Apollo Security Basics

Overview

Security best practices for Apollo.io API integrations. Apollo API keys grant broad access to 275M+ contacts — a leaked key is a serious incident. This covers key management, PII redaction, data access controls, key rotation, and audit procedures.

Prerequisites

• Valid Apollo.io API credentials
• Node.js 18+

Instructions

Step 1: Secure API Key Storage

Apollo supports two key types with different risk profiles:

• Standard key: search + enrichment only (lower risk)
• Master key: full CRM access including delete (highest risk)

// NEVER: const API_KEY = 'abc123';  // hardcoded
// NEVER: params: { api_key: key }   // query string (logged in server access logs)

// ALWAYS: x-api-key header + env var or secret manager
import { SecretManagerServiceClient } from '@google-cloud/secret-manager';

async function getApiKey(): Promise<string> {
  // Dev/staging: environment variable
  if (process.env.APOLLO_API_KEY) return process.env.APOLLO_API_KEY;

  // Production: GCP Secret Manager
  const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient();
  const [version] = await client.accessSecretVersion({
    name: 'projects/my-project/secrets/apollo-api-key/versions/latest',
  });
  return version.payload?.data?.toString() ?? '';
}

# .gitignore — prevent accidental commits
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local
*.pem
secrets/

Step 2: PII Redaction for Logging

Apollo responses contain emails, phone numbers, and LinkedIn profiles. Never log raw responses in production.

// src/apollo/redact.ts
const PII_PATTERNS: [RegExp, string][] = [
  [/\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}\b/gi, '[EMAIL]'],
  [/\b\+?\d{1,3}[-.\s]?\(?\d{1,4}\)?[-.\s]?\d{1,4}[-.\s]?\d{1,9}\b/g, '[PHONE]'],
  [/x-api-key[:\s]+["']?[\w-]+["']?/gi, 'x-api-key: [REDACTED]'],
  [/linkedin\.com\/in\/[^\s"',]+/gi, 'linkedin.com/in/[REDACTED]'],
];

export function redactPII(text: string): string {
  let result = text;
  for (const [pattern, replacement] of PII_PATTERNS) {
    result = result.replace(pattern, replacement);
  }
  return result;
}

// Attach as axios interceptor
client.interceptors.response.use((response) => {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
    // Never log raw Apollo response data in production
    console.log(`[Apollo] ${response.status} ${response.config.url}`);
  } else {
    console.log('[Apollo]', redactPII(JSON.stringify(response.data).slice(0, 500)));
  }
  return response;
});

Step 3: Use Minimal Key Permissions

// src/apollo/scoped-client.ts
// Use standard keys for read-only operations, master keys only where needed

export function createReadOnlyClient() {
  return axios.create({
    baseURL: 'https://api.apollo.io/api/v1',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'x-api-key': process.env.APOLLO_STANDARD_KEY!,  // search + enrich only
    },
  });
}

export function createFullAccessClient() {
  return axios.create({
    baseURL: 'https://api.apollo.io/api/v1',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'x-api-key': process.env.APOLLO_MASTER_KEY!,  // full CRM access
    },
  });
}

Step 4: API Key Rotation Procedure

async function rotateApiKey() {
  // 1. Generate new key in Apollo Dashboard (Settings > Integrations > API Keys)
  const newKey = process.env.APOLLO_API_KEY_NEW;
  const oldKey = process.env.APOLLO_API_KEY;

  // 2. Verify new key works
  try {
    const resp = await axios.get('https://api.apollo.io/api/v1/auth/health', {
      headers: { 'x-api-key': newKey! },
    });
    if (!resp.data.is_logged_in) throw new Error('New key failed auth check');
    console.log('New API key verified');
  } catch {
    console.error('New API key invalid — aborting rotation');
    return;
  }

  // 3. Update secret manager / env vars with new key
  // 4. Deploy with new key
  // 5. Revoke old key in Apollo Dashboard
  console.log('Rotation steps: update secrets -> deploy -> revoke old key in dashboard');
}

Step 5: Security Audit Script

async function runSecurityAudit() {
  const checks: Array<{ name: string; pass: boolean; detail: string }> = [];

  // 1. API key not in source code
  const { execSync } = await import('child_process');
  try {
    execSync('grep -rn "x-api-key.*[a-zA-Z0-9]\\{20,\\}" src/ --include="*.ts"', { stdio: 'pipe' });
    checks.push({ name: 'No hardcoded keys', pass: false, detail: 'Hardcoded key found in source!' });
  } catch {
    checks.push({ name: 'No hardcoded keys', pass: true, detail: 'OK' });
  }

  // 2. HTTPS enforced
  checks.push({
    name: 'HTTPS only',
    pass: !process.env.APOLLO_BASE_URL || process.env.APOLLO_BASE_URL.startsWith('https://'),
    detail: 'Base URL uses HTTPS',
  });

  // 3. .env is gitignored
  const gitCheck = execSync('git check-ignore .env 2>/dev/null || echo NOT').toString().trim();
  checks.push({ name: '.env gitignored', pass: gitCheck !== 'NOT', detail: gitCheck !== 'NOT' ? 'OK' : 'ADD .env to .gitignore' });

  // 4. Header auth (not query param)
  try {
    execSync('grep -rn "api_key.*=" src/ --include="*.ts" | grep -v "x-api-key"', { stdio: 'pipe' });
    checks.push({ name: 'Header auth only', pass: false, detail: 'Found api_key in query params — use x-api-key header' });
  } catch {
    checks.push({ name: 'Header auth only', pass: true, detail: 'OK' });
  }

  for (const c of checks) console.log(`${c.pass ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'} ${c.name}: ${c.detail}`);
}

Output

• Secure API key loading from env vars or GCP Secret Manager
• PII redaction utility for emails, phones, API keys, and LinkedIn URLs
• Scoped clients: read-only (standard key) vs full-access (master key)
• Key rotation procedure with verification
• Automated security audit checking for hardcoded keys and header auth

Examples

For a scheduled key rotation, assign a credential owner and change window, create the replacement in the provider console, and inject it into the secret manager without placing either key in a ticket, commit, or shell history. Run the health check from the new deployed revision, inspect redacted audit events, and only then revoke the prior key. If the replacement cannot authenticate, the new revision shows unexpected master-key use, or the audit finds a possible source or log exposure, abort the rotation, contain the affected key, and open an incident before retrying.

Error Handling

Issue	Mitigation
API key committed to git	Rotate immediately, revoke old key in Apollo dashboard
PII in log files	Enable redactPII interceptor, review log retention
Using api_key query param	Switch to x-api-key header — query params appear in server logs
Master key used everywhere	Split into standard + master keys, use minimal permissions

Resources

• Apollo Security Practices
• Create API Keys
• OWASP API Security Top 10
• GCP Secret Manager

Next Steps

Proceed to apollo-prod-checklist for production deployment.