Web Application Firewall – Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a form of application firewall that protects web service from various attacks. Application protection is a security layer that can defend against a variety of application layer security threats that aren’t normally covered by a traditional network layer Intrusion Detection Systems. By inspecting HTTP/HTTPS request packets and web traffic patterns, the WAF ensures that the web service is not jeopardized. It defends web applications against cross-site scripting (XSS), file inclusion and SQL injection attacks. The WAF prevents attacks by blocking HTTP requests and IP addresses when it detects some kind of security threat in compliance with the configuration file.
Why Web Application Firewall ?
Web applications are easily available and provide a convenient entry point to useful data, hence they are a prime target for cyber-attacks. These online services must be protected from current and emerging cyber-threats without compromising efficiency and quality. Because of the consistent changes in applications, security teams struggle to keep up with updating security rules that properly protect web services. This can lead to security flaws and vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can take advantage of, resulting in expensive data breaches. Additionally, businesses seek out security technologies that can scale with their applications to meet rising consumer demand, ensuring that the web as a service remains viable and are adequately protected without compromising the customer’s experience.
Features of Web Application Firewall are –
- Configuration and Control – Administrators can use the Web Application Firewall to build policies for compliance, regulatory, and security purposes. Administrators can build comprehensive and flexible policies as required, including URL rewriting, SSL/TLS validation and compliance, using the WAF policy engine. WAF detects attack chains automatically, from eavesdropping to data theft and backdoor setup. Instead of working through thousands of possible attacks, security experts are only alerted to the most critical threats. Security teams can specify the protection level for each program, and WAF can determine what to do in various scenarios. In the event, if the device configuration fails, previously saved settings can be restored automatically eliminating the manual work.
- Reporting and Analytics – WAF provides real-time insight into your web traffic and can be used to generate new dashboard reporting rules or warnings. It gives security teams fine control of how the metrics are displayed, allowing them to track anything from individual rules to all inbound traffic. In addition, WAF provides detailed logging by collecting the header data of each inspected web request that can be used in analytics and security automation. WAF takes a large number of warnings and condenses them into a limited, manageable collection of security events, this gives security professionals a frictionless operating experience.
- Integration and Security – WAF virtual application can be installed and scaled up easily on-premises with no special hardware to purchase or maintain. WAF can easily integrate into a company’s information security management system, which aids in the provision of advanced multilayer security. Administrators can develop special rules to detect confidential data like account numbers, passwords, financial transactions and insurance records. In addition, rules may be used to hide information from third parties, including administrators that use WAF. WAF aids in the monitoring of all traffic.
The majority of previous time-consuming and physical activities are automated with online services in all enterprise sectors like IT, finance, manufacturing, telecom, media to government. With the rise in cyber-attacks, these organizations must secure their online applications and the safest and most commonly used solution is a Web Application Firewall.
