A web application firewall (WAF) is a security solution designed to protect web applications from cyberattacks and unauthorized access.
The consequences of a successful attack on a web application can be devastating: data breaches, downtime, financial losses, reputational damage and legal liabilities. WAFs provide a critical layer of protection against both known and unknown threats.
Because attacks targeting web applications are increasing in both sophistication and frequency, WAFs have become an essential component of a robust cybersecurity strategy. Among the most hazardous threats to web application security are SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS),denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and zero-day attacks like Log4j, MOVEit, Log4Shell
The key difference between a traditional firewall and an advanced WAF is that the latter is specifically intended and designed to inspect traffic to a web application and API. Here is a more detailed look at the capabilities of a WAF:
We’ve seen what WAFs are and touched on how they work, and next we’ll explore the different types of WAF.
WAFs tend to come in three variations:
WAFs notably provide protection against application-layer threats, making them the ideal choice for protecting web applications and APIs. Here is a brief rundown of how other security tools compare.
This brief comparison demonstrates that the most effective protection of web assets requires implementation of layered security, and which positions the WAF as a key component to guard the application layer.
Effective WAF security involves a combination of best practices and adherence to maintenance requirements:
By securing the WAF based on these best practices, organizations take great strides towards safeguarding web infrastructure, and thus reduce the risk of exposure to vulnerabilities.
Ensuring the security of web applications is more important today than it’s ever been. As the threats grow in number and severity, WAFs are well-positioned to protect web assets in ways other systems cannot.
Check Point’s CloudGuard WAF leads the way in protecting cloud-native web applications and APIs from the internet’s most dangerous threats. Leveraging a contextual AI engine, it is able to provide preemptive zero-day prevention, DDoS, and BOT prevention with a nearly perfect detection rate and zero false positives.CloudGuard WAF is the ideal solution for protecting valuable web assets. To learn more about how Check Point can help your organization protect its critical cloud applications from cyber threats, book a demo of CloudGuard WAF today.