Web application protection system (WAF)

In the current network environment, applications have become the main carrier of the network, and more threats to network security come from the application layer, which puts forward higher requirements for network access control. How to precisely identify users and applications, block applications with security risks, ensure normal use of valid applications, and prevent port theft has become the focus of users on network security.

The Web application protection system is also called the website application-level intrusion defense system. Web Application Firewall (WAF) came into being. According to an internationally accepted statement, Web Application Firewall is a product that provides protection for Web applications by executing a series of HTTP/HTTPS security policies.

WAF also features multiple features. For example, from the perspective of network intrusion detection, You can regard WAF as an IDS Device running on the HTTP layer. From the perspective of firewall, WAF is a functional module of firewall. Some people regard WAF as an enhancement of "Deep detection firewall. The deep detection firewall usually works on the third and higher layers of the network, while the Web application firewall processes the HTTP service on the Seventh Layer and better supports it .)

WAF detects exceptions in HTTP requests and rejects requests that do not comply with HTTP standards. In addition, it can only allow some options of the HTTP protocol to pass, thus reducing the impact scope of attacks. Even some Web application firewalls can strictly limit the loose or unspecified options in the HTTP protocol.

Fixing Web security vulnerabilities is the biggest headache for Web application developers. No one will know what kind of vulnerabilities will occur in the next second and what kind of harm will be brought to Web applications. Now WAF can do this for us-as long as there is comprehensive vulnerability information, WAF can block this vulnerability in less than an hour.

Rule-based protection provides security rules for various Web applications. WAF manufacturers maintain and update the rule repository from time to time. You can perform comprehensive application detection based on these rules. Other products can establish models based on valid application data and determine application data exceptions based on these models.

WAF can determine whether the user is visiting for the first time and redirect the request to the default logon page and record the event. By detecting the user's entire operation behavior, we can more easily identify attacks. The status management mode can also detect abnormal events, such as logon failures, and process them when the limit value is reached. This is very beneficial to the identification and response of violent attacks.

WAF also has some security enhancement functions that can be used to solve the problems caused by excessive trust in data input by WEB programmers. Such as hiding form field protection, anti-intrusion protection, response monitoring, and information leakage protection. Enhanced input verification can effectively prevent Web page tampering, information leakage, Trojan embedding, and other malicious network intrusions, thus reducing the possibility of Web servers being attacked.