Events , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development , RSA Conference

Securing APIs: Akamai's Acquisition Strategy

API security is a critical concern in today's interconnected world as APIs are prime target for attackers. Rupesh Chokshi, senior vice president and general manager, application security, Akamai, shared insights into the recent acquisition of Noname Security driven by the increasing adoption of APIs in the digital economy.

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Akamai saw 100% growth in API traffic year-over-year, Chokshi said, recognizing the market expansion opportunity. The acquisition of Neosec by Akamai last year served as an entry point into API security, he said.

"The tech [from Noname] is lightweight; it's very efficient. And that matters, because you want to be in dealing with large amounts of data and the ability to cipher through that and finding what is valuable," Chokshi said. "Noname has a good customer user interface, where they have done a lot of work on simplicity, user experience, the ability to do all of the prebuilt integrations and utilize them and have response actions associated with that."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at RSA Conference 2024, Chokshi also discussed:

• The relationship between web application firewall and API security;
• Developing a native connector to integrate Akamai traffic with Noname's platform;
• Akamai's expanding capabilities beyond API security into areas such as API testing and runtime security.

Chokshi is an innovative, customer-focused, and growth-oriented leader in product management, marketing, engineering, and product development with a proven record of incubating and scaling software-centric security and networking businesses.