Web Application Firewall Protects Your Website from Cybercriminals
There is so much activity on your website daily, there’s no telling who or what is crawling you for possible weaknesses in your security strategy. To further protect yourself, your organization should consider installing a web application firewall. A web application firewall helps protect web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet. This firewall typically protects web applications from attacks like cross-site forgery, cross-site scripting, file inclusion and SQL injection, among others.
A web application firewall is a protocol layer 7 defense and is not designed to defend against all types of attacks. This method of attack mitigation is usually part of a suite of tools which together create a holistic defense against a range of attack vectors. By deploying a web application firewall in front of a web application, a shield is placed between the web application and the internet. While a proxy server protects a client machine’s identity by using an intermediary, a web application firewall is a type of reverse-proxy, protecting the server from exposure by having clients pass through the web application firewall before reaching the server.
A web application firewall operates through a set of rules often referred to as policies. These policies aim to protect against vulnerabilities in the application by filtering out malicious traffic. The value of a web application firewall comes in part from the speed and ease with which policy modification can be implemented, allowing for faster response to varying attack vectors. During a DDoS attack, for instance, rate limiting can be quickly implemented by modifying WAF policies. The big question: does your organization need a web application firewall? Well, just as online retail customers can interact with online retail sites, cybercriminals can conduct malicious interactions with those same sites, as well. These attacks primarily occur as SQL injections, cross-site scripting and malicious file executions.
Today’s web application firewalls are designed to protect against these and other application risks. Web application firewalls are able to discern fraudulent interactions from legitimate traffic — a highly complex task as hackers today weave their attack code within safe-looking website traffic. Still wondering if you need a web application firewall and other security solutions for your business? Partner with 2W Tech for assistance. 2W is a full-service IT consulting firm that has IT consultants on staff that specialize in security solutions. Give us a call today to ensure you don’t become the next victim of cybercrime.
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