10 advantages of web application firewalls to remember
Web-based apps now days manage everything, including financial transactions and customer data. As such, they are desirable targets for cybercriminals.
Web Application Firewalls, or WAFs, are useful in this situation. For a web-based application or site, a WAF serves as a private security guard that is constantly alert, on the lookout for unusual activity, and equipped to thwart any attacks. However, most executives are unaware of the fact that WAF protection typically extends more than that.
Learn about ten advantages of WAFs in this article that should be kept in mind by cyber security decision-makers in order to coordinate WAF operations with the overall cyber security plan.
- Protection against OWASP Top 10 threats. Application layer assaults, such as the OWASP Top 10, can be thwarted by a WAF (with minimal tuning and no false positives). By regularly updating rule sets to conform to the most recent OWASP criteria, WAFs lower the likelihood of successful attacks.
- API protection. WAFs provide specialized protection against API-specific attacks, assuring the security of data exchanges. WAFs can detect and block threats such as parameter tampering, as well as aberrant behavioral patterns that may indicate API misuse.
Advanced WAFs can interpret and validate complex API calls, ensuring that only authentic requests are handled. They can also implement rate limits and access controls that are particular to each API endpoint.
- Bot & DDoS protection. WAFs can discriminate between malicious and legitimate bot traffic, thereby preventing DDoS attacks, credential stuffing, content scraping, and other activities. This area of WAF capacity is becoming increasingly important as bots blaze across the web like never before, causing a detrimental impact on the bottom line and customer experiences.
- Real-time intelligence. Modern WAFs use machine learning to monitor traffic patterns and provide real-time protection against new risks, allowing businesses to mitigate malicious incidents before they are exploited on a large scale.
- Compliance adherence.WAFs assist enterprises to meet regulatory standards by implementing necessary security measures and providing detailed audit records.
The granular recording and reporting features provided by WAF enable enterprises to demonstrate due diligence in protecting sensitive data.
Many WAFs include pre-configured rule sets tailored to certain compliance requirements, making it easier to maintain a compliant posture as rules evolve.
- Reduced burden on development teams. Stopping vulnerabilities at the application layer allows development or IT teams to focus on key capabilities rather than constantly fixing security issues.
This "shift-left" approach to security can drastically shorten development cycles while improving overall program quality. Furthermore, the insights provided by WAFs can assist developers learn prevalent attack behaviors, resulting in better security practices as everyone moves forward.
- Customizable rule sets. Advanced WAFs provide the ability to design and fine-tune rules that are tailored to an organization's needs. This customisation enables for adaption to different application architectures and traffic patterns, reducing false positives while retaining strong protection.
Organizations can design rules to handle specific business concerns, such as protecting against application-specific business logic assaults.
Furthermore, the ability to gradually adopt and test new rules in monitoring mode before enforcing them guarantees that security measures do not unintentionally impede legitimate business operations.
- Performance optimization.Many WAFs have content delivery network (CDN) capabilities, which improve application performance and user experience while ensuring security.
Caching and distributing content on a global scale can drastically reduce latency and improve load times for users worldwide. This dual feature of security and speed efficiency creates a strong value proposition. A single cyber security solution can help organizations improve their security posture as well as user happiness.
- Operational insights. WAFs provide meaningful operational insights into traffic patterns, attack trends, and application behavior. These insights can drive continuous security posture improvement, inform risk assessments, and assist cyber security personnel in properly allocating security resources.
- Cloud-native security. As enterprises transition to the cloud, WAFs designed for cloud settings provide consistent protection across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures. Cloud-native WAFs can grow automatically with applications, providing unrivaled protection during traffic surges or rapid cloud expansions.
Cloud-native WAFs also provide centralized management. This streamlines administration and ensures that policies are consistently enforced. Because of the characteristics available, these WAFs can offer improved protection against developing threats.
Further thoughts
WAFs provide companies with full protection. When considered not only as a security solution, but also as a business enablement tool, WAFs become evident as an essential component of a comprehensive cyber security strategy.
Source: Cybertalk.Org
