Page 151 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

Shadow APIs: The Silent Backdoor Undermining Application

Security

The API Economy’s Blind Spot

By Sandeep Dommari, Principal Architect, Ping Identity

Introduction: The API (Application Programming Interface) Economy’s Blind Spot

APIs are now what hold modern applications together. APIs now manage the majority of data exchange
across enterprise environments, from cloud-native microservices to mobile apps. Unquestionably, APIs
facilitate agility, quicker development cycles, and large-scale integration.

However, there is a hidden cost to this agility: the growth of shadow APIs, undocumented, unmonitored,
or forgotten endpoints that evade DevSecOps pipeline governance.

Shadow APIs do not appear in inventories, vulnerability scans, or compliance audits, in contrast to a
known vulnerability in a published API. Attackers love to take advantage of these invisible doors.
Furthermore, the trend is only getting faster.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 151
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