INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security

Only recently , selected providers in the global telecommunications industry have reported large scale data breaches as a direct result of exposed APIs . The Traceable / Globe partnership is said to showcase the value of cybersecurity in an important but vulnerable field .

Globe , a leading provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines , relies on APIs in many aspects of its businesses .

Aside from providing internet connectivity for its over 87 million customers , Globe Group also delivers health and financial services via mobile applications .

With Traceable ’ s comprehensive API Security Platform , Globe is taking a proactive step to strengthen its security infrastructure .

“ APIs are the backbone of the Globe Group ’ s business and growth strategy . For our telco and non-telco businesses such as our fintech arm GCash , our customers are getting habituated to using mobile applications , making it easier to transact with us . However , the use of APIs comes with a substantial number of related and inherent risks that could result in damaging data breaches . To tackle these risks , we are implementing a Zero Trust approach for API access . This strategy ensures that we eliminate implied or persistent trust for APIs , which adds an additional layer of security to our system . This is a part of our proactive approach to protect our customers better ,” said Anton Reynaldo

Bonifacio , Globe Group Chief Information Security Officer .

Globe ’ s proactive approach to cybersecurity reflects a larger trend in the Philippines on improving cybersecurity measures .

Other industries including banking and financial services have already implemented stricter risk management protocols as it pertains to API security .

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ( BSP ) recently released a new memo ( Memorandum No . M-2022-016 ) for API security controls including the adoption of good practices for API management .

“ We are thrilled to work with Globe to help them protect their APIs and customer data . It ’ s exciting to partner with a company that recognizes the need to secure their APIs , especially given the extent to which the telecommunications industry is embedded in our lives ,” said Jyoti Bansal , CEO , Traceable .

“ APIs are now the universal attack vector . They are dangerous because they expand the attack surface across all vectors and present the largest attack surface we have ever encountered in the industry .

“ In the past , hackers had to find ways of bypassing existing solutions – such as WAFs , DLP , API Gateways and others – in order to find data and disrupt systems . Now , they can simply exploit an API to access sensitive data and not even have to exploit the other solutions in the security stack .

“ This is why more organizations need to take API security seriously and make it an integral part of their broader cybersecurity strategy .” p

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