No one can deny the fact that the more API is used in the modern software world, the more it has become a security liability. Too often, API vulnerabilities are found at later stages of the cycle, which should have been addressed earlier, contrary to the principles of the Shift Left Approach.  

Also, where DevOps teams are already part of managing pipelines, unit tests and integration tests, API security should be treated as a shared responsibility now.  

If DevOps already owns or co-owns speed, quality, stability and infrastructure, then ignoring security becomes a gap in ownership. 

Let’s dive into detail why the shift has transformed API Security into a DevOps problem. 

Five Reasons That DevOps Teams Must Now Own API Security 

1. APIs are Deployed as Part of CI/CD Pipelines

API is independently created into the system; many times, it is created by default too. Modern SDLC relies on Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), where new code is deployed rapidly. 

So, there is very little space for manual test checkers to ensure vulnerabilities before the deployment stage. According to OWASP, common API risks like broken object-level authorization (BOLA) or broken function-level authorization (BFLA) are often not caught by generic scanners because they require business logic awareness and dynamic testing. That is why API security should not be treated as a separate responsibility.  

DevOps teams should integrate security in the same pipeline as APIs that are built, tested, or released. This will help DevOps teams to scan, misconfigure, and find other critical issues like broken access control before they reach the users. 

In short, if APIs are born in the pipeline, security needs to live there too.

2. Traditional AppSec Can’t Keep Up With DevOps Speed

Manual testing struggles to keep pace with the speed and automation focus of DevOps. A recent GitLab DevSecOps Study found that 43% security professionals agree that manual traditional apps come into the process too late, and 50% of developers say that vulnerabilities are found after the deployment stage, and even in some cases, even after production.  

Another reason is that DevOps is trying to save time by having the nature of automation and speed, where manual testing takes days or weeks for manual testing and after deployment,  a completely contrast to the shift left principle, which encourages moving security closer to the development phase. 

What’s needed are modern API security testing solutions that work within CI/CD workflows. These solutions must support automation, provide actionable results in real time, and test APIs dynamically based on their runtime behavior. Without this shift, teams risk deploying APIs with serious vulnerabilities that slip through the cracks. 

3. APIs Don’t Fail Like Web Apps – They Fail Silently

Unlike traditional web applications, where security flaws often lead to visible issues such as crashes, defacements, or error messages, API vulnerabilities tend to remain hidden. They don’t throw obvious errors or alerts.  

This “invisible failure” makes APIs far more difficult to monitor using conventional AppSec methods. A misconfigured endpoint or improper authorization check might never show up in a UI, yet it can leave critical backend systems wide open. 

According to Salt Security, 94% of the organizations experienced an API security incident, and most of them were not detected until the deployment stage. Attackers can breach the data targeting business logic flaws, excessive data exposure, or broken level authorization. 

There are certain limitations of what traditional AppSec testing can do, which is finding well-known vulnerabilities, signatures or static misconfigurations. But many API exploits require understanding how the API functions, how objects relate, how authorization flows and where logic can be abused. These attacks are harder to detect and require dynamic, contextual testing beyond surface-level scanning. 

Silent failures demand proactive detection that can simulate real-world attack scenarios, monitor behavior patterns and analyze runtime traffic in depth. 

This is why API security must be treated differently. It’s not just about checking for outdated libraries or injection flaws; it’s about understanding how your APIs are intended to work, and where that logic can be abused. 

4. DevOps Teams Already Own the Tooling and Infrastructure

API security isn’t just a development concern; it’s deeply tied to how APIs are built, tested and deployed. And in most organizations, those responsibilities already sit with DevOps teams. 

From CI/CD pipelines to container orchestration, infrastructure-as-code, and deployment automation, DevOps engineers manage the entire software delivery chain. They have access to the tools, the environments, and the runtime data where API security issues can emerge. This proximity makes DevOps the natural owner of API security in practice, even if not in the title. 

In fact, integrating API security into DevOps processes reduces handoffs, speeds up detection, and enables real-time mitigation. Security that runs alongside build and deploy steps such as pre-commit API tests, runtime anomaly detection, or automated schema validation is far more effective than delayed manual review cycles. 

Moreover, modern DevOps platforms like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI and Terraform already support security integration points. Many tools offer plugins or native support for security scans and API behavior monitoring that can be integrated into the delivery lifecycle without friction. A growing number of DevSecOps tools now support these use cases, making it easier for teams to embed security into their SDLC without compromising speed or agility. 

According to the 2023 State of DevSecOps report by GitLab, over 70% of DevOps teams now run security scans as part of their CI/CD process, a clear shift toward embedding security responsibilities closer to where development happens. 

The reality is simple: DevOps teams already control the gates. Instead of expecting AppSec to catch every API risk after the fact, it makes sense to empower DevOps to prevent those risks upstream. 

API security isn’t about shifting blame; it’s about shifting ownership to where it can be most effective. 

5. Shared Ownership is the Only Scalable Way Forward

Security cannot scale if it remains the sole responsibility of a separate AppSec team. With APIs evolving rapidly and being deployed frequently, centralized oversight becomes a bottleneck. 

DevOps teams are closest to the code and infrastructure. Security teams understand the risks. When both collaborate, sharing tooling, policies and accountability, API security becomes proactive rather than reactive. 

This shift is already happening. Many organizations now embed security champions within DevOps teams, automate threat detection during builds, and use API security testing tools that integrate with developer workflows. According to Gartner, by 2025, less than 50% of enterprise APIs will be managed by centralized API management platforms, further emphasizing the need for distributed, developer-driven security. 

Shared ownership ensures faster detection, faster fixes and better visibility. It’s not just efficient; it’s necessary. 

Conclusion 

The security landscape has changed, and APIs are now at the center of risk. As development cycles accelerate and the role of APIs continues to grow, the old model of siloed AppSec no longer works. 

DevOps teams are already managing the tools, workflows and delivery pipelines. It’s time they are also empowered to secure them. By making API security a shared responsibility, organizations can reduce blind spots, prevent costly breaches, and build secure systems at scale. 

Security is no longer a separate stage; it’s part of building software the right way from the start.