Understanding North-South vs. East-West API Traffic Security

In this blog, we will learn about the difference between North – South vs. East-West API Traffic Security.

Introduction:

To understand the difference between North-South and East-West API traffic is crucial for implementing effective security measures. Let’s dive into these concepts and examine how Noname Security tackles the specific challenges they present.

North-South API Traffic

North-South traffic involves interactions between an organization’s internal systems and external entities. This includes when users, services, or devices access an API hosted by the organization. It crosses the boundary between the internal network and the external world, making it a primary point of interaction with external stakeholders.

Key Aspects

• Public-Facing APIs: These are typically accessed via the internet.
• Vertical Data Flow: Data moves from external sources to internal systems or vice versa.
• External Clients: Interactions occur between external clients (like mobile apps) and internal backend systems.

Security Needs

For North-South traffic, Noname Security offers robust protection through:

Discovery Module:

• Identifies external APIs and classifies traffic from outside the network perimeter.
• Helps detect internet-facing APIs and shadow domains, which are common exposure points in north-south traffic.

Runtime Protection Module:

• Provides real-time detection and mitigation of attacks from external sources (e.g., injection, scanning, brute-force).
• Uses AI/ML anomaly detection tailored for north-south threats like:

• • Unexpected fields
  • Suspicious user agents
  • Excessive data pulls
  • Malicious bot activity

Internet Access Scanner:

• Checks which APIs are accessible from the internet.
• Validates external visibility and determines if authentication is enforced.
• Key for north-south exposure validation.

Incidents and Attacker Analysis:

• Detects threats from public API calls, monitors attackers, and supports remediation through tools like JIRA, ServiceNow, and Slack.

Active Testing Module:

• Allows simulation of external attacker behavior during development, helping prevent exposure in north-south paths.

East-West API Traffic

East-West traffic refers to the data exchange within an organization’s internal environment, This includes interactions between micro services, APIs, and other internal systems. As organizations increasingly adopt microservices architectures, securing East-West traffic becomes equally important.

Key Aspects

• Internal Infrastructure: Data flows horizontally between trusted systems within the same network boundary.
• Microservices Interactions: These commonly involve peer-to-peer communication between services.
• Trusted Systems: Typically involves communication between trusted internal services.

Security Needs

Noname Security addresses East-West traffic challenges with:
Discovery Module:

• Discovers internal APIs, even if not registered in a gateway (e.g., zombie, legacy, or shadow APIs).
• Helps uncover misconfigurations in internal service-to-service communication.

Posture Management Module:

• Evaluates internal API configurations and checks for compliance gaps or misconfigurations.
• Detects vulnerable internal flows, even if they are not internet-facing.

Runtime Protection Module:

• Monitors east-west API traffic anomalies, such as:
• Calling APIs in the wrong order
• Lateral movement
• Unauthorized access attempts between internal services

Data Obfuscation:

• Ensures sensitive data in east-west traffic (like credentials, tokens, and internal identifiers) is obfuscated while maintaining visibility for investigation.

Incidents and Analysis:

• Highlights issues in internal API behavior, like data tampering or policy violations within internal network zones.

Comprehensive API Security with Noname

Noname Security provides a holistic approach to securing both North-South and East-West API traffic:

• For North-South traffic, it offers real-time threat detection and visibility into internet-facing APIs and ensures that external API access is secured and monitored.
• For East-West traffic, it enables secure inter-service communication by discovering internal APIs, detecting misconfigurations, and continuously monitoring runtime behavior to catch anomalies and policy violations.

Conclusion

By addressing the unique security needs of both types of traffic, Noname Security helps organizations implement a robust API security strategy that protects against external threats and internal vulnerabilities.