// THREAT DETECTION AND DATA PRIVACY TERM
WAF
A WAF, or Web Application Firewall, is a security barrier that protects web applications from common cyberattacks. It filters and monitors the HTTP traffic between a web application and the internet, blocking malicious requests before they can reach the server.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a Layer 7 security solution designed to protect web applications and APIs from various web-based attacks, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and DDoS, by monitoring and filtering HTTP/S traffic based on a predefined set of security policies. WAFs are deployed as reverse proxies, network appliances, or cloud-based services to inspect and mitigate malicious requests before they impact the application.
BACKGROUND
Cybersecurity engineering is a software engineering discipline focused on the protection of systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, cyberattacks, and other malicious activities, including cybercrimes. As part of security engineering, it applies engineering principles to the design, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of secure systems, ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- Web Application Firewall
- Application Firewall
- App Firewall
- Layer 7 Firewall
USAGE NOTE
WAFs are critical for safeguarding public-facing web applications and APIs against exploits, often integrated into CDN services or deployed as dedicated security appliances.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to WAF.
Akamai provides cloud security solutions, including a sophisticated Web Application Firewall (WAF) as part of its App & API Protector suite, designed to protect web applications and APIs from a wide range of cyberattacks.
Cloudflare offers a comprehensive WAF as part of its global network, protecting websites and applications from various threats, including OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, with a focus on ease of use and performance.
F5's BIG-IP Advanced WAF provides industry-leading web application and API protection, offering advanced detection and mitigation techniques against sophisticated attacks, bots, and DDoS threats.
Imperva is a leading provider of data and application security solutions, offering a highly effective WAF (both on-premises and cloud-based) that defends against web application attacks, DDoS, and API threats.
Palo Alto Networks integrates WAF capabilities into its enterprise security platform, specifically through its next-generation firewalls and Prisma Cloud WAF, providing advanced threat prevention for web applications and APIs.
AWS WAF helps protect your web applications or APIs from common web exploits that may affect availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources. It allows you to control how traffic reaches your applications.
Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides centralized protection of your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities. It's integrated with Azure Application Gateway for layer 7 load balancing.
Fortinet's FortiWeb WAF delivers advanced protection for web applications and APIs, utilizing machine learning and multi-layered approaches to defend against known and zero-day threats, bots, and API abuses.