The internet has changed this world into a global village. Miles converted into millimeters of virtual distance; the internet applications are benefitting the world in several amazing ways. One of these ways is with the help of web applications. The web applications run on different mobile and computer devices, making their usage very easy and practical.
At the same time, different platforms are using them for increasing convenience and practicality for a lot of basic things of life, one of which is shopping which is nowadays being replaced by online shopping. In most of these activities, sensitive data and information are present, and there are bad users present all the time as well.
So, there is always a risk of a sensitive data breach. That is why things like firewalls are used for increasing web application security.
As web applications are available to every online user, they are prone to several types of attacks and intrusions. The web application firewalls are there to block these bad activities done on the websites. In this way, only the intended user can access and use the data present on the website. It is a shield that protects the infrastructure of the website from all types of malicious activity.
It works by monitoring the HTTP traffic of the website and filtering out the malicious traffic to keep the website safe and secure. There are different policies implemented to identify and filter out the bad traffic.
When it comes to web application security, we can say that web application firewalls provide a layer of security. However, things are not that simple. The web application firewalls work in several ways to bring a better and more secure experience for the users.
That's why these firewalls are very important. Speaking of the several ways here, we will be describing a few of the ways.
SQL is the programming language used for communicating with the database where all of the data is stored. SQL injection is a method of getting access to the data of a website with the help of modifying the SQL queries.
When web application firewalls are implemented, they prevent SQL injection from happening. In this way, if malicious activity is found, the user gets blocked, which makes the web application secure.
It is another way of attacking the web application by involving malicious scripts. In this case, the cybercriminals send code to the user via the web application. That code is malicious, and it is intended to access the sensitive data and cookies from the browser at the user end.
Web application firewalls can provide security here by the implementation of policies that monitor and block such requests. In this way, the access to malicious users is blocked, and the websites become more secure.
Cookie Poisoning is a common same for Session Hijacking where the malicious user manipulates a cookie that bypasses the security and gets access to the server for accessing data from the web application. It is usually used to get the login information with the help of cookies. However, web application firewalls protect in 2 ways:
· Encrypting personal information
· Monitoring and filtering the poisoned cookies out.
Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks is usually made to make the website unavailable for traffic or reducing its performance. A huge level of traffic from one IP address accesses the website in this attack, and web application firewalls prevent such attacks by identifying unusual activity.
If you have an online web application, then you need a web application firewall for improved web application security for yourself and your traffic as well. A website can provide a lot of data to cybercriminals, including confidential data, payment details, and cookie information. So, if you have any of the following websites, then you need web application firewalls:
· E-Commerce store
· Lead Generation site
· Online Healthcare services site
· Online Financial services site and a lot more
By the implementation of web application firewalls, you will be sure that you have better and stronger web application security.
Whatever is the type and scale of the web application that you have, when it is attacked, a lot of sensitive data could be at risk. So, it is very important to implement web application firewalls for data protection. The attacks are made within seconds or minutes, so the implementation of firewalls will provide you with the necessary peace of mind.
