Mendix adopts a modernized way of developing applications using a visual model-driven approach and minimal hand coding. However, that’s not the only way Mendix upgrades your app development experience. Thanks to its microservices architecture, it helps you build scalable, secure, and flexible apps. Also, you can easily connect your Mendix app with external systems and services, as this platform simplifies exposing and consuming web and REST services.
But did you know the microservices architecture and APIs provide an access point to your application? That’s why securing Mendix microservices and APIs is crucial. Failure to do that puts your entire application at risk of cyberattacks. But what are microservices, and how do they involve APIs? And how do you secure them? Join us as we provide a comprehensive guide for securing Mendix microservices and APIs.
What Are Microservices and How Do They Involve APIs?
Microservices architecture is a development approach that focuses on breaking down apps into smaller, independent services that can be built, maintained, and deployed independently. Each microservice is responsible for a particular business function.
These microservices communicate with one another via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This architecture offers greater flexibility, agility, and scalability in building and maintaining complex business applications.
Since a microservice represents a specific business function, you must integrate security features to ensure your business functions are safe. Also, it is crucial to secure the APIs through which different microservices communicate.
How to Secure Mendix Microservices and APIs
Here are some practices to consider to secure your Mendix microservices and APIs:
- Authorization and Authentication
As initially stated, Mendix microservices and APIs provide a way to access your application. Therefore, you must ensure that only authorized persons can access and control your microservices and APIs.
But how do you ensure authorization and authentication of your microservices and APIs? Mendix Solutions offers several authentication options, including Mendix Single Sign On (SSO) and OAuth. Therefore, you can configure these authentication options to suit your security requirements.
- Embrace Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Access control is vital in securing Mendix microservices and the APIs through which they connect. With Mendix development involving more stakeholders, granting access to sensitive microservices and APIs to the wrong person is easy. But don’t worry – Mendix provides a feature to ensure visibility over the entire development process.
Mendix’s Control Center lets you visualize your team, including external members and the number of applications created. From this Control Center, as an administrator, you can control the actions that members are authorized to perform.
Since you can determine who has access to what microservices and APIs, you can efficiently define permissions and roles for accessing your Mendix apps. Also, you can extend and apply them to your microservices and APIs to limit access based on user roles.
- Input Validation
Sanitize and validate all input data to your Mendix APIs and microservices to avoid injection attacks like cross-site scripting and SQL injection. Validating input data with Mendix isn’t as complicated as it may sound.
Mendix offers various built-in features for validating your input data. For instance, it provides validation rules that verify that the data is specified, unique, and with a set range. Also, it supports event handlers that use microflows to offer custom logic to validate input data.
- Adopt API Security Practices
APIs are among the most vulnerable components of an application. According to research by Salt Security, about 94% of companies in their survey experienced at least one API-related security issue in 2021.
With concern over API security growing daily, following the best practices to secure your APIs is essential. Some best practices for securing your APIs against vulnerabilities include:
- Endpoint validation
- Rate limiting
- API key management
By default, most Mendix APIs require you to authenticate yourself using API keys. Also, this low-code solutions platform offers an API key module, allowing you to manage API keys and configure your APIs’ security settings.
- Ensure Secure Data Storage
You may implement preventive security measures on your microservices and APIs like authentication. But what if they are breached? Will your data still be safe?
Since microservices and APIs often handle sensitive data, ensuring this data is secure is crucial in case of a successful cyberattack. Consider using encryption for data at rest or in transit to ensure that hackers won’t access your data even if they breach the system.
Mendix provides an encryption module that can help you encrypt your data. You can configure this module to suit your security requirements.
- Security Testing
Security testing helps you identify and fix vulnerabilities in your Mendix microservices and APIs. However, this shouldn’t be a one-time-off thing. Instead, you should perform security testing regularly, including vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. This will help protect your Mendix microservices and APIs from emerging threats in the ever-growing threat landscape.
Mendix offers automated testing tools you can use to identify security issues in your applications. Also, it supports third-party testing tools, which you can integrate with Mendix to test your microservices and APIs.
- Logging and Monitoring
Logging and monitoring your Mendix microservices and APIs helps you detect and address security incidents as they arise. You can use Mendix’s built-in logging and monitoring tools like the Application Quality Monitoring (AQM) to identify suspicious activities in your Mendix microservices and APIs. Alternatively, you can integrate third-party tools to monitor events and logs.
- Patching and Updates
Always ensure your Mendix platform, APIs, and microservices are up-to-date with the latest updates and patches to address known vulnerabilities. Therefore, you should regularly review Mendix security advisories and apply patches as required. This will help maintain your app’s security and that of your APIs and microservices.
Final Thoughts
Mendix microservices represent specific business functions that often handle sensitive data. On the other hand, these microservices communicate with each other through APIs. So, both Mendix microservices and APIs grant access to your application and business. So, you should implement necessary security practices to ensure the safety of your entire application and its data. While the list may not be exhaustive, these 8 practices can help you prevent known vulnerabilities in your Mendix microservices and APIs. So, why wait? Start building secure microservices and APIs with Mendix today!
