Require that every API classifies the data it moves and applies protections that match that classification, so I want fields and payloads labeled as public, internal, confidential, or regulated, with encryption, masking, and access rules following from the label. I insist on this because you cannot protect what you have not named, and the difference between an ordinary endpoint and a compliance incident is usually whether anyone stopped to ask what kind of data was flowing through it. Classification is what lets you apply the right controls to PII, health, or financial data without over-locking everything else and grinding your platform to a halt. Do this work at design time, carry the labels into your contracts and tooling, and let them drive real enforcement rather than sitting in a spreadsheet.
Data Classification (Security)
Strategies
API Data Is Classified and Protected
All data exposed through APIs must be classified by sensitivity level, with appropriate protections applied based on classification, ensuring that PII, financial data, and other sensitive informati...
APIs Meet Regulatory and Compliance Requirements
All APIs must be mapped to applicable regulatory and compliance requirements including GDPR, SOC2, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA, ensuring that API designs, data handling, and operations satisfy legal obligat...
Experiences
Security
API security is a top priority for any enterprise, with even higher standards for externally available APIs. However, security doesn’t end with the APIs an enterprise produces—it also applies to co...
Compliance
Compliance is the experience of meeting the legal, regulatory, and internal obligations that come with operating an API. For many teams it feels like a burden bolted on at the end, but the reality ...
Trust
Establish trust with API consumers will evolve and build over time, and is something that can be lost in a very short period of time. Trust will depend on other experiences like quality and reliabi...
Lifecycle
security Security Production
Security runs through every stop on this lifecycle, but it also deserves its own attention. OWASP alignment, vulnerability scanning, and defense in depth protect both the provider and the consumer....
balance Governance Production
Governance is how everything on this lifecycle stays aligned as an operation scales. Policies, rules, and standards applied consistently across teams are what keep APIs coherent without slowing eve...
