API security trends for 2026

Why 2026 is different

API incidents continue to climb: 84% of security teams saw an API security incident in the last 12 months and only 27% keep a full inventory, according to Akamais 2024 survey. Traceables 2025 State of API Security report found 57% of companies suffered an API-related breach, and Infosecurity Magazine reports 40,000 API threat incidents in just the first half of 2025.

These numbers show why shift-left security and automated checks must move from nice-to-have to table stakes. APISASTs static API security scanner surfaces design issues before code ships, keeping you ahead of the curve.

Shift-left security with static analysis

Teams that run static checks on every pull request catch broken auth, missing rate limits, and unsafe defaults before they hit staging. Integrate the API security SAST tools job into CI and fail builds on high-risk rules. Pair it with contract tests to ensure consumers still parse responses.

Early scans also shrink remediation time: NIST data shows remediation costs drop dramatically when defects are fixed pre-production. Use lightweight policies for contributors and stricter gates on release branches.

AI and machine learning for threat detection

API attacks increasingly blend in with normal traffic, so runtime defenses are leaning on machine learning. Recent Gartner research highlights that AI-driven security is projected to reach 50% of IT security spending by 2030 and is already detecting bot-driven fraud and credential stuffing. Use runtime anomaly detection to complement static design checks, and feed findings back into specs.

Static analysis still matters: it verifies that auth schemes, scopes, and request limits exist, reducing the noise your ML systems must sort through. Connect findings to OpenAPI security scanner results for a closed loop.

Zero trust for APIs

Zero trust means every call is authenticated, authorized, and rate-limited regardless of network location. Enforce OAuth2, JWT expiration, mTLS where possible, and per-operation scopes. APISAST checks for missing security schemes and overly broad scopes to keep least-privilege intact.

Combine static gates with continuous runtime verification: treat every service-to-service call as internet-facing, validate tokens at the edge, and ensure error responses avoid leaking internals.

Supply chain and SBOM pressure

New regulatory momentum makes SBOMs unavoidable. The US executive order lineage (EO 14028) is pushing agencies and vendors toward verifiable dependency lists; industry surveys show 65% of organizations already experienced a software supply-chain attack last year. Generate SBOMs for your API services and align them with the components referenced in your OpenAPI specs.

Use static scanning to flag outdated dependencies, unpinned versions, and third-party callbacks in specs. Link to your SBOM in the API description so consumers know what you rely on.

Key takeaways

• Run static API scans in CI/CD to shift left.
• Augment with AI-driven runtime monitoring for bots and fraud.
• Adopt zero-trust defaults: auth every call, scope narrowly, rate limit consistently.
• Publish SBOMs and inventory every endpoint to close shadow or zombie APIs.
• Make the static API security scanner a release gate.