What is a Cloud WAF?

A cloud web application firewall (WAF) is a WAF deployed as a virtual appliance in the cloud. Like other WAFs, the purpose of a cloud WAF is to protect web applications against exploitation via vulnerabilities such as the OWASP Top Ten.

Unlike some other WAFs, cloud WAFs are deployed under a service-based model. Users can subscribe to the cloud WAF service to use it to protect their cloud infrastructure against common attacks.

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What Does a Cloud WAF Service Do?

Cloud WAF service identifies and filters malicious traffic before it can reach a vulnerable web application. The application monitors inbound HTTP requests and looks for a wide range of common vulnerabilities such as:

SQL Injection
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

If the cloud WAF identifies an exploitation attempt within the web traffic, it filters and blocks the traffic before it reaches its intended target.

The WAF may also send an alert to the security team informing them of the unknown attack.

Main Features of a Cloud WAF

Some of the main features to look for in a cloud WAF include the following:

#1: Customizable Security Rules:

Most WAFs ship with a default set of rules designed to identify common web application threats.

But, WAFs also support custom rules, enabling an organization to extend its protection to the unique threats that it may face.

#2: Scalability

Cloud WAFs take advantage of this scalability, using a cloud-native form factor to offer security that scales with the needs of an organization’s web application infrastructure.

#3: Real-Time Threat Intelligence

Cloud WAFs are provided as security services and are tied into their provider’s threat intelligence feeds, enabling them to respond to newly discovered threats as they emerge.

#4: DDoS Protection

Many cloud-based WAFs incorporate anti-DDoS protections, taking advantage of cloud scalability to process and filter DDoS attack traffic before it can reach and impact the availability of the target web application.

#5: TLS Decryption and Offloading

Most web applications use SSL/TLS for legitimate traffic encryption and authentication.

Cloud WAFs can decrypt TLS traffic to inspect it for malicious requests or content, and web applications can offload decryption to the WAF, reducing the load on the application itself.

#6: API Security

Web APIs allow programmatic access to the data and functionality provided by web applications and have their security risks.

Cloud WAFs or web application and API protection (WAAP) solutions should offer protection for common web API security threats as well as those targeting web apps.

#7: Regulatory Compliance

Web application exploitation is a common means for attackers to gain access to sensitive data protection by regulations. Cloud WAFs help to prevent this range of attacks and provide the security visibility needed for compliance reporting.

Benefits of a Cloud WAF

A cloud WAF offers several benefits to an organization, including:

Scalability: Cloud WAFs can scale to meet demand by taking advantage of on-demand cloud resources.
Service-Based Model: Instead of operating a standalone appliance, cloud WAFs enable WAF functionality to be consumed as a service. This provides greater flexibility and the ability to add resources and capabilities as needed.
Performance: Access to cloud-based resources also improves performance by reducing the impact of computationally expensive operations on throughput. For example, TLS decryption can cause less of a performance hit with a cloud WAF.
Management: Cloud WAFs are provided under a service-based model, meaning that the vendor is responsible for many of the tasks related to managing the WAF, reducing the burden on an organization’s in-house security team.
Real-Time Threat Intelligence: Cloud WAFs often have access to their provider’s real-time threat intelligence feeds, improving their threat prevention capabilities.
Cloud-Native Deployment: Cloud WAFs are virtual, cloud-native solutions, enabling them to be deployed alongside an organization’s cloud applications. This can help to improve application performance by reducing network latency.

Cloud WAF with CloudGuard WAF

A WAF is a critical component of an organization’s AppSec strategy. Filtering malicious traffic targeting corporate web apps and APIs decreases the risk of data breaches due to the exploitation of vulnerabilities in these apps.

Check Point’s CloudGuard WAF offers comprehensive protection for an organization’s cloud web apps and APIs. To learn more about what it can do, check out the CloudGuard WAF whitepaper.

Then, see it for yourself by signing up for a free demo.