The New CIS API Security Guide

In 2025, API use is higher than ever. The AI race is making developers push out more and more AI models at rapid rates. And all of these models, like the rest of the internet, run on APIs. And as API use has risen, so have the risks associated with APIs. 

Lists like the OWASP Top Ten help summarize the most important risks, but they don’t provide detailed mitigation techniques on how to avoid them. That’s why the CIS Guide is so special- it’s the first handbook for security teams in the current, risk-filled ecosystem. The information is all new, updated and relevant to the cyber landscape today.

Contents

The CIS API Security Guide is divided into five chapters: Design, Develop, Deploy, Operate, and Decommission. These chapters reflect the five stages of API development, and each chapter contains security advice for that specific stage.

Some of the key issues covered are Documentation, Authentication and Authorization, Compliance, Monitoring and Logging, Versioning, Identity and Access Management, System Testing, and many more critical issues. We’ve all heard the phrase “Documentation is King,” and we also know that Authentication and Authorization have been consistently fighting for first place on the OWASP Top Ten Risk list. Compliance is another key issue developers tend to forget about, especially when it comes to data security compliance requirements.

The New CIS API Security Guide is a much-needed document in the risk-filled cyber landscape of today. As APIs are everywhere, so are API risks. And as AI adoption continues to increase, so does API usage. 

The New CIS API Security Guide was compiled by experts with some research contributed by us here at FireTail. We are proud to have been a part of this important project and excited to see how it will benefit both developers and security teams alike in the near future. If you want to check out the New CIS API Security Guide yourself, download a copy here.