Website security is of paramount importance in the wake of increasing cybercrimes each day. Organizations need to put their best foot forward when it comes to keeping the hackers at bay.
One of the ways of doing so is by using a Web Application Firewall (WAFs). WAF’s are cloud-managed services/software that constantly monitors incoming and outgoing traffic to prevent web attacks. Web application firewalls are specialized for website and web applications.
The main function of a WAF is to build a protective shield that filters out malicious attacks and requests like SQL injections, cookie poisoning, DDoS, etc.
Here is our list of the best Web Application Firewall software and service:
- Sucuri Website Firewall A cloud-based WAP that protects your server and website from different kinds of attacks. It provides complete web security including antivirus and a firewall for your website.
- AWS WAF If your server or website is hosted on the AWS cloud then AWS WAF is the best option for you. It protects your web application from common web exploits.
- Qualys WAF Advanced web application firewall that protects your web applications using security policies backed by Qualys' security intelligence, and one-click responses to security events.
- AppTrana Managed Web Application Firewall All-in-one WAF solution including web application scanning and CDN.
- True Shield WAF by SiteLock A web application firewall that blocks bad bots. It also provides traffic statistics and reports and provides a basic CDN to increase your website speed.
- Citrix WAF One of the best web application firewalls that protects against both known and unknown application attacks and providing insights for faster remediation.
- Wallarm Provides real-time web application protection and security testing for APIs and microservices across multi-cloud environments.
- Barracuda Web Application Firewall A comprehensive security platform that protects your web, mobile and API applications from several kinds of attacks.
The Best Web Application Firewalls:
1. Sucuri Website Firewall
The Sucuri website firewall is a cloud-based security system that offers online service for protection against numerous online attacks. By hosting your web address on its server, Sucuri ensures that all of your web traffic passes through them first where it is filtered.
Key Features:
- It provides layer 7 DDoS mitigation.
- The database of attack signatures is maintained and updated regularly to provide full protection to clients.
- Provides free SSL certificate and PCI compliant firewall protection.
- Provides Geo-blocking.
- Enhances the site performance and speed with its caching optimization, Anycast CDN, and website acceleration.
- By carrying out a simple DNS change, Sucuri provides protection from brute force attacks, SQL injection, malware, blacklisting, and much more.
- Extends 24/7/365 customer support with a 97% satisfaction rate.
This web application firewall deploys a wide range of techniques to keep malicious traffic away. It is best suited for personal users and small to medium-sized businesses.
Pros:
- Ideal solution for environments needing to protect their applications and testing environments
- Uses simple rules and templates to start mitigating/preventing DDoS attacks right away
- Users can block by IP, geolocation, traffic type, and behavior
- Works well in both medium and large environments – flexible pricing
Cons:
- VIP support requires the Business Platform pricing tier
Thus, the Sucuri firewall is a complete package that not only provides protection from attacks but also enhances the application/site responsiveness with its added features.
2. AWS WAF
If you are an AWS client then this WAF is a scalable option for protecting your web application. It is a comprehensive security solution that protects from online attacks by blocking all the standard layer 7 attacks.
Key Features:
- Provides thorough traffic filtering based on IP address, HTTP body, etc.
- Performs virtual real-time analytics.
- Can be deployed and maintained without any hassles.
- One can administer AWS WAF via APIs.
- Provides agile protection against several types of web attacks.
- It is a cost-effective WAF for protecting your Website.
You can choose to deploy the AWS WAF either on the application load balancer or Amazon cloud front.
Pros:
- Cloud-based WAF
- Best for those already using AWS
- Runs out of the box – no configuration needed
- Can define your own filters and blockers
Cons:
- Not the best fit for those using other services outside of AWS
If you are looking for a robust and scalable solution for protecting your website against several types of cyberattacks then AWS is the answer. It is suitable for almost any business size and hence, you don’t need to think twice. You can visit their site for further information.
3. Qualys WAF
If scalability and manageability are what you are looking for in a WAF then Qualys is what you need. With its adaptive and automated approach, Qualys WAF identifies and mitigates web app risks, blocks attacks on web server vulnerabilities, controls application access, and much more.
Key Features:
- It is integrated with a web app scanning solution to pick vulnerabilities and repair them.
- With Qualys, you can prevent several threats like XSS, SQL injection, Remote Command Execution, and much more.
- Allows you to create a custom set of rules to address specific security concerns.
- Does not need any special hardware for deployment.
- Allows you to add as many apps as you need to protect.
- Offers web app health checks and server loading balance.
It is one of the leading cloud-based services that offers simple yet powerful solutions for web protection across several industries.
Pros:
- Supports continuous monitoring and scanning for vulnerabilities
- Offers one-click remediation automation
- Includes built-in security policies
- Great user interface
Cons:
- Not the best option for smaller networks
Since you cannot protect yourself from cyberattacks, Qualys takes up this job for you by providing full horizontal visibility of all the devices in your network. It provides complete protection against breaches and attacks on vulnerabilities. Take a closer look here.
4. AppTrana Managed Web Application Firewall
If you are looking for an all-in-one solution to protect your website and enhance its performance too then AppTrana is the answer. This web application firewall successfully combines scanning, CDN, fully managed WAF, and monitoring in a single solution.
Key Features:
- Real-time monitoring to secure web applications from DDoS and bot attacks.
- Constantly monitors hacker activities to stay updated about the latest attack patterns.
- Provides on-demand security assessment.
- You can take the 14-day free trial to decide if it is suitable for you.
- Keeps a check on vulnerabilities round the clock, nonstop.
- Patches the vulnerabilities immediately.
- Keeps a check on the false positives.
Pros:
- Offers DDoS protection alongside pentesting and risk-management products
- Offers enterprise DDoS protection – blocking 2.3 Tbps/700K requests per second
- Onboarding is extremely simple – only takes a few minutes
- Can detect, prevent and mitigate multiple forms of DDoS attacks (SYN, ICMP, UDP flood, etc)
Cons:
- Would like to see a longer trial period
AppTrana is a wonderful WAF that also performs risk detection, risk monitoring, and website acceleration to give you the best form of protection. It protects by identifying individual vulnerabilities and providing customized solutions. For further information, visit their website.
5. True Shield WAF by SiteLock
True Shield WAF protects your site against malicious bots and malicious traffic by filtering out the corrupt traffic. This web application firewall was created by SiteLock that promises to shield your site against the top ten online threats.
These threats include SQL injection, cross-site scripting, sensitive data exposure, cross-site request forgery, etc.
Key Features:
- Carries out incoming traffic evaluation based on the IP reputation, location, and behavior.
- Can be activated by a simple DNS change.
- Provides detailed information about your site visitors like visitor statics, country, cached data, etc.
- Gives all-round protection to your site by blocking the back door access to your files and data.
- Prevents website scrapping by denying access to scrappers.
- It also provides SEO protection so that search engines do not find malware on your site and block it.
Pros:
- Features robust bot-blocking technology
- Displays both lives and historical metrics – great for analysis
- Provides a CDN for better performance and threat mitigation
Cons:
- Would like to see a longer trial period
True Shield offers 3 different packages, True Shield Basic, True Shield Professional, and True Shield Premium. You can choose the one that best fits your site requirements. It is a cost-effective and powerful way to protect your site from cyber threats. Learn more here.
6. Citrix WAF
Citrix web application firewall is one of the best-rated security solutions when it comes to protecting websites without compromising the response time. It is known to protect websites and applications from known and unknown attacks effectively.
Key Features:
- Analyzes bi-directional traffic that includes SSL-encrypted communications.
- Allows remote access to all applications across all data centres.
- Provides firmware upgrades with zero downtime.
- Application deployment is simplified with configuration templates.
- With Citrix, you can ensure PCI DSS compliance.
- Protects against cyberattacks such as cookie tampering, cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and much more.
You can use it as a standalone application or integrate it with the Citric ADC platform. If you want an advanced solution for your security needs then opt for the Citrix WAF.
Pros:
- Supports a wide range of security and monitoring options
- Monitors user behavior to identify insider threats and block high-risk users proactively
- Best suited for large environments that have to support multiple types of devices
- Can monitor and report on devices as well as certain users – great for asset tracking
Cons:
- Better suited for enterprise networks
With Citrix WAF you can rest assured that your site/application will get complete protection against multiple threat components through its intelligent analytics and advanced security features.
7. Wallarm
Wallarm is one of the most advanced cloud-native WAF security applications that assist organizations to automate protection for their websites, microservices, and APIs.
Key Features:
- Provides access to modern tech support like Docker, WebSockets, Kubernetes, etc.
- Makes use of AI to inspect the web traffic, analyze user behaviour, and block malicious attacks.
- Can be integrated with third-party platforms like Slack, Telegram, Jenkins, Selenium, and more.
- The scanner feature helps to determine the security issues of vulnerable applications with high-risk parameters.
- Blocks BOTs and layer 7 DDoS.
With this WAF, you can successfully protect your web apps from SQL, XSS, XXE, and several other OWASP threats. Since it is a completely automated service you are saved from the hassle of manual configurations. For further information visit their website.
Pros:
- Supports API and microservice testing
- A great choice for multi and hybrid cloud environments
- Protects applications in real-time through automated remediation
Cons:
- Not ideal for smaller environments
Wallarm is a fast, reliable, and robust WAF that applies modern techniques to protect your site and applications. It is a highly accurate WAF that carries out a constant assessment from the cloud and helps to drill down the malicious attacks.
8. Barracuda Web Application Firewall
Barracuda as a WAF provides a comprehensive security platform that protects against bots and DDoS attacks and also accelerates application delivery. It is available as a SaaS system, virtual appliance, an appliance, and for installation on a private cloud account.
Key Features:
- It is capable of defeating the most sophisticated attacks as it combines positive signature-based policies with vast anomaly detection abilities.
- Makes use of both blacklisting and whitelisting to allow only genuine traffic to pass through.
- Helps to comply with data protection standards (PCI DSS) by providing data loss prevention.
- URL encryption feature ensures that original URLs are not exposed to malicious eyes.
- Includes virtual patching and vulnerability scanning integration.
- Provides multi-protocol support.
It runs to protect against several types of attacks ranging from OWASP top 10, data leakage, DDoS, etc.
Pros:
- The interface is easy to use and scales well when monitoring multiple networks and wide-scale access rules
- Features a built-in IDS to help alert to port scans and other pre-attack events
- Ideal for more complex networks – great for enterprises
- The NexGen Admin dashboard is highly customizable and offers many different ways to report and visualize firewall insights
Cons:
- Suited more for enterprises, many features can be too much for smaller networks
- No free trial must manually request an evaluation version from their sales team
Barracuda collects and analyzes threat data from millions of collection points worldwide and provides real-time protection for websites. It is suitable for any business size due to its flexibility of implementation. More info about this WAF can be found here.
Choosing a WAF
Choosing the best WAF solution needs a considerable amount of time, effort, and understanding. Thus, it is important to assess your business needs and then lookout for a solution that fulfills all the requirements.
In our opinion, if you are looking for a highly versatile WAF then Sucuri is a great choice. AppTrana as a WAF is best suited to protect small and large enterprises. We hope you find the best web application firewall for your website.
