What is a Web Application Firewall (WAF)?
A web application firewall (WAF) is a type of firewall that monitors, filters, and stops data packets as they pass between a website and a web application. A WAF can be network-based, host-based, or cloud-based, and it’s often installed in front of one or more websites or apps via a reverse proxy. The WAF inspects each packet and employs a rule base to evaluate Layer 7 web application logic and filter out potentially dangerous traffic that might aid web attacks. It can be run as a network appliance, server plugin, or cloud service.
Enterprises employ web application firewalls to safeguard their web systems against zero-day exploits, malware attacks, impersonation, and other known and unknown threats and vulnerabilities. A WAF can identify and prevent some of the most critical web application security problems through specialized inspections, which regular network firewalls and other intrusion detection systems (IDSes) and intrusion prevention systems (IPSes) may not be able to perform. Companies that provide products or services through the Internet, such as e-commerce shopping, online banking, and other transactions between consumers or business partners, might benefit greatly from WAFs.
Advantages of Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A WAF has an advantage over traditional firewalls in that it provides more visibility into sensitive application data sent through the HTTP application layer. It can protect against application layer assaults that would ordinarily get past standard network firewalls, such as:
- Attackers can use cross-site scripting (XSS) to inject and execute malicious scripts in another user’s browser.
- Injection attacks using the Structured Query Language (SQL) can compromise any application that supports a SQL database, allowing attackers to view and even modify sensitive data.
- Web session hijacking allows an attacker to take control of a session ID and impersonate an authorized user. Normally, a session ID is maintained in a cookie or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
- DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) assaults flood a network with traffic until it can no longer serve its consumers. This attack can be handled by both network firewalls and WAFs, although they tackle it from different tiers.
Another benefit of a WAF is that it can defend web-based applications without needing access to the application’s source code. While a host-based WAF can be included in application code, a cloud-hosted WAF can protect the application without requiring access. Furthermore, a cloud WAF is simple to set up and operate, and it offers quick virtual patching options that allow users to quickly adjust their settings to new threats.
Importance of Web Application Firewall
Because it helps prevent data leakage, a WAF is vital to the expanding number of businesses that deliver products through the internet, such as online banking, social media platform providers, and mobile app makers. Back-end databases that are accessible through web apps hold a lot of sensitive data, such as credit card information and client details. Attackers regularly target these programmes in order to obtain the data they contain.
While a WAF is vital, it works best when combined with other security components such as IPSes, IDSes, and traditional or next-generation firewalls (NGFWs). A WAF should be used in conjunction with other firewall types, such as NGFWs, and security components, such as IPSes and IDEas, which are frequently incorporated in NGFWs, in a holistic business security architecture.
What is the difference between a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and a Firewall?
Web applications are protected by the WAF firewall against harmful attacks and vulnerabilities. Traditional firewalls, on the other hand, provide network threat prevention.
Standard firewalls and web application firewalls differ not only in the type of protection they provide, but also in their overall functionality.
- The main distinction between WAF and other firewalls is that WAF sits in front of servers and apps, protecting them from attacks that are directed at servers. A firewall protects a network’s perimeter by acting as a barrier between known and unknown threats.
- Standard firewalls are designed to allow or reject network access. WAF firewalls are designed to protect HTTP/HTTPS servers and apps against attacks.
- A web application firewall protects Layer 7 of the OSI model, whereas a firewall protects Layers 3 and 4.
- Heuristics methods, Anomaly Detection techniques, and Signature-based algorithms are all part of WAF. Packet-filtering algorithms, proxy algorithms, and stateful/stateful inspection algorithms are all examples of traditional algorithms.
What’s the Difference between Application and Network-Level Firewalls:
A web application firewall (WAF) secures online applications by focusing on HTTP traffic. A typical firewall, on the other hand, creates a barrier between external and internal network traffic.
A web application firewall (WAF) lies between external users and web applications, analysing all HTTP traffic. Malicious requests are then detected and blocked before they reach users or web apps. WAFs protect business-critical web applications and web servers from zero-day threats and other application-layer attacks as a result of this. This is becoming more critical as companies invest in new digital efforts, which might expose new web apps and application programming interfaces (APIs) to attack.
To prevent assaults, a network firewall protects a secured local-area network from unwanted access. Its main goal is to distinguish a safe zone from a less secure zone and regulate communication between them. Without it, every machine with a public Internet Protocol (IP) address is vulnerable to attack from outside the network.
Choosing a Network Firewall or an Application Firewall
Standard network firewalls and WAFs defend against a variety of attacks, so picking the appropriate one is critical. A network firewall alone will not defend a company against web-based assaults, which can only be avoided with WAF capabilities. As a result, without an application firewall, enterprises risk exposing their whole network to web application vulnerabilities. However, because a WAF cannot guard against assaults at the network layer, it should be used in conjunction with rather than in substitute of a network firewall.
Both web-based and network-based systems defend against different sorts of traffic at different tiers. As a result, rather of competing, they are complementary. A network firewall protects a broader variety of traffic types, but a WAF addresses a specific danger that a traditional solution cannot address. It’s consequently a good idea to have both options, especially if a company’s operating systems interact with the internet.
Rather than choosing one over the other, the difficulty is to choose the ideal WAF system for the company’s needs. The WAF should have a hardware accelerator, monitor traffic and stop malicious attempts, be highly available, and scalable to keep up with the business’s growth.
Wrap-up
The Fortinet WAF is a specialized security platform that provides the industry’s most powerful application security features. Fortinet is dedicated to developing cutting-edge application security solutions that can thwart even the most sophisticated threats. In the future, expect additional developments on the Advanced WAF platform by clicking here.
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