Zero Trust API Security

Make APIs Invisible. Until Access Is Authorized.

Reduce your internet-facing API attack surface by 99.99%. APIs remain completely unreachable until authentication and authorization are complete — no open ports, no potential vulnerabilities for an attacker to exploit.

netfoundry api security infographic
#1 breach vector vulnerability exploitation via exposed APIs
99.99% reduction in API attack surface
0 inbound ports required for API connectivity
Why WAFs and gateways aren’t enough

The Fundamental Problem Is Reachability

Traditional API security — WAFs, API gateways, rate limiting — all filter inbound traffic. But with 30 billion internet-connected devices able to reach your API infrastructure and vulnerabilities being the primary attack vector, no amount of traffic inspection stops an exploit targeting the API itself.

  • WAFs can’t reliably distinguish legitimate inbound connections from malicious ones
  • API gateways process traffic that has already reached your infrastructure
  • Open inbound ports are visible and scannable by every automated attack tool on the internet
  • IP-based trust models grant network reachability before any authentication occurs
  • Shared credentials and API keys create sprawling, hard-to-rotate secret management
  • No identity associated with connections — traffic visibility by IP address, not identity
netfoundry api security existing problem infographic
The NetFoundry approach

Eliminate Reachability Before Authentication

NetFoundry’s Identity-First Reachability™ makes APIs invisible to unauthenticated actors. There are no open ports for scanners to discover, and no way for attackers to discover and exploit vulnerabilities. APIs simply don’t exist to anyone who hasn’t first authenticated and been authorized.

1 Client authenticates with certificate identity — before any connection attempt
2 Policy evaluated — is this identity authorized to reach this API?
3 If authorized, a private end-to-end encrypted session is created
4 All other actors see nothing — APIs are not reachable, not scannable

The only way to truly eliminate your API attack surface

Traditional approaches process inbound traffic and try to filter malicious requests. NetFoundry eliminates the attack vector entirely — by ensuring unauthenticated actors never reach your APIs in the first place. You can’t exploit what you can’t reach.

  • APIs are completely invisible and unreachable until identity verification is complete
  • Outbound-only connections from API servers — no inbound ports, ever
  • Service-level least privilege — each client identity can only reach the specific services it is authorized for
  • Agent and agentless deployment options — embed directly in your application or deploy alongside it
  • Secure APIs without API gateways and block lateral movement
  • Identity-based observability — see which identity is calling which API, not just which IP
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Common use cases

Every Type of API, Fully Protected

B2B APIs

Partner and third-party API access

Replace VPNs and IP allowlists for partner connectivity. Each partner identity gets a certificate — least-privilege access to only the services they need, with full auditability of every call.

AI and agentic

API access for AI agents and MCP servers

Eliminate API Keys and potential for credential theft. Agents can only discover and call APIs within their policy scope — and you can track every token of usage by identity.

Internal APIs

Microsegmentation of internal services

Block lateral movement through your internal API landscape. Define access by identity and service — not IP address or network segment — for true least-privilege internal connectivity.

Public APIs

Secure public API publishing without a gateway

The only approach that lets you publish APIs for public use without an API gateway while simultaneously blocking lateral movement and making infrastructure invisible to scanners.

Customer APIs

Provider-to-customer connectivity

Software and SaaS providers connecting into customer environments can do so without requiring customers to open inbound ports or deploy VPNs — accelerating deployments and security reviews.

OT and IoT

APIs in industrial and edge environments

Extend identity-first API security to OT, IoT, and edge devices. No VLAN changes, no firewall rule modifications — outbound-only connectivity from any environment, at any scale.

NetFoundry vs. Traditional API Security

Security capability WAF / API Gateway NetFoundry Identity-First
Can unauthenticated actors discover your APIs? Yes — open ports are visible and scannable No — APIs are completely invisible
Attack surface reduction Reduces exploitability; does not reduce discovery Up to 99.99% — no open inbound ports
Identity associated with connections Typically IP-based; JWT tokens post-connection Certificate identity verified before any connection
Lateral movement prevention Limited; requires additional network segmentation Built-in — service-level least privilege by identity
Traffic to analyze All internet traffic — high volume, high noise Authorized traffic only — dramatically reduced volume
Operational overhead Ongoing rule management, tuning, false positives Centralized identity-based policy — minimal ongoing changes
“NetFoundry’s Zero Trust B2B met our customer’s most stringent security requirements — no permitted IP addresses in their firewalls and no S2S VPNs.”

John Wilson, CEO — TZ Limited

“NetFoundry’s Zero Trust B2B solution has significantly enhanced the security and performance of our integration platform, allowing us to deliver reliable and secure services to our customers without S2S VPN and firewall headaches.”

Rodrigo Bernardinelli, Co-Founder — Digibee

Key benefits

What You Gain with Zero Trust API Security

🎯

Reduce exploitation risk

Since there are no inbounds ports or internet-facing elements, there’s no path for an attacker to take advantage of known or unknown vulnerabilities.

👁

Identity-based observability

See exactly which identity is calling which API — not just which IP address. Simplified governance, faster incident response, and cleaner audit trails.

🔐

Eliminate credential sprawl

Reduce shared secrets, the headaches rotating them and the risk of their being hijacked. Certificate-based machine identities are bound to specific workloads and can’t be reused by an attacker.

Lower operational overhead

No WAF rule tuning, no false positive triage, no IP allowlist maintenance. Identity-based policy managed centrally — changes take effect instantly across all environments.

🏛

Simplified compliance

Supports HIPAA, PCI-DSS, SOC 2, EU CRA, NIS-2, and FIPS environments. Immutable identity-based logs provide clear evidence for assessments and audits.

🔗

Works with your stack

Lightweight SDKs in C, Go, Java, Python, and more. Deploy as standalone binaries or containers. Embed zero trust directly into your application — no hardware firewalls required.

Get started

Eliminate Your API Attack Surface

See how NetFoundry makes APIs invisible to unauthorized actors — with a live demo built around your specific API security use case.