API Security

API Penetration Test

An API Penetration Test identifies vulnerabilities in web services by performing real-world attack simulations

What you'll get:
  • A comprehensive evaluation of your web Application Programming Interface security
  • Robust testing against all standards such as REST, SOAP, GraphQL, ect
  • Focus on Authorization, Authentication, Serverside Injection, Information Disclosure, ect
  • Recommendations for enhancing host configurations and network security
  • A comprehensive report with detailed findings and remediations steps
  • Remediation and patch validation testing to confirm vulnerability fixes

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What is API Penetration Testing?

API penetration testing is a specialized security assessment focused on identifying vulnerabilities in your Application Programming Interfaces — the critical communication layer that connects your web applications, mobile apps, microservices, and third-party integrations. As modern applications increasingly rely on APIs to exchange sensitive data, securing these interfaces has become essential to protecting your organization's data and systems.

Unlike traditional web application testing, API penetration testing focuses specifically on the unique attack vectors that APIs expose: authentication and authorization flaws, improper data filtering, rate limiting bypasses, mass assignment vulnerabilities, and business logic issues in API workflows. Our testers manually examine your REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and gRPC endpoints to uncover vulnerabilities that automated scanners cannot detect.

DarkPoint Security's API penetration tests provide a thorough evaluation of your API security posture, including endpoint discovery, authentication mechanism testing, authorization control validation, and data exposure analysis.

API security testing

Why Your Organization Needs API Penetration Testing

APIs have become the primary target for attackers because they provide direct access to sensitive data and backend systems. A single API vulnerability can expose your entire database or allow unauthorized access to customer accounts.

  • Protect Sensitive Data — APIs often handle personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, and authentication credentials that attackers actively target
  • Secure Your Integration Points — Third-party API integrations, partner connections, and microservice communication channels all introduce potential attack vectors
  • Compliance Requirements — PCI DSS, SOC 2, PIPEDA, and other frameworks require security testing of systems that process sensitive data, including API endpoints
  • Prevent Business Logic Abuse — APIs can be exploited to bypass intended workflows, manipulate pricing, escalate privileges, or access other users' data through broken object-level authorization

Our API Testing Methodology

DarkPoint Security follows industry-recognized methodologies tailored for API security assessment:

  • OWASP API Security Top 10 — Our primary framework covering the most critical API security risks including broken authentication, broken object-level authorization, excessive data exposure, and injection attacks
  • OWASP Web Security Testing Guide (WSTG) — Supplements our API testing with web-layer security test cases
  • PTES — Structures our engagement workflow from scoping through reporting
  • NIST SP 800-115 — Guides our technical security testing approach

Our process includes API Discovery to enumerate all endpoints and parameters, Authentication and Authorization Testing to validate access controls, Input Validation Testing for injection attacks, Business Logic Analysis to identify workflow manipulation opportunities, and Rate Limiting and Abuse Testing to assess resilience against automated attacks.

Testing Coverage

Our API penetration tests cover a comprehensive range of vulnerability categories:

  • Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA/IDOR)
  • Broken Authentication and token management
  • Broken Object Property Level Authorization
  • Unrestricted Resource Consumption
  • Broken Function Level Authorization
  • Mass Assignment vulnerabilities
  • Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
  • SQL, NoSQL, and Command Injection
  • Excessive Data Exposure
  • Improper Inventory Management
  • Rate Limiting and Throttling bypass
  • GraphQL-specific attacks (introspection, batching, nested queries)
  • JWT and OAuth implementation flaws
  • API versioning and deprecation issues
  • CORS misconfiguration
  • Unsafe consumption of third-party APIs

Industries We Serve

DarkPoint Security provides API penetration testing to organizations across Canada that rely on APIs for critical business operations. We serve financial services and banking (open banking APIs, payment processing, PCI DSS), healthcare (patient data APIs, FHIR integrations, PIPEDA compliance), technology and SaaS (product APIs, developer platforms, SOC 2), and government and public sector organizations. Our testing approach accounts for the specific data sensitivity and regulatory requirements of each industry.

Why Choose DarkPoint Security

  • Manual-First Approach — Our testers manually analyze API logic, authentication flows, and authorization controls to uncover complex vulnerabilities that automated tools miss
  • Multi-Protocol Expertise — We test REST, GraphQL, SOAP, gRPC, and WebSocket APIs with protocol-specific attack techniques
  • Certified Security Professionals — Our team holds OSCP, CEH, and CISSP certifications with deep expertise in application-layer security
  • Proven Vulnerability Research — Our published CVEs demonstrate our ability to find vulnerabilities in commercial products and services
  • Canadian Data Residency — As a Toronto-based firm, all testing data and reports remain within Canadian jurisdiction

Frequently Asked Questions

We test all common API types including REST APIs, GraphQL APIs, SOAP web services, gRPC, and WebSocket connections. We also test APIs with various authentication mechanisms including OAuth 2.0, JWT, API keys, and custom authentication schemes. Whether your API serves a web application, mobile app, or third-party integrations, we have the expertise to assess its security.

While API documentation (OpenAPI/Swagger specs, Postman collections, or GraphQL schemas) helps us test more efficiently, it is not required. We can perform black-box testing where we discover and enumerate API endpoints through traffic analysis, application reverse engineering, and manual exploration — similar to how a real attacker would approach your API.

While there is overlap, API penetration testing focuses specifically on the API layer — authentication token handling, object-level and function-level authorization, data serialization, rate limiting, and API-specific vulnerabilities like BOLA and mass assignment. Web application testing also covers client-side vulnerabilities like XSS and CSRF. For comprehensive coverage, we often recommend both assessments together.

An API penetration test typically takes 1 to 2 weeks depending on the number of endpoints, complexity of the business logic, authentication mechanisms, and number of user roles. APIs with extensive CRUD operations across many resources or complex GraphQL schemas may require additional time. We provide a detailed estimate after reviewing your API scope.

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