A web application firewall (WAF) can be defined as a firewall that filters, monitors, and blocks multiple data packets when they travel from a website or from an application to another. The WAF can be either host-based, network-based. It can be frequently deployed by a reverse proxy and placed in front of one or more applications or websites.
WAF inspects every packet and utilizes a rule base to study Layer 7 web application logic and filter out damaging traffic that can assist web exploits.
Web application firewalls (WAF) are normal security control utilized by different organizations to prevent web systems from malware attacks, zero-day exploits, imitations, and other known as well as unknown vulnerabilities and threats.
With the help of personalized inspections, a web application firewall can detect and prevent multiple unsafe web application security mistakes immediately, which traditional network firewalls, as well as other existing intrusion prevention systems (IPSes) and intrusion detection systems (IDSes), may not be able to perform.
Especially WAFs are helpful to enterprises that offer services or products over the internet like online banking, e-commerce shopping, and other communications between business partners and customers.
How does it work
A web application firewall (WAF) examines requests of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and applies different rules that identify what parts of the interactions are benign and what parts are dangerous. The major parts of HTTP interactions that a WAF analyzes are POST and GET requests. POST requests are utilized to send data to a server to change its state and GET requests are utilized to recover data from the server.
A web application firewall (WAF) can take two techniques to study and filter the content present in these HTTP requests or a combination of the two:
Whitelisting:
In the whitelisting technique, the WAF will refuse all requests by default and allow only trusted requests. It offers a list of safe IP addresses. Whitelisting is less resource-intensive as compared to blacklisting. The problem associated with the whitelisting technique is that it may block benign traffic accidentally.
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Blacklisting:
In the blacklisting technique, the WAF blocks dangerous web traffic and protects the packets against vulnerabilities of web applications and websites. It is a group of guidelines that show malicious packets. The disadvantage of a blacklisting technique is that it is more resource-intensive; it needs more data to filter packets based on particular specifications.
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Hybrid security:
A hybrid security model utilizes components of whitelisting as well as blacklisting. Regardless of the security model a Web application firewall (WAF) utilizes, it works to analyze HTTP communications and limit or, ultimately eradicate malevolent traffic before it reaches a server for processing.
WAF Types
Normally Network-based WAFs are based on hardware and can decrease latency since they are uploaded locally on-premises through a dedicated appliance. Most major network-based WAF vendors help replication or guidelines and settings across different appliances, thereby making large-scale configuration, deployment, and management. One of the big drawbacks of this WAF type is its cost- there is an open capital expenditure, and constant operational costs for maintenance.
Host-based WAFs may be completely incorporated into the application code itself. The advantages of a host-based WAF application include low expenditure and increased personalization options. These kinds of WAFs can be a challenge to manage since they need application libraries and depend on the resources of the local server to run efficiently. That’s why more resources including system analysts, developers, and DevSecOps/DevOps may be needed.
Cloud-hosted WAFs provide a low-cost solution for enterprises that need a turnkey product that wants minimum resources for management and implementation. Cloud WAFs are very convenient to deploy and need only a normal domain name system (DNS) to redirect application traffic.
Though it is very difficult to place the responsibility to filter web application traffic of an organization with a third-party provider, the approach helps applications to be protected across a large hosting location’s spectrum and utilize the same policies to prevent application-layer vulnerabilities. Furthermore, these third parties have the current threat intelligence and can help to identify as well as block the most recent application security attacks.
Benefits
A Web Application Firewall has a benefit over traditional firewalls since it provides greater visibility into responsive application data that is discussed using the HTTP application layer. It can protect application-layer vulnerabilities that generally bypass traditional network firewalls incorporating the following:
Cross-site scripting (XSS) threats allow attackers to insert and perform the malicious script in other user’s browsers.
Structured Query Language (SQL) insertion threats can impact any application that utilizes an SQL database as well as helps attackers to access and change sensitive data.
Web session hacking helps attackers to take over a session ID and cover up as an authorized user. Normally, a session ID is stored within a cookie or Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) threats overcome a network by flooding it with traffic until it can’t serve its users. Both Web application firewalls (WAFs) and network firewalls can manage this type of attack but approach it from several layers.
Another benefit of a WAF is that it can protect web-based applications without must having access to the application’s source code. While a host-based Web application Firewall may be incorporated into application code, a cloud-hosted WAF can defend the application without any access. Furthermore, a cloud WAF is easy to manage and deploy as well as offers frequent virtual patching solutions that help users frequently personalize their settings to adapt recently found threats.
Our Laya Tech team studies the circumstances and find out some of the solutions, which include:
HTTP Validation:
We try to answer the HTTP challenges utilizing the in-built HTTP challenge server. And as a fallback, we utilize our HTTP validation to detect the challenge-response file.
Data Leakage Protection:
The data leakage threat is real and it needs serious protection. Our Data Leakage Protection solution is based on multiple core technologies that help its engine to perfectly identify the sensitive information that companies want to secure.
On-Demand Scaling:
Laya Tech supports on-demand scaling, which is the capability to scale a dynamic cluster up or down by adding or eliminating running server instances manually as required.
AI Firewall:
We have introduced an AI-based firewall that incorporates the ability to distinguish advanced vulnerabilities and collaborating with the cloud to offer intelligent network border protection for companies.
Automated Bot Attack Blocking:
Our bots (software applications) are utilized to run automated tasks over the internet, starting from data indexing to cyber attacks.
Compliance with PCI | DSS | GDPR | HIPPA:
We followed certain rules and regulations that have been put in place by the government as well as by different industries to protect data that are PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
Unparalleled visibility and intelligence:
We make the threat intelligence actionable through our unparalleled visibility and intelligence so that you can make more informed decisions.
Multi/Hybrid/ public/private cloud deployment:
We understanding all the deployment options—Multi, Hybrid, public, private cloud. There are multiple types of cloud computing. Choose the right for you.
The Web Application Firewall (WAF) is unique since it concentrates on web-based attackers completely at the application layer, whereas other different types- like stateful inspection and packet filtering- may not be able to protect these vulnerabilities. It is a proxy firewall but with a particular focus on 7 layer application logic.
For more information contact us today.