Web application firewalls (WAF) can monitor, filter, and block suspicious or unwanted HTTP traffic to and from a web service or application. It specifically analyzes traffic between the internet and the web application. Using the OSI model, WAF solutions will deliver protection at the application layer (also called layer 7). While proxy servers can protect a user’s endpoint identity through using an intermediary, WAF operate differently. They act as a reverse-proxy by protecting the server from exposure and requiring users to navigate the WAF before accessing a server or application.
Web application firewalls are important to environments with multiple web applications and many users trying to access those applications regularly. WAFs provide adaptive and comprehensive protection for web applications and any company data that may be stored on those applications. Web application firewall solutions can be cloud-based, host-based, or network-based.
This article will identify the best web application firewalls on the market. Each listing will provide a summary of their capabilities and feature set to help you decide which solution meets your needs.
Based in Cambridge, MA, Akamai Technologies have developed an integrated web application firewall with bot mitigation, API security, and layer 7 DDoS protection. The solution provides high performance for end-users, with a wide range of customization possibilities. Admins receive automatic updates of network status as part of a streamlined remediation process. The interface is also easy to manage through a clean interface that offers extensive visibility into all traffic and attacks. Akamai offer a range of pricing models, each with different features and capabilities for different use cases.
The solution has an advanced API discovery feature that allows admins to manage risks with new or previously unknown APIs. It also supports DevOps integration through a simple GUI. DDoS protection is delivered through the application layer. The Akamai App & API Protector can be deployed quickly and managed easily. The solution provides in-portal guides, wizard setups, and configuration workflows to assist in initial onboarding and configurations. Other notable features include bot detection and add-on tools like advanced AppSec management controls, managed services, and professional services. Akamai provide useful support during onboarding and can help you fully customize the solution to your needs. We would recommend the platform for companies of all backgrounds and sizes that need a versatile, yet robust, solution.
The AWS WAF is a powerful web application firewall that delivers robust protection from common threats like web exploits and bots through diligent monitoring, filtering, and rate-limiting capabilities. The solution is managed through the AWS Firewall Manager, giving admins centralized, unified access to data and controls. Widely customizable, the solution allows for teams to develop their own rules and policies in line with company procedures or compliance requirements. This is achieved with the tool’s native, visual rule builder or JSON code.
The tools filtration capabilities are particularly robust; admins can successfully filter out attacks such as SOLi and XXS, as well as filtering out unwanted traffic based on IP addresses or behavior. AWS WAF can be managed entirely through APIs, allowing teams to create and maintain rules automatically. The solution provides extensive visibility, providing real-time metrics and can capture a raw request’s metadata regarding geo location, URLs, and IP addresses. This solution would suit medium to large sized companies that use AWS web applications.
Barracuda is a California-based company specializing in network appliance and cloud service solutions. Their web application firewall, the Barracuda Web Application Firewall, blocks sophisticated web-based attacks that target applications hosted on web servers. In addition to offering reliable traffic inspection and filtering, the solution will also scan all outbound traffic to deliver effective data loss prevention capabilities. The solution can be configured to deploy updates automatically; this means that the solution will be aware of new and emerging threats. The solution itself has strong authentication and access control capabilities; this ensures that security is always enforced and access to applications and data is monitored.
The solution stands out for its attractive and intuitive interface. The Barracuda Web Application Firewall is a highly customizable solution with a wealth of “out-of-the-box” functionality that makes the solution effective from day one. The solution also provides adaptive profiling, file upload control, bot spam protection, volumetric and application DDoS protection, exception heuristics, and granular policy configuration. This solution can be deployed to a range of environments through various APIs. Barracuda Web Application Firewall is a powerful solution that is designed to endure particularly large attacks. We would recommend this solution for medium to large sized enterprises that require a powerful, yet configurable solution.
Cloudflare is a San Francisco-based cloud security company that provide a range of solutions including content delivery network services, cloud cybersecurity, and DDoS mitigation. The Cloudflare WAF is a comprehensive WAF platform that offers fast DNS, a global content delivery network (CDN), and robust DDoS protection. The solution enables instant access to Cloudflare’s global network. Admins can make the most of no-code configuration tools for easy and quick setup. Cloudflare provide a Managed Ruleset – a set of pre-configured rules that offer fast and immediate protection from zero-day vulnerabilities, common attack techniques, data exfiltration, and stolen credentials.
Admins can build custom firewall rules to help secure web applications and respond to specific vulnerabilities. The platform is managed through a unified user-interface that is easy to navigate and clear. You can use an API to extend this to other host environments. Dashboards deliver relevant information in real-time, allowing you to understand what’s happening on your network. All Cloudflare WAF plans come with DNS, a global CDN, and DDoS protection, though a range of tiered plans provide additional features. Cloudflare WAF is suitable for organizations of all sizes and needs due to the breadth of packages on offer.
F5 is a Seattle-based application and network security specialist that also focuses on application delivery. F5’s WAF solution can be deployed via the cloud or as a managed service – this ensures that it will work in almost any environment. The platform offers strong security and performance, allowing for effective filtration and monitoring. F5 uses secure encryption to protect data and identify anomalous traffic and behavior. Strong reporting capabilities allow admins to easily analyze incoming requests, generate security reports, correlate attack trends, and evaluate potential attacks.
Notably, the solution can protect against spam, viral attacks, fraud, and directory harvesting though effective implementation of SMTP and FTP security checks. The solution integrates with major web application vulnerability scanners to help manage assessments, apply policies from a single location, and identify vulnerabilities. Admins can import test results from DAST scanners, including QualysGuard, WhiteHat, and IBM. This powerful solution is feature rich and flexible; we would recommend this solution for SMBs looking for a comprehensive and trustworthy solution.
The Fastly Next-Gen WAF solution is a unified web application and API security tool that provides adaptive and intelligent protection from sophisticated attacks such as account takeover, credential stuffing, API abuse, and malicious bots. The solution allows for flexible deployment, including cloud, data center, and hybrid environments. All Fastly Next-Gen WAF plans include virtual patching, DDoS protection, and TLS encryption. Fastly Next-Gen WAF comes with a range of “out-of-the-box” features for fast onboarding and routine management. The signal-based approach enables more diligent and precise monitoring while reducing instances of false positives.
The solution can block account takeover and API abuse through careful inspection and monitoring of endpoints. Anything that isn’t authorized can simply be blocked. Other notable features include GraphQL inspection, API and ATO protection rules, edge and advanced rate limiting, and custom signals. The user interface is clean and intuitive, making it easy to find reports and relevant alerts. The platform provides constant and effective Layer 7 visibility into the entire application and API environment. Fastly offer a range of pricing plans with tiered features catering to a range of needs and organizations. We would recommend Fastly Next-Gen WAF for medium organizations looking for a comprehensive and effective solution.
Fortinet is a cybersecurity company that offers a range of competent security products, with a focus on firewall solutions, endpoint security, and intrusion detection systems. Their firewall solution, FortiWeb, is an advanced and comprehensive web application firewall that leverages ML for consistent and accurate protection. The solution can defend your organization’s web applications and APIs from DDoS attacks and bot attacks as well as common threats and techniques. Able to integrate with a range of enterprise environments, FortiWeb offers comprehensive visibility across an application environment including SaaS, cloud, and on-prem.
FortiWeb is supported by FortiWeb Cloud Threat Analytics, an intuitive ML-based tool that can effectively identify attack patterns across an environment, then providing actionable intelligence. FortiWeb Cloud Threat Analytics can also perform security posture scanning to provide recommendations of how firewall configuration settings can be improved; this will reduce the chance of false positives. Any attack data aggregated is then cross referenced across Fortinet’s entire customer base – this access to a large dataset increases the chances of identifying new threats. The solution also provides incident risk prioritization and workflow integration. We would recommend this solution for medium to large enterprises that require an effective and robust firewall solution.
Imperva is a cybersecurity company with a focus on data and applications security, for both on-prem and cloud environments. The Imperva Cloud WAF is a cloud-based web application firewall solution that offers comprehensive security for active and legacy applications, APIs, microservices, cloud apps, containers, and third-party apps. It is designed with “out-of-the-box” functionality, ensuring fast setup and automated protection. By leveraging data from the Imperva Research Labs, Imperva Cloud WAF offers robust protection while reducing false positives. It has a range of deployment options to suit any environment, including SaaS WAF, WAF gateway, and cloud WAF.
The platform’s clean and intuitive interface is simple to navigate and configure. In addition to having preconfigured “out-of-the-box” rules, admins are able to customize the solution through self-service custom rules. The terraform integration feature allows for automated DevOps provisioning. The Attack Analysis feature aggregates threat information to generate actionable insights. A security operations and support team operate 24/7/364, ensuring fast remediation and support when needed. The platform is also PCI-certified. We would recommend this robust and powerful solution for medium to large enterprises.
The Netcaler API protection solution is a WAF solution that includes bot mitigation and API protection features. It offers robust security for web applications, especially in environments where a lot of users are working remotely. The platform is a cloud-based tool that works well across all deployment environments and application types. The tool is easy to integrate with your existing security stack.
It integrates well with vulnerability scanning tools to use gathered data to inform WAF configurations and policies, thereby providing effective protection. Another key feature is session awareness; this is the ability to monitor specific user sessions and tailor security each time. This covers aspects such as form fields, cookies, and session specific URLs. Other highlights include SQL injections, virtual patching, JSON payload inspection, AI and ML-based zero-day attack protection, bot management, and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) support, with traffic monitoring for intended and unintended data exposure. This effective and highly configurable solution is one that we would recommend for medium to large sized enterprises, particularly those in the e-commerce industry.
Sucuri is a specialist web security vendor that offers website security and WAF solutions. The Sucuri Website Firewall is a web application firewall solution that seeks to prevent threats, speed up loading times, and enhance website availability. It can protect data in transit by creating SSL certificates for your company’s firewall server. The platform offers high-performance caching option, DNS record alteration, and access to the Sucuri WAF network.
Sucuri offers CDN speed enhancement, CMS and hosting compatibility, as well as high availability/load balancing for streamlined and frictionless user experiences. Admin access can be redacted to whitelisted IP addresses if your network falls under a DDoS attack. While offering strong security, Sucuri’s solution is adaptive and easy to use. A range of pricing plans are available, ensuring that this solution fits a range of environments. With this in mind, we would recommend Sucuri Website Firewall for small to medium sized organizations that require a flexible solution that can be tailored to their environment.
FAQs
What Is A Web Application Firewall?
A web application firewall (WAF) is a security tool that helps to protect web applications and safeguard data through analyzing, monitoring, and filtering all HTTP traffic between web applications and the internet. A WAF solution sits between the internet and your organization’s web server to scan all inbound traffic for threat identification and filtering.
Some web application firewalls are also able to scan outbound traffic to deliver data loss prevention capabilities and insider threat mitigation. Web application firewalls are effective at identifying, filtering, and preventing web-borne threats, such as SQL injections, cross-site forgery, and cross-site scripting, as well as other cyber attacks.
How Does A Web Application Firewall Work?
WAF solutions work as a sort of reverse-proxy; they protect a server from threats by ensuring that all traffic has passed through the firewall filter before being granted access to the server. A firewall acts as a semi-permeable Shield between the internet and the application; only safe traffic is allowed through.
Like with most firewalls, web application firewalls will block content based on a set of preconfigured rules and policies. Most firewall solutions allow you to specify and configure policies and rulesets for your organization, giving you control over what your firewall blocks. These policies should be robust and versatile enough to block new, zero day threats.
WAF solutions tend to use block and allowlists to quickly categorise traffic. Blocklist protect against known attacks and restrict access to unknown traffic. Allowlists only admit traffic from known, trusted users. This limits the number of sources that have access to your network, thereby decreasing the chances for your network to be compromised.
Cloud-based, Network-based, And Host-Based WAF Solutions
There are three main types of web application firewalls: cloud-, network-, and host-based WAF solutions.
- Cloud-based WAFs are cloud-native firewall solutions that can be managed by third-parties and are easy to install and manage. They often come with a turnkey installation that can help to redirect traffic.
- Network-based solutions are often hardware firewalls and will have to be installed manually. As they are locally installed, there is often minimal latency but can generally be expensive to purchase and onboard. They will also require ongoing maintenance and management.
- Host-based WAF solutions can be integrated into a company’s existing application software and can be highly customized. However, they tend to put a strain on local server resources and still require a learning curve and dedication to maintaining and running the solution.
Top Features To Look For In A Web Application Firewall
- Data loss prevention: While web application firewalls ensure that unknown or malicious content cannot breach the network, some solutions go one step further by implementing data loss exfiltration capabilities to ensure that sensitive information and data doesn’t leave your network. Thus protecting your data and your organization.
- Advanced API discovery: APIs allow admins to manage risks from new or previously unknown APIs. This extends visibility and, by extension, your solution’s capabilities.
- DDoS protection: DDoS attacks can quickly overwhelm your servers, making them difficult to remediate. Some WAF solutions are designed to respond to DDoS attacks effectively.
- Customizable dashboards: Admins should be able to customize dashboards with a granular level of precsision to tailor the solution to their business’ needs. This helps them to quickly and more effectively investigate vulnerabilities and triage attacks.
- Real-time alerts and reporting: When it comes to defending your network and applications, having a finger on the buzzer helps teams to respond to and mitigate threats faster. Having a WAF solution that provides fast, real-time alerts and updates into network activity is critical. Reporting should also be accurate and specific for analysis and auditing purposes.
What Is The OSI Model?
Web application firewalls operate at layer 7 in a network–the application layer. But what does that mean?
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model details the seven layers that computer systems use to communicate. Conceptually, it splits up communication into seven layers to better understand how endpoints interact with each other. Its main purpose is to provide people with a sense of how traffic flows around a network.
- Physical layer: This refers to the physical cables or wireless connection between network nodes. This part is responsible for the transmission of raw data.
- Data link layer: This layer can establish, as well as terminate, a connection between two connected nodes on a network. It can break up packets into smaller pieces and send them to their destination.
- Network Layer: The network layer is where network firewalls operate. The network layer can break up information into network packets before recreating the packets back into a message once it arrives at its destination. It can also route packets by figuring out the best path across the network for these packets to take.
- Transport Layer: This layer takes data transferred in the session layer (5) and breaks it into smaller segments before it’s transmitted. It can also rebuild the segments once received, turning it into data that can be used at the session layer.
- Session Layer: This layer creates communication channels (called sessions) between devices.
- Presentation Layer: This layer will prepare data for the application layer by defining how data should be handled and compressed so it can be received correctly at its destination.
- Application Layer: This layer is used by end-user software and endpoint devices, such as email clients, web applications, and web browsers–and those that use them. It can provide protocols that enable software to send and receive information and can visualize and present data to users. It is this layer in which WAF operates and provides security. As WAF only operates at this layer, it cannot defend against all types of attacks.
