# Embracing Diversity: Unified API Protection in Heterogeneous Environments

January 25, 2024 | 4 MIN READ

by Armand Sultantono

As business infrastructure grows, it necessarily becomes more diverse and heterogeneous. Relatively simple on-premises environments have exploded into an ever-growing range of applications and architectures including cloud, hybrid, multi-cloud, monolithic, microservices, and serverless. The need to innovate and provide exceptional customer experiences in fields such as ecommerce, Big Data, IoT, AI, and cloud computing is driving the adoption of these dynamic environments. APIs are essential infrastructure connectors across these environments.

## Typical Enterprise Infrastructures

Most modern large enterprise application architectures include some or all of the following types of infrastructures:

1. **Monolithic Architectures:** Traditional and unified, where an application is developed as a single unit.
2. **Microservices Architectures:** Autonomous, loosely coupled services that can be deployed independently. It prioritizes business capabilities and allows for quick, reliable, and sustainable application delivery.
3. **Serverless Architectures:** Backend services are provided based on usage, eliminating the need for fixed server management, often available on cloud computing platforms.
4. **Legacy Applications:** Outdated yet crucial systems integral to the business.

## Today’s Enterprises Embrace Heterogeneous Infrastructure

Heterogeneous infrastructure environments represent a fusion of various technology stacks, including both legacy, traditional, and modern software applications. Enterprises gravitate towards such environments for several reasons:

- Utilization of the best tools for specific needs
- Enhanced agility and speed in product development
- Prioritizing security, cost, and performance
- Attracting and retaining technical talent in a competitive market

## Inherent API Security Challenges

Embracing the benefits of system diversity options also brings significant challenges, particularly in API security. The complex nature of these environments requires meticulous management and heightened coordination across functional teams. Securing the numerous APIs exposed by these varied systems has traditionally required adopting multiple vendor solutions and integrations to ensure full API security coverage.

## A Unified API Protection Platform for Heterogeneous Environments

The Cequence Unified API Protection (UAP) platform is ideal for heterogeneous infrastructures, offering API protection across varied applications and architectures without the need for integrations or instrumentation with existing applications as required by other products.

Cequence UAP provides robust API security regardless of the application architecture, be it monolithic, microservices, serverless, or legacy applications. The infrastructure-agnostic nature of the platform proves vital in heterogeneous environments, where a one-size-fits-all approach is a hindrance to business growth. Cequence UAP simplifies security operations by eliminating the need for multiple API security tools or complex API security deployments, significantly reducing the risk of inconsistent security implementations.

## Cequence UAP Deployment Advantages

The Cequence Unified API Protection platform offers a range of deployment advantages, each catering to the diverse needs of modern enterprises:

- **Rapid and Uniform Integration:** Cequence simplifies deployment by using an inline proxy as its data plane component, allowing for native threat mitigation and ensuring seamless and uniform integration across systems. It eliminates the need for code-specific server-side or client-side agents commonly found in products requiring JavaScript or mobile SDKs, minimizing the impact on system architecture and freeing development teams from additional quality assurance and implementation burdens.
- **Flexible Deployment:** Cequence offers a wide range of deployment options, providing both active protection with inline threat mitigation and passive monitoring capabilities. It also provides integration options with CDN edge workers, API Gateway modules, and microservices sidecars as alternatives.
- **SaaS and self-hosted options:** Whether you prefer SaaS or on-premises (self-hosted) deployment, Cequence caters to both, providing protection for APIs across various environments.
- **Centralized management:** Implementing Cequence enables organizations to manage multiple products by different vendors with centralized management and policy enforcement across all protected APIs, simplifying the API security landscape.

## Free API Security Assessment

See what attackers see with a free API Security Assessment from Cequence. It’s easy to get started, and there’s no obligation.

[**Free API Security Assessment**](https://www.cequence.ai/assessment/)

Author  
Armand Sultantono  
Solutions Engineer  
Armand, a seasoned Solutions Engineer, specializes in API protection and modern application architectures, with leadership experience at F5 and Snapt, expanding enterprise solutions.