APIsec for Fintech

What middleBrick covers

  • Risk scoring A–F with prioritized findings
  • Black-box scanning without agents or SDKs
  • Read-only methods with under one minute scans
  • Mapping findings to PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2, and OWASP
  • Authenticated scanning for Bearer and API keys
  • CI/CD integration via GitHub Action

Risk assessment aligned to financial threat models

Fintech environments process sensitive payment data and are subject to strict regulatory expectations. middleBrick maps findings to PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023), providing observations that support audit evidence for these frameworks. The scanner focuses on authentication bypass, data exposure, and injection-related weaknesses common to payment APIs.

Detection coverage for OWASP API Top 10

The scanner covers the OWASP API Top 10 (2023) with 12 categories relevant to financial services. Authentication checks include multi-method bypass and JWT misconfigurations such as alg=none and expired tokens. BOLA and BFLA tests probe ID enumeration and privilege escalation paths, while Property Authorization detects over-exposed internal fields. Input Validation assesses CORS wildcard usage and dangerous HTTP methods. Rate Limiting and Resource Consumption are evaluated via header detection and oversized responses. Data Exposure identifies PII patterns and API key formats, including AWS, Stripe, GitHub, and Slack keys. Encryption checks HTTPS redirects, HSTS, and cookie flags. SSRF detection targets URL-accepting parameters and internal IP probing. Inventory Management flags missing versioning and legacy paths. LLM / AI Security includes 18 adversarial probes across Quick, Standard, and Deep tiers, addressing prompt injection, data exfiltration, and token smuggling.

OpenAPI spec validation for financial interfaces

middleBrick parses OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, and Swagger 2.0 with recursive $ref resolution. It cross-references spec definitions against runtime behavior to surface undefined security schemes, sensitive fields, deprecated operations, and missing pagination. This helps teams verify that documented authentication and authorization rules align with actual endpoint behavior, reducing the risk of insecure interfaces in production.

Authenticated scanning and safe operation

Authenticated scanning is available from Starter tier onward, supporting Bearer, API key, Basic auth, and Cookie credentials. Domain verification requires DNS TXT record or HTTP well-known file proof to ensure only domain owners can scan with credentials. Header forwarding is limited to Authorization, X-API-Key, Cookie, and X-Custom-* headers. The scanner uses read-only methods only, with destructive payloads never sent. Private IPs, localhost, and cloud metadata endpoints are blocked at multiple layers, and customer data is deletable on demand and never used for model training.

Deployment options and continuous monitoring

The Web Dashboard centralizes scan management, report viewing, and score trend tracking, with branded compliance PDF exports. The CLI supports commands such as middlebrick scan <url> with JSON or text output. The GitHub Action enforces CI/CD gates by failing builds when scores drop below defined thresholds. The MCP Server enables scanning from AI coding assistants. Pro tier adds scheduled rescans every 6 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly, with diff detection for new and resolved findings. Email alerts are rate-limited to one per hour per API, and webhooks use HMAC-SHA256 signing with auto-disable after five consecutive failures.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can middleBrick certify my API as compliant?
middleBrick is a scanning tool and cannot certify compliance. It detects and reports findings mapped to PCI-DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type II, and OWASP API Top 10 (2023), but does not replace an auditor.
Does the scanner perform intrusive attacks like SQL injection?
No. The scanner only uses read-only methods (GET and HEAD) plus text-only POST for LLM probes. Destructive payloads are never sent.
How are false positives reduced in financial environments?
By combining OpenAPI spec validation with runtime behavior, the scanner cross-references defined security schemes and endpoint expectations to reduce noise. Sensitive detection paths are tuned to financial data patterns while acknowledging that business logic risks require human review.
What happens to scan data after cancellation?
Customer scan data is deletable on demand and purged within 30 days of cancellation. Data is never sold and is not used for model training.