API interface specifications

Identifies api interface specifications patterns in security and access control contexts. Detects potential exposure of sensitive security information in Australian systems.

Type

regex

Engine

boost_regex

Confidence

medium

Confidence justification

structural regex with domain-specific anchors and constrained context replaces phrase-only marker.

Detection quality

Mixed

Jurisdictions

au

Regulations

NDB Scheme (Cth), SOCI Act 2018 (Cth), TIA Act 1979 (Cth)

Frameworks

CIS Controls, DISP, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, PCI-DSS, SOC 2

Data categories

credentials, security

Scope

wide

Platform compatibility

Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?is)\b(?:api\s+specification|interface\s+specification|api\s+endpoint|REST\s+API|api\s+documentation|api\s+contract|api\s+schema|service\s+interface)\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

api interface specifications, api, interface, specifications, software, engineering, architecture, faceprint, facial recognition, facial geometry, face scan, face ID, facial template, facial data, face detection

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• api specification — Primary topic phrase match
• interface specification — Case-insensitive topic phrase match
• api endpoint — Alternative topic phrase match
• REST API — Additional topic phrase match

Should not match

• unrelated generic text without domain phrases — No relevant topic phrases present
• placeholder value 12345 — Random text should not match topic-specific regex
• openapi post — Generic word pair from old broad template should not match

Known false positives

• Authentication-related terminology in software documentation, security training materials, or system architecture descriptions without actual credentials. Mitigation: Require proximity to credential-specific patterns (API keys, connection strings, tokens) rather than general security terminology.
• Code snippets and configuration examples containing credential-related keywords or placeholder values in developer documentation. Mitigation: Check for common placeholder patterns (example.com, localhost, 0000) and documentation file types to reduce false positives from technical writing.

References

• https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/essential-cyber-security/ism
• https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/essential-cyber-security/essential-eight
• https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-11-app-11-security-of-personal-information