Cequence Security Unified API Protection

APIs have become foundational across consumer, enterprise, cloud, and industrial environments, and the rise of generative AI further increases dependency on API-driven integrations. Because APIs now power how digital products and services are delivered to partners and customers, they directly affect operational efficiency, scalability, agility, and ultimately profitability. Many organizations still underestimate the risk of exposing APIs without a defined security strategy and supporting infrastructure, sometimes assuming legacy controls such as web application firewalls or intrusion detection systems are sufficient. Effective API protection must span the full API lifecycle, beginning with secure design and development and continuing through operations with network security, defenses against API-specific threats and exploits, strong authentication, fine-grained access control, sensitive data integrity, and monitoring and analytics. This breadth of requirements has made API security a distinct discipline, with modern solutions increasingly complex and best addressed through tightly integrated platforms.

Cequence Security, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, offers a unified, machine-learning-based, cloud-native, containerized Application Security Platform. Its Unified API Protection (UAP) platform consolidates discovery, compliance, and protection for internal and external APIs, deployable on-premises, in public clouds, or as SaaS, with rapid deployment via native integrations (including CDNs) that avoid application architecture changes. The patented CQAI analytics engine profiles and fingerprints transactions to detect known threats and anomalies. Core products include API Sentinel for real-time inventory, usage analysis, OpenAPI non-conformance detection, and risk assessment; API Spartan for real-time protection against automated attacks, abuse, and fraud without JavaScript/SDK/WAF dependencies; and API Spyder for agentless, attacker-style external attack surface discovery with instant findings. Cequence also provides managed services and is expanding beyond North America into Europe and APAC, while noting challenges around default risk categorization and a relatively new partner-driven sales motion.

• APIs are present in home devices, mobile devices, corporate networks, cloud environments, and industrial environments.
• Generative AI integrations with existing business applications depend on APIs.
• Cequence Security is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
• Cequence Security was founded in 2015 by security industry veterans.
• Cequence released the Unified API Protection (UAP) platform last year.
• The UAP platform is fully containerized and can be deployed on-premises, in public clouds, or as a SaaS offering.
• CQAI is a patented machine learning-based analytics engine that processes transactional data collected by platform sensors.
• API Sentinel performs real-time API inventory and usage analysis and detects OpenAPI specification non-conformance.
• API Spartan requires no JavaScript, Mobile SDK, or WAF integration to provide protection.
• In November 2023, Cequence was selected for participation in the Microsoft Security Copilot program.

• “APIs are now powering the logistics of delivering digital products to partners and customers.”
• “Many organizations still tend to underestimate the challenges of exposing their APIs without a security strategy and infrastructure in place.”
• “API security has long become an industry of its own.”
• “Providing comprehensive protection against the broad range of API-specific threats and doing it consistently throughout the whole lifecycle of an API is complex…”
• “A significant increase in scope, the solution is a foundation for their API Spyder, API Sentinel, and API Spartan products…”
• “By maintaining behavior profiles and fingerprints of each application or API transaction, the platform can then analyze each transaction…”
• “API Spartan protects APIs in real time from malicious automated attacks that exploit vulnerabilities and enable business logic abuse…”
• “A new product, API Spyder for API attack surface discovery and management has been recently added to the portfolio…”
• “By offering an agentless, outside view of your entire API infrastructure exposed to the world, Spyder helps customers see what an attacker typically sees…”
• “Together with the company’s other solutions, Cequence Security offers its customers a comprehensive, well-integrated platform for addressing API risks at multiple stages of their lifecycles.”