API Threat Landscape Report

A data-driven, practitioner-focused briefing from Imperva Threat Research. Based on telemetry across 4,000+ environments during the first half of 2025, this report reveals how attackers target APIs, what they try to steal or disrupt, and the practical steps teams must take now to protect revenue, customer trust, and compliance.

What’s included in the report

• Executive summary and key stats (H1 2025 telemetry)
• Attack taxonomy: tactics, techniques and tools (real-world examples)
• Endpoint and industry analysis (who’s targeted & why)
• CVE & RCE insights (Log4j, WebLogic, Joomla probes)
• Case studies (gift-card attack, large-scale DDoS)
• Practical playbook: Discover → Assess → Mitigate with prioritized actions
• Board-ready KPIs and tabletop exercises for executives & SOCs
• Visuals you can reuse: charts, attack mix, and one-page infographic

Key findings (at a glance)

• 40,000+ API incidents observed in H1 2025 across 4,000+ environments.
• 44% of advanced bot activity now targets APIs (despite APIs being ~14% of all attacks).
• 15 million RPS application-layer DDoS observed against a financial API — attackers combine scale and stealth.
• Top endpoints targeted: Data-access (37%) | Checkout/Payment (32%) | Authentication (16%).
• Dominant attack types: data scraping, payment/coupon fraud, account takeover, business-logic abuse (BOLA).
• Shadow & third-party APIs are the largest operational blind spots.

Download the API Threat Landscape Report: board-ready insights and a step-by-step playbook to secure your APIs.