As environmental consciousness increases across the globe, the pressure on energy and utilities companies continue to intensify. The global community now understands that how we create and access energy affects geopolitical dynamics, food sourcing, climate change and other concerns that will literally dictate the course of human history. To meet these challenges, the energy and utilities sector is now embracing digital transformation.

It’s no secret that government agencies have a tendency to work in silos. If you aren’t familiar with the phrase, it basically means they work in isolation from one another. And if that posed issues before 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic definitely laid bare the need for greater collaboration between public sector organizations – the type of collaboration made possible by application programming interfaces (APIs).

If the retail industry felt that the initial shift toward eCommerce sent shockwaves through the sector, they may not have been able to comprehend the changing dynamics of consumer behaviors once digital retail expectations were set. We have seen consumer preference move from simply preferring to shop online to a demand for personalized selections and processes.

Manufacturing is an industry in flux. The sector has been acutely affected by inflation, supply chain challenges and labor shortages in recent years, while also grappling with rapid developments in technology. It is no stretch to state that a manufacturer’s ability to leverage technology is a key determinant in its success and failure – now and into the future.

Over 18 months ago, a small group of us started a program to support the US federal government and the broader public sector with robust API security. Recognizing the major shifts in government cyber security, we focused on Zero Trust early. We wrote about it, talked about it, and evangelized on the importance of including API security in a ZT architecture. An early achievement was a detailed mapping of API security to the pillars of ZT over a year ago.

Application programming interfaces, better known as APIs, link unrelated platforms so data can flow freely between them. And in order for providers to share patient health data across different systems, APIs must be produced at rapid speed and maintained with diligence to foster interoperability. However, this innovation comes with a catch. The more APIs an organization uses, the greater opportunity for risk they face in both performance and security.