How can you ensure your API keys are protected and not misused by malicious actors? Key to your cloud infrastructure are the API keys, as important as the key to your empire, API keys will allow a malicious actor to not only compromise your data but also rake in extraneous expenses by misusing your infrastructure.
Some basic Cybersecurity principles will ensure you protect yourself from this.
- Need to know basis
- Least privileges
- Programmatic access only
- Encryption
- Access policies
Start with a strict need to know policy, only people or programs requiring access to APIs with a valid use case should be allowed to have access to API keys. Access policies and least required access should be applied when giving API key access.
While sharing API keys, caution should be maintained to ensure any communication requiring API keys should be encrypted. API keys should never get posted on online forums or vendor support websites. Wherever needed API keys should be masked.