Content delivery network and cloud services provider Akamai Technologies Inc. today announced new additions to its flagship App & API Protector product, including advanced defenses against sophisticated application layer distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Akamai’s new enhanced Layer 7 DDoS protections are designed to precisely detect and mitigate short DDoS attack bursts and use client reputation scores for improved rate limiting. Protection is enhanced through a new capability called URL Protection that ensures the availability of mission-critical URLs, application programming interfaces and microservices by prioritizing legitimate traffic during highly distributed attacks.

App & API Protector also gains a new feature called Browser Impersonation Detection, which uses machine learning to gain deeper insights into browser behaviors while at the same time minimizing false positives and delivering more effective detection of malicious bots.

Additional capabilities now available to App & API Protector users include Simple Start Onboard, a feature that simplifies and speeds self-service onboarding and new application set-up in just a few clicks. CVE Protection Catalog provides insights to prioritize security efforts in alignment with Akamai’s protections and allows customers to search the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database to determine Akamai’s active protective measures against a vulnerability, as well as assess the threat level and access CVE details.

Client-Side Protection & Compliance, another new feature, has been designed to assist customers with compliance by adhering to Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard v4 regulations and other industry and global compliance standards.

Advanced SOCC Services, available as part of the new release, offers customers personalized support and prioritized escalation paths through Akamai’s Security Operations Command Center. Last but not least, updates to Akamai’s Web Security Analytics simplify operations and boost analytics capabilities, including customizable dashboards, configuration change indicators, webhook alerts and shortened deep links for easier sharing.

“The evolution of Akamai App & API Protector highlights our focus on innovation and a customer-centric approach,” Rupesh Chokshi, senior vice president and general manager of Application Security at Akamai, said ahead of the announcement. “These machine learning enhancements and shared telemetry across Akamai are designed to strengthen and simplify web application and API defense.”

The news comes after Akamai announced on Feb. 13 plans to embed a range of cloud computing services within its edge content delivery network. Akamai’s Generalized Edge Compute Initiative, also known as the Gecko Initiative, is designed to help companies deliver better experiences by moving their workloads closer to end users.

Image: Akamai