Security models of WAFīlacklist web app firewalls operate on a negative security model wherein the WAF will protect against all known threats. This ensures that the bad requests and malicious actors do not gain access to the website/ server through those vulnerabilities. Intelligent WAF’s instantaneously patch vulnerabilities/ loopholes in the application/website upon discovery, providing time for developers to fix them. It is these policies that enable the WAF to effectively stop attacks. Policies tell the WAF what kind of traffic behavior/ requests are acceptable/ allowed, what to do when an illegitimate request is made, what to do when vulnerabilities are found in the web application/ website, etc.

How does a Web Application Firewall function?Ī Web Application Firewall works based on the rules that it is built with, called policies. Additionally, if there are weaknesses in the WAF itself or it is not constantly tuned and updated, it could be ineffective in preventing attacks. There are vulnerabilities, loopholes, and weaknesses such as business logic flaws and zero-day threats that WAFs cannot handle. Much like the force field, the WAF is not equipped to handle all sorts of attacks and is not completely impenetrable. Web App Firewalls protect against known threats such as SQL injection, Cross-Site Forgery, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and clickjacking, among others. It monitors the internet traffic and inspects all incoming requests before they can access your website/ web application/ web server, filtering out and blocking bad requests and botnets and allowing access to only legitimate users. They create a layered defense against attacks even if they are not completely impenetrable, force fields are difficult to penetrate and provide the user time to come up with a stronger defense and counter-attack strategy while the attacks are being taken care of.Ī Web Application Firewall is like your superhero’s force field, it acts as the shield between the website/ web application and internet traffic. If you have watched a superhero movie, you may be aware of force fields.

Web app firewall