What is Cloud-native Web Application Firewall (Cloud-native WAF)?

With your on-premise security solution comprising hardware, software, signatures, rules, and machine learning, you may think your applications are fully protected.

How do you know for sure that your apps are secured? And what if you’ve cloud-native apps? Can a legacy solution protect all these cloud apps from internal, external, and cloud security threats? 

Cloud-based WAF bridges the on-premise security solutions gaps. With cloud-native scalability, the acclaimed solution can combat attacks on any volume. Are you evaluating cloud vs. on-prem WAFs? This blog outlines the advantages of Cloud-native WAF.

What is Cloud-native WAF?

A cloud-native WAF is a type of WAF deployed on the cloud, often at the network edge –the edge of the CDN or in a vendor-hosted cloud.

From their vantage position at the network edge, these lightweight, cloud-native WAFs monitor all incoming traffic requests, filtering out malformed and wrong requests from reaching the server and allowing only legitimate users to access the web application. 

5 Reasons Why you need Cloud-Native WAF 

• Cloud-Native WAFs are Easily Scalable 
• They offer a Greater Depth of Protection. 
• Experts typically manage them. 
• Cloud-Based WAF Solutions Block Threats at the Network Edge 
• They Have Access to the Latest Intelligence and Real-Time Insights 
• They are Easier to Deploy and Maintain 
• They are More Affordable 

Cloud-Native WAFs are Easily Scalable 

One of the biggest advantages of cloud computing in general and cloud-native WAFs, in particular, is that they are easily scalable. In addition to the infrastructural strength and built-in redundancies, cloud-based WAFs are usually powered by massive edge networks or content delivery networks (CDNs) with globally dispersed points of presence (PoPs). 

These edge networks help WAFs to handle any thunderous surges or sudden traffic spikes to your application while continuing to monitor and filter requests at scale without disturbing the speed and performance of your web application.

So, the trade-off between security and performance is minimal with cloud-based WAFs. 

They offer a Greater Depth of Protection. 

Most organizations across domains and sizes are trying to build and expand their online presence. To enhance customer experiences, they leverage cloud-based applications, APIs, microservices, and a host of third-party services that make their services agile, flexible, and scalable.

Further, most organizations have hybrid and/or multi-cloud strategies wherein applications are hosted in multiple environments, including on-premises, hybrid, multi-cloud, public/ private cloud, etc. 

This transformation comes with a wide range of security problems – from the continuous expansion of the attack surface to the easier exploitability of databases. And cloud-native WAFs are best equipped to face these security challenges than on-premises WAFs. 

The cloud-based web application firewalls, like AppTrana, leverage automation and self-learning AI to detect and add new areas to crawl and protect intelligently. They offer complete visibility into the security posture and enable you to keep taking action to strengthen it. 

AppTrana offers instant virtual patching that secures vulnerabilities until developers fix them. Remember that critical vulnerabilities take 200 days to be patched and fixed. 

Further, this is critical to protect vulnerabilities in CMS, plugins, themes, software, and third-party components that cannot be updated or patched by developers and in cases where updates are unavailable.  

Cloud-native WAFs provide more excellent protection for all digital assets, including web applications, mobile applications, databases, APIs, microservices, components, and third-party services, regardless of where they reside. 

Experts typically manage them. 

Certified security experts typically manage the cloud-based WAFs on a 24×7 basis. These experts not only custom-build and configure WAF policies to the needs and context of the business but keep tuning the policies to thwart complex attacks and keep risks within tolerance levels. 

So, in addition to effectively and reliably protecting against known threats such as XSS, SQLi, DDoS, malware, and bot attacks, these managed WAF services enable you to stay protected against zero-day, logical, mutated versions of known threats and all kinds of emerging threats. 

Cloud-Based WAF Solutions Block Threats at the Network Edge 

With cloud-native WAFs, all requests are always routed through the CDN, and the WAF is placed at its edge. Requests are served from the caching servers closest to the user and not the origin server, even when request floods occur. So they are better equipped to isolate and stop incoming threats before reaching the application and its server. 

They Have Access to the Latest Intelligence and Real-Time Insights 

Unlike on-premise solutions that have access to limited data and insights, cloud-native WAFs can access attack information from all customers over time. This attack information database is dynamically updated. The best solutions can also access the latest global threat feeds and real-time insights. 

This helps the cloud-based solutions to build solid threat intelligence and keep improving the level of security. Further, security experts can leverage this updated intelligence to address even the newest attacks in the wild and update WAF policies to block zero-day attacks. 

They are Easier to Deploy and Maintain 

Cloud-native WAFs are lightweight. Unlike on-premise WAFs, they do not require any hardware or software installations; they are deployed on the cloud within a fraction of the time and with minimum disruption. The best solutions are updated automatically in the background and usually during lean hours, without requiring manual updates. 

They are More Affordable 

Cloud-based WAF solutions don’t require upfront infrastructure or installation costs or ongoing maintenance, upgradation, or expansion costs. 

Conclusion 

Cloud-native WAFs offer reliable, agile, flexible, and scalable security, making them indispensable for all organizations today. 

Source: https://cybersecuritynews.com/cloud-native-web-application-firewall/