Why do I need a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect my website when I have a Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) already in place?

Annually, thousands of Websites are hacked, even when they sit behind traditional firewalls.

Often, when such a breach occurs, the website owner is perplexed as they believe the firewall protecting the website should have stopped any malicious activity. That is not an unreasonable expectation – a Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) has many sophisticated security features after all, right??The key to better understanding how best to protect your website is found in information – the more we know about how an attack occurs, the better equipped we are to prevent it.

So how does such an attack occur?

In many cases, websites can often contain vulnerabilities in their code, and these vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers to gain unauthorised access or perform malicious activity on the website. Common vulnerabilities include SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), etc.

It is important to point out that while having a NGFW is important and should always form part of an overall security strategy, it is not specifically designed to detect and mitigate these application-layer vulnerabilities.?

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), due to their nature, are another threat that could potentially go undetected by a NGFW, as they are not necessarily designed to stop threats that operate over long periods of time.

In addition to this – even when the NGFW is doing its job protecting the network perimeter, insecure login credentials or weak authentication mechanisms can be exploited to gain unauthorised access to the website's backend. For example, if a hacker gained access to legitimate user credentials, they could appear to the NGFW to be an authorised user. The NGFW may not offer adequate protection to stop the hacker.

So what is the answer??Let’s look at the benefit of using a Web Application Firewall (WAF).

Both NGFW’s and Web Application Firewalls (WAF) look at traffic differently because they are built for different purposes. They both offer unique benefits when it comes to protecting your website, which is why you should consider using a WAF service in line with your NGFW.

A WAF is specifically designed to protect web applications from many of the attacks previously mentioned, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF). A WAF understands the intricacies of web traffic and can identify and block malicious requests targeting vulnerabilities in the application layer.

WAFs perform deep packet inspection at the application layer, specific to the abovementioned attacks –?allowing them to analyse the content of web requests and responses in detail. They can enforce specific rules and policies tailored to web application security, such as blocking specific types of input or enforcing secure communication protocols like HTTPS.

WAFs also assist in providing strong protection against zero-day attacks, which are newly discovered vulnerabilities that may not yet have a patch or signature available. They do this by detecting and blocking suspicious or malicious traffic patterns in web traffic specifically, preventing potential exploits until patches or mitigations are available.

A WAF has robust vulnerability scanning capabilities that detect and assess potential vulnerabilities in web applications. This activity can automatically generate reports, highlight security weaknesses, and provide recommendations for remediation in your company website.

A WAF can provide you with centralised management and detailed reporting for your website. This gives you a complete understanding of all traffic that visits your website. A WAF provides a central place to configure policies, monitor traffic, and view security events across multiple web applications. Detailed logs, real-time alerts, and comprehensive reports provide efficient monitoring, analysis, and compliance auditing for your web traffic.

While NGFWs are important, when it comes to websites they provide broader network security capabilities, including traditional firewall functionality, intrusion prevention, and VPN support. NGFW’s do not offer the same level of specialised protection for web applications as a dedicated WAF.

Another thing to consider is the impact on user experience that can come from a WAF – not just security.

Consider that your company’s website is of crucial importance in the way your customer’s interact with your business – and this has amplified over recent years.?It is often the first interaction a potential customer will have with your business – and we know from recent statistics that a Customer will, more often than not, decide to deal with you based on the experience they have on your website. If the experience is good, then the potential customer will be more likely to move to the next stage and reach out to contact you. If the experience is poor, then this is where the interaction may stop.??In fact, a recent study found that many of our customers have already decided which business to transact with before they have even spoken to anyone – simply by visiting their website prior to making contact.

A WAF can improve user experience by implementing caching, blocking malicious redirects, redirecting traffic to alternate servers and providing content optimisation services.

There is often an inertia around additional expenditure – but a WAF doesn’t need to be expensive!?In fact, when delivered as a cloud based managed service, such as Seccom Global’s Managed WAF solution – it is extremely cost effective and simple to implement.

Talk to us about securing your website today!