Today, web applications have become a prime target for threat actors. According to the Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 20% of data breaches occurred due to vulnerability exploitation of web applications, with this percentage expected to rise by 2025. Even more concerning is the cost of data breach, which was estimated at USD4.45million per incident in 2023. Thus, there is a need for companies to procure and deploy a web application firewall (WAF), which play a pivotal role as the first layer of defense. By detecting, filtering, and blocking malicious traffic, WAFs act as a shield between web applications and the internet.
How Does a WAF Work?
A WAF inspects the incoming and outgoing HTTP/HTTPS traffic and checks each request based on a set of predefined rules or policies. It then decides if the request is legit or malicious, and either lets the legitimate traffic through or blocks the malicious request.
Generally, this is how a WAF works:
1. Traffic Inspection: All incoming and outgoing web traffic is routed through the WAF. The WAF analyzes this traffic in real time to identify potential threats.
2. Rule Matching: The WAF compares the traffic against a set of rules. These rules can be managed rulesets, which are curated or written by your vendor, or custom rules written by your team.
3. Threat Detection: The WAF uses various detection techniques, including signature and anomaly-based detection, to identify malicious activity.
4. Blocking and Alerting: When the WAF detects a threat, it can take various actions such as blocking the request, logging the event, or sending an alert to administrators. This helps in immediate threat mitigation and provides valuable insights for further investigation.
WebOrion® WAF Features
WebOrion® Protector offers comprehensive features designed to provide robust security for your web applications.
Protection beyond the OWASP top 10
- WebOrion® Protector uses the ModSecurity Core Ruleset, which protects web applications from a wide range of attacks with minimal false positives. Some common attacks that it shields against are:
- SQL Injection (SQLi)
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
- Local File Inclusion (LFI)
- Remote File Inclusion (RFI)
- PHP Code Injection
- Java Code Injection
Custom rules and rule exclusions
WebOrion® Protector allows for custom rulesets, for your specific web application needs. Additionally, our WAF supports rule exclusions, enabling teams to fine-tune the WAF behaviour by allowing requests which were previously blocked. This flexibility ensures that your web applications operate smoothly while maintaining a high level of security.
Flexible deployment options
WebOrion® Protector can be deployed across hardware appliances, Software-as-a-service, and cloud virtual appliances, ensuring web application safety irrespective of its deployment scenario.
- SaaS: Integrated CDN with DDoS protection, easy setup and management, and on-demand scalability.
- Hardware Appliance: Comes in various specifications to meet different throughput and SSL/TLS performance requirements, featuring hot-swappable SSDs and PSUs, with form factors of 19” 1RU and 2RU.
- Cloud Virtual Appliance: Compatible with Docker, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware vSphere, making it adaptable to a wide range of virtual environments.
Detailed analysis and report
To help you understand the request and response details, as well as the severity level, WebOrion® Protector provides detailed event logs.
Conclusion
The WebOrion® Protector represents a significant advancement in cybersecurity, offering a comprehensive suite of features designed to protect modern web applications and APIs from a wide range of threats.
Its flexibility in deployment, ability to meet regulatory requirements, and comprehensive web security features make it an essential solution for enterprises seeking to safeguard their digital assets.
