The web application firewall or WAF refers to an array of rules that will help protect your website by banning threats, such as DDOS attack or SQL injection. However, do not confuse the tool with your regular anti-malware software. The WAF does not protect your servers, but rather the specific apps.
Aside from that, the web application firewall will also block unauthorized web traffic from interacting with your IP address. The system does this by analyzing the incoming traffic to spot hidden threats. In contrast, traditional firewalls only function to open or close standard ports to disallow access.
Here are ways how the WAF can protect your website:
- SSL termination. Most of the web traffic that moves on the Internet is encrypted, which prevents hackers from intercepting data while it is being transferred during the session. However, what most people do not know is that hackers take advantage of the encryption to mask malicious codes. So, they use HTTPS to try to attack your website.
- SQL injections. Hackers use this method to try to bypass the firewall of traditional apps by implanting malicious SQL statements. They will then take control of your database server, which directly interacts with the web application. The web application firewall will stop such attempts in their tracks.
- OWASP Top 10. The OWASP refers to the Open Web Application Security Project, which lists down the known threats to web applications. The web application firewall will analyze all web traffic interactions and identify potential dangers. Hackers have become more sophisticated in the way they attack servers. One way to do this is to cloak their malicious codes from a seemingly safe website.
- It acts as a reverse proxy. The WAF is the last defense between the web app and the public. It breaks down the traffic between the Internet and the server. Since the WAF hosts SSL certificates, the encrypted connection can be terminated. The traffic is rerouted to the web app in the HTTP, where it will be scrutinized. After it is deemed safe, the encrypted data will be sent back to the WAF before they will be forwarded back to the user.
However, it is wrong to assume that the web application firewall alone can protect your entire system. The tool is not designed to thwart all types of risks. It would help if you had a holistic protective mechanism to make sure nobody will steal the private information of your customers.
But would a WAF be redundant since I already have a website firewall?
You would be surprised by how many web servers are attacked every day because they were too dependent on their internal firewalls. However, it is not very useful in addressing multiple web applications. For instance, with the traditional firewall, they utilize ports such as 443 or 80 to allow user interaction. But hackers exploit the system by using these standard ports, as well.
In conclusion, the reason why most companies overlook the need for a web application firewall is that the tool is so specialized. Unfortunately, hackers take advantage of this by attacking the system. In today’s environment, web apps directly interact with the backend database server, which gives that small window to collect sensitive information from your customers.