Web Application Firewalls: Essentials and Basics

Since their initial appearance around the end of the 80’s, firewalls have really helped numerous organizations, businesses and individuals in the area of security. That being said, like about everything else, tech and otherwise, firewalls too have made progress.

Web Application Firewalls

Web application vulnerability has been a concern for many business owners and other professionals—exactly what firewalls address. But what exactly are firewalls?

Is there any difference between a WAF (web application firewall) and a regular firewall? Let’s find out!

Evolution

WAFs were developed and evolved starting around the early 90s. These were developed to address threats and risks that managed to evade regular firewalls.

 

What Threats?

To be specific, threats that gained access through trusted protocols (like HTTP), to piggyback and then access other related secure (or meant to be secure) applications. Once this is done, everything from data to system operating may be compromised.

In response, various WAFs were developed each boasting separate specifications.

Getting Down to It

To make things simple, we could divide WAFs into three general categories. We’re going to skim over these and a little about how they function.

Network Based

Network based web application firewalls are the primary category of WAFs to be developed. These are highly effective and hardware based. They are good at countering negative performance. Another thing they are good against is latency. That being said, these are costly both to install or procure as well as to apply.

Application Based

Application based firewalls operate in close quarters to the application being protected. At times, they and the mentioned application code can even be intertwined. This allows for higher performance and well as further flexibility with regard to customization.

Last but not least, the low cost of this form of WAF makes it an attractive network security prospect for many! On the downside, application based WAFs can sometimes be inadequate for macro establishments and organizations.

Cloud Hosted

Cloud hosted web application firewalls are effective guard dogs for those who need a prompt solution. What they lack in versatility and customizability, they make up for in sheer convenience.

They are easily deployed and make traffic redirecting rather simple. They can be subscribed to temporarily and work well as a go between before shifting to supplementary or more permanent solutions.  

The WAF Edge

The good thing about WAFs is they are geared to protect you from both threats; known and unknown. WAF protocols are geared to detect and address threats combination methods which may include validation of input as well as security and threat removal on a data base level.

Will My Company Benefit?

Anyone who performs online transactions can benefit from a web application firewall. That being said, businesses which involve a lot of online transacting such as banks or online stores should most definitely be investing in WAFs if they aren’t already!

Conclusion

Given that many today still need to get their head around web application firewalls and how they work. There is always more information out there however we can tell you this, whether you know it already or not, network security, WAFs included in this day and age are a needed investment!

If you’re looking for security testing services and Cloud WAF service to see where you stand by way of network security, check out your options or give us a shout! Maybe we can help!

Just remember, when it comes to keeping the data of yourself and your clients secure, it is always better to be safe than sorry!

5 Reasons To Invest In Online Or Cyber Security

Everything around us is evolving. Medicine, engineering, and the nergy we use and how we see ourselves psycho-socially!

Unfortunately, cyber crime is evolving too! Though there are a number of successful business owners who do not understand or appreciate the importance of cyber security, there are others who swear by it.

What is it about?

To make things simple, it really is about what you have to lose. If there is data, information or confidential material on your systems or network, it stands to reason that you would not want un-authorized access.

That’s not it; a lot could go wrong when the wrong person gains access to your network:

5 Reasons Why

We’re going to explain five reasons that make it glaringly obvious why you should absolutely invest in cyber security services as well as regular web security assessments. Here they are:

 

Real Crime

Unlike an episode of the hit show Archer where the extent of the hacker’s damage was a laughing pirate on the screen and everyone being locked out of their systems, real life hacks can be a lot more malicious. Simply backing your data up won’t help.

Hackers can mess with your accounts, records, internal system functions, credit and debit data and a lot more. They can also access confidential official plans and information to sell to competitors. In extreme cases, a hacker could stalk you, which could end up in physical assault or some other physical crime.

In short, hackers can sometimes be very dangerous to you or your business.

Loss upon Loss

A bad hack could cause you to lose a whole lot of money. Not just this, depending on the nature of your business, could lose credibility as well! If you have confidential client data, one hack could put it all out for the world to see. We doubt your clients would be all too pleased.

A combination of a bad hack and inadequate insurance could also well drain your funds and put you right out of business!

Easy Access

Have you never watched a spy show or movie? Back accessing microphones and cameras on mobile devices is a real threat.

Even hackers starting off can gain access to phones and other personal devices with a bit of information. We have discussed this in detail in another article but in short, phones and tablets can be phished, stolen or simply broken into and remotely accessed!  

Clouds

Again, we deeply wish this weren’t so, but it is! Depending on who your cloud provider or vendor is, your level of security might or might not be up to the mark! Secure cloud managed hosting could be helpful here. Always make sure to grill your potential or current cloud provider about cloud security and data access protocols.

Evolution

As we mentioned at the start of this article, hackers like everything else are evolving. If you think your state of the art anti-virus software is going to cut it, think again! Hackers are coders and programmers. These are guys who have the intelligence and skill to write programs. If software available in the main stream has advanced so much, imagine how far the people who make such software have come. Not all of them work for anti-virus companies!

Conclusion

Reading the pointers above, it stands to reason that investing in cyber security is not just a good idea, it’s a bare essential. If you’re looking for a reliable network security company to get security testing services and are wondering what they can do for you, maybe we can help! Give us a shout and get those online assets well protected!

Cyber Security - Stat & Trends Infographic

Many business, specially online business have cyber security issue to concern about. More business owners are now adapting safer measures to protect their data against intruders and malicious malware attacks.

Read about cyber security stats and trends.

Get in touch with us to get your business secured via our web application security testing services.

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Reasons Why Mobile App Security Testing is Vital -Infographic

In today's era, security has become the necessity. Online security for online assets is mandatory to secure online data and assets. Mobile application security is need and vital as well. Mobile app security prevent attack and the steps involved in testing predicts the behavior of attacker thus providing us to take security measures.