API interface specifications

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

Type

regex

Engine

boost_regex

Confidence

medium

Confidence justification

structural regex with domain-specific anchors and constrained context replaces phrase-only marker. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.

Detection quality

Not detected

Jurisdictions

global

Regulations

GDPR

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+documentation|endpoint\s+definition|API\s+schema|REST\s+API|API\s+contract|service\s+interface|API\s+reference)\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, field, column, row, entry, record (+24 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• API specification — Primary topic phrase match
• interface specification — Case-insensitive topic phrase match
• API documentation — Alternative topic phrase match
• endpoint definition — 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