The Keyfactor API
A set of functions to allow creation of applications. Keyfactor offers the Keyfactor API, which allows third-party software to integrate with the advanced certificate enrollment and management features of Keyfactor Command. relies on SSL TLS (Transport Layer Security) and its predecessor SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are protocols for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers./TLS TLS (Transport Layer Security) and its predecessor SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are protocols for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers. to protect the HTTP communications between the client and Keyfactor Command server. In a typical deployment, the API will be configured for Basic authentication, where client credentials are provided in an HTTP header, formatted as DOMAIN\user:Password and base-64-encoded. Basic Authentication itself is not a secure way to pass a set of user credentials. However, it is very interoperable and works well across all of the various technologies that use the API. SSL is used to protect the confidentiality of user credentials; therefore, SSL should be used with the Keyfactor API.
Keyfactor recommends that any device using the API already be configured to trust the SSL certificate presented by Keyfactor Command, allowing the SSL connection to be established without error. The process for this will depend on the platform and operating environment of the connecting client, but the appropriate documentation or support for your platform should outline the necessary steps for this.
Access to the API methods can be limited per client to a maximum request frequency. The amount of time required between calls can be configured in the Keyfactor Command Management Portal Application Settings for the API (see Application Settings: API Tab). Increasing this interval can mitigate certain threats such as denial of service or dictionary attacks against passwords and other sensitive data. However, setting this too high can negatively impact performance of client applications that need to make a large number of requests.