec program at Deutsche Bank. At Veracode, as an evangelist, he produces countless webinars, and blog posts, and speak globally at conferences. Currently, he has embraced the challenge of securing APIs with 42Crunch where he has produced the API industry's first security maturity model and contributed to numerous webinars, talks, and blogs. Currently, he is working on the industry's first defensive API developer training course. He is also the curator of the APISecurity weekly newsletter.
Read more about Colin Domoney

Right arrow

Implementation analysis

Finally, we will conclude this chapter with some tips on how to glean additional information about the implementation of the API’s server, including the host OS and the libraries and frameworks used, including version numbers. Such information can be immensely useful when attempting to reverse-engineer an API.

Verbose error and debug messages

The first category is the now infamous (due to the high instances of information leakage via this method) error category of excessively verbose error and debug messages. Application developers include various levels of diagnostic information to aid in the debugging of applications in the field. Users can capture the log and send it to the support team for analysis. Unfortunately, such logging can be overly verbose and, along with useful debug information, can also divulge the specifics of the inner workings of the application and details of the implementation.

As an example, consider the commonly encountered...

lock icon
The rest of the page is locked
Previous PageNext Page
You have been reading a chapter from
Defending APIs
Published in: Feb 2024Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781804617120

Author (1)

author image
Colin Domoney

Colin Domoney (BSc. MSc. CSSLP, CEH) is an API Security Research Specialist and Developer Advocate with deep expertise in the development of secure software. As VP of AppSec, he took on the challenge of securing software on a large scale and running the global AppSec program at Deutsche Bank. At Veracode, as an evangelist, he produces countless webinars, and blog posts, and speak globally at conferences. Currently, he has embraced the challenge of securing APIs with 42Crunch where he has produced the API industry's first security maturity model and contributed to numerous webinars, talks, and blogs. Currently, he is working on the industry's first defensive API developer training course. He is also the curator of the APISecurity weekly newsletter.
Read more about Colin Domoney