API discovery is the foundation of effective API security because you can’t protect what you don’t know about. By automatically uncovering both documented and shadow APIs using a platform such as Invicti, organizations gain the visibility needed to reduce attack surface, validate vulnerabilities, and meet compliance requirements with confidence.
Introduction: APIs at the core of modern applications
APIs are the backbone of today’s digital economy. From banking apps to e-commerce platforms, nearly every transaction depends on APIs exchanging data behind the scenes. Yet for all their importance, many organizations struggle with visibility. APIs often multiply faster than documentation and governance can keep up.
This lack of visibility creates both security and compliance risks. Analysts estimate that less than half of enterprise APIs are managed, leaving the rest as “shadow APIs” with unknown risk exposures. For security leaders, the question is no longer whether APIs should be discovered but how quickly and reliably discovery can be automated.
Key takeaways
- API discovery uncovers both documented and shadow APIs.
- Improved API visibility reduces attack surface and compliance risks.
- Automated discovery ensures accuracy, validation, and governance.
- Continuous API security testing keeps risks manageable.
- Invicti combines API discovery and scanning as part of its integrated application security platform.
Defining API discovery
In application security, API discovery is the process of identifying every API in an environment, documented, undocumented, or forgotten. Without it, organizations risk defending only the APIs they know about, while attackers probe the ones left off the radar.
Manual discovery methods, such as ad hoc documentation reviews, cannot scale to modern hybrid and cloud environments. Automated discovery, by contrast, continuously scans and inventories APIs, providing the foundation for a secure and compliant program.
Why API discovery matters for security and compliance
Unmanaged and untested APIs pose some of the highest risks in security today. Shadow APIs expose forgotten or undocumented endpoints that attackers can quietly exploit. One frequent consequence of successful API attacks are data breaches, where sensitive data is exposed through undocumented or weakly secured APIs. Without a reliable discovery process, you risk leaving compliance blind spots – security posture gaps that can undermine audit readiness for GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and other standards.
Put simply, you can’t secure what you don’t know exists.
Core benefits of effective API discovery
An effective discovery program delivers clear and measurable benefits:
- Centralized API inventory: A single source of truth across hybrid and multi-cloud systems
- Reduced attack surface: Every API accounted for, minimizing exposure from shadow endpoints
- Continuous visibility for DevSecOps: Discovery integrated into CI/CD ensures no new APIs slip into production unnoticed
- Simplified compliance reporting: Auditors and regulators can verify a complete, accurate inventory
API discovery as an integral part of API security
Discovery alone is not enough. To be actionable, it must be tied to security validation and governance. Invicti’s API security capabilities extend discovery with:
- Automated detection of hidden and undocumented APIs that often slip past manual processes
- Coverage for REST, SOAP, and GraphQL APIs with built-in security checks
- Stateful scanning to test multi-step workflows and chained API calls
- Proof-based scanning that validates vulnerabilities and eliminates false positives
With these capabilities, organizations can continuously map their full API landscape, confirm real risks, and integrate findings into remediation workflows.
Best practices for API discovery
To make discovery a living process rather than a one-off project, security leaders should:
- Automate discovery across hybrid and cloud environments
- Integrate discovery into CI/CD pipelines
- Enforce documentation and governance policies
- Regularly audit and validate API inventories
- Test APIs with proof-based scanning to confirm vulnerabilities in a continuous process
These practices reduce blind spots and make API security proactive rather than reactive.
Final thoughts about API discovery
API discovery is no longer optional – it is the foundation of API security. Without visibility, risk grows unchecked, and compliance becomes guesswork. With automated discovery and validation, security leaders can build trust in their defenses while simplifying governance.
Invicti helps organizations strengthen security posture by combining API discovery with automated vulnerability validation and accurate risk visibility.
Frequently asked questions
API discovery FAQ
It’s the process of identifying all APIs in an environment, including hidden or undocumented ones (shadow APIs), to ensure security and compliance.
Without discovery, some APIs usually remain accessible but unaccounted for and untested, expanding the attack surface and exposing organizations to risks.
While manual methods also exist, the usual choice for API discovery are automated tools that scan application environments to uncover, validate, and inventory APIs more effectively. API discovery can be done using a separate tool or as part of a web app and API discovery and testing platform.
Accurate API inventories are required for regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Discovery prevents hidden APIs from creating blind spots, and having a documented API discovery process additionally helps to demonstrate compliance.
Invicti’s DAST-centric application security platform can discover hidden and undocumented APIs, run vulnerability scans across REST, SOAP, and GraphQL APIs, validate many common vulnerabilities with a proof of exploit, and integrate results into developer workflows.