Securing Google Apigee with Armor

In this blog, we will learn how to secure Google Apigee with Armor.

Description:

Google Apigee provides a full lifecycle API management solution, but securing APIs in today’s threat landscape requires more than basic rate-limiting or authentication. Armor, a cybersecurity platform offering cloud-native threat prevention, delivers enhanced perimeter protection through features like Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS protection, IP reputation filtering, and automated compliance controls.

When integrated with Google Apigee (either Apigee X or Hybrid), Armor acts as a defensive front layer, preventing malicious traffic from reaching the Apigee API gateway. This combination ensures both secure and scalable API delivery.

Implementation

1. Traffic Routing via Armor:
   All incoming API requests are routed through Armor’s WAF, which inspects HTTP/S payloads using deep packet inspection. Only validated traffic is forwarded to Apigee.
2. Security Policy Enforcement:
   It enforces advanced security policies based on threat intelligence and custom rules:

• Blocks OWASP Top 10 attacks like XSS, SQL Injection, and CSRF.
• Prevents zero-day attacks through behavioral anomaly detection.
• Uses Geo-IP and IP reputation blocking to deny traffic from known malicious sources.

3. DDoS Protection for Apigee:
   It absorbs volumetric DDoS attacks at the edge using rate-limiting, connection throttling, and TCP SYN flood mitigation—ensuring high availability of Apigee APIs during attacks.
4. Integrated Monitoring & Response:
   It provides a Security Dashboard with real-time attack visualization. These logs can be exported to Cloud Logging and Apigee Analytics for a unified view of API and security performance.
5. Compliance Automation:
   Armor supports PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2, automatically enforcing encryption, audit logging, and access controls across all incoming API traffic routed through it—ensuring that APIs managed by Apigee stay compliant by design.

Conclusion

Armor significantly enhances the security posture of Google Apigee by providing multi-layered edge protection. With Armor filtering out threats before they hit Apigee, you gain reduced backend load, improved performance, better threat visibility, and assured compliance. Whether deploying Apigee X in GCP or Hybrid in Kubernetes, integrating Armor ensures that your APIs are not just managed—but truly secured.