Posted by: Praveen Joshi
April 26, 2023
A web application firewall (WAF) is an additional protective layer of code that wraps up your web application. It is designed and deployed to monitor and filter HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet. The main purpose of putting a WAF in place is to protect the web application against malicious activities that might enter through the network side. This kind of firewall can protect a web application from prevailing cyberattacks. However, WAF is not a comprehensive security tool. Its protective features are limited by some boundaries. It cannot protect your web applications from all kinds of attacks. WAF performs best in combination with a set of security measures in addition to frequent security testing.
of companies are using web application firewalls to protect their web applications.
is the expected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for the global WAF market from 2020 to 2025.
of web application attacks can be blocked with the help of WAFs.
of organizations accepted to have experienced a WAF bypass attack.
One of the primary functions of web application firewalls is to aid security testing. Especially, web application security testing can benefit a lot from WAFs. You can deploy a WAF as a proactive measure to test web applications for potential vulnerabilities. Web application firewalls allow organizations to simulate attacks on their web applications without disrupting their regular operations. Due to this, companies can identify vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Furthermore, with WAFs, you can take proactive measures to prevent attacks and secure your web applications without intercepting their working functions. Additionally, a modern web application must align with various security standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR. These standards are necessary to protect your data and prevent attacks. A WAF can effectively help you meet these requirements and ensure compliance.
Moreover, when are going to execute the penetration test web application, a WAF will ensure that everything remains functional with your website. Plus, it protects your sensitive data from exposure during the test.
So, considering all the above points, we can say that Web Application Firewalls are certainly helpful in enhancing security testing in multiple ways. Also, they help improve the testing process’s efficiency and effectiveness.
WAFs are not only good for security testing. They have several other security benefits as well. You need to understand the mechanism to get the most out of them…
A web application firewall is functionally designed to prevent attacks on web applications. A WAF’s basic architecture can analyze incoming traffic and filter out potentially malicious traffic based on a set of predefined rules. Although it cannot protect your web application from all kinds of attacks. But is certainly effective to counter popular vectors such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other types of attacks that target vulnerabilities in web applications.
Additionally, WAFs are also helpful in protecting your websites against attacks that exploit known vulnerabilities. Threat actors always try to breach your web applications to get access to your sensitive data. A firewall will detect these attacks and block them before they can do any damage.
Your data is what hackers are after. Even during an attack, threat actors are mostly looking to target sensitive business information stored in your web applications. And often websites do contain crucial information such as personal information, credit card details, and other sensitive data. Exposure, leak, or any type of compromise with this data can lead to severe consequences for your business.
Data breaches can result in financial losses or reputational damage or both. A firewall can come in handy with data protection as it blocks most attacks that might target your sensitive data. Plus, it also encrypts the data transmitted between a web application and the internet. This makes sure that your data is safe even if it is intercepted by malicious threat actors.
It is one such feature of WAFs that is always underestimated. They can log all incoming traffic and provide detailed information on potential attacks. It will allow you to identify the source of the attack and take proactive measures to prevent further damage. You can also use these firewalls to block traffic from specific IP addresses or countries.
