Monitoring Software Tool to Prevent Data Leaks in a RESTful API

This research work proposes a monitoring tool to detect data leaks in a RESTful API. Data leaks present an increasing risk to organizations, compromising confidential and sensitive information. Various entities define data leaks as events that compromise the confidentiality, availability or integrity of information. The European Commission and the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos emphasize the protection of personal data in this context. The proposed monitoring software tool relies on a “data-driven” approach to analyze API traffic and detect anomalies that could indicate data leaks. The software tool proposed for monitoring was developed with the prototype model, which is characterized by the construction of incremental prototypes with minimal functionalities, which are evaluated and modified based on user comments. This iterative process is repeated until a final prototype is obtained that serves as the basis for the final product. The proposed monitoring tool provides API administrators with a configurable solution to prevent data leaks in RESTful API. Its detailed logging, risk detection, flexible configuration options, and design make it a valuable tool for improving API security. Finally, in this work, it is proposed that the monitoring software tool be part of the official repository of Composer as a process that collaborates with the development of software under the standards and good practices of API programming.