Web application firewalls (WAFs) are formidable tools that help guard against many types of attacks plaguing modern enterprises. Therefore, it’s no surprise that demand for these cybersecurity solutions continues to rise as attacks aimed at browser-accessed assets continue to grow.

The WAF market is estimated to grow towards $31.8 billion in annual revenues by 2023.

WAFs play a crucial role in defending organizations from web-based attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, file inclusion, cross-site request forgery, as well as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. However, aside from preventing the damage of cyber attacks, WAFs also serve as valuable tools in fostering and sustaining innovations. While this idea may sound like a stretch on the surface, as we’ll see by diving deeper, it does make a lot of sense.

Securing cloud computing

Around 89% of respondents to one recent survey indicated that they’re using multi-cloud infrastructures and nearly half of all workloads and data are now estimated to take place in public cloud environments.

Cloud computing provides efficiency, scalability, and flexibility advantages, and the use of this technology has enabled the development of innovative products. It is an essential technology in telecommuting and collaboration platforms such as Slack, Google Docs, and Trello. It is behind big data analytics tools such as Tableau and Qlik. Cloud computing is also essential for consumer-facing apps like Uber and Grab to operate. Moreover, the rise of software-as-a-service (SaaS) products is not possible without this tech.

Despite the multitude of cloud computing-related products at present, its use cases have hardly been fully explored. There are more innovative solutions that can be developed in response to new consumer and business needs. Because web apps are easier to maintain and update, many internal tools in the enterprise are built to be accessed and controlled via browser-based interfaces.

However, the popularity of cloud computing inevitably makes it a favorite target of cyber threats. Organizations that use the cloud increasingly face exposure to threats such as account hijacking, data breaches, API attacks, side-channel attacks, supply chain attacks, and cloud malware. WAF solutions protect the integrity of cloud systems and maintain the reliability of cloud solutions. They address a host of threats that tend to be undetected, unstopped, and unmitigated by conventional security controls.

WAFs provide real-time threat detection and mitigation capabilities to address the growing aggressiveness and sophistication of new cyber threats. They can prevent attacks before these threats manage to reach web applications. Additionally, WAFs can automatically adapt to changes in traffic patterns and app updates to provide continuous protection. They are also highly scalable solutions that seamlessly adjust with an organization’s cloud resources to provide consistent security.

Keeping AI systems safe

AI is one of the biggest stories in technology over the past couple of years. AI is now everywhere – on people’s phones, websites, cameras, and various other devices and systems. It has been driving innovations everywhere, from aiding medical diagnosis and healthcare to automating customer service and aiding maintenance and quality control in manufacturing.

This ubiquity of AI, however, comes with risks, as it has been in the crosshairs of complex cyber-attacks. The recently reported NullBulge threat actor, for one, has been targeting AI systems and software supply chains. It has launched attacks on the LLM Vision ComfyUI extension on GitHub to collect information from unsuspecting users. The threat actor also attacked users of BeamNG, a simulation game, through malware-laced mods distributed via forum boards.

WAFs protect AI systems across different stages. It helps secure APIs by blocking unauthorized access and exploiting vulnerabilities. They also maintain the integrity of learning models by stopping the injection of malicious payloads and the manipulation of input data.

Additionally, WAFs are important in detecting and mitigating attacks targeting deployed AI systems. AI is still mostly cloud-based, and the age of edge AI appears unlikely to arrive anytime soon. As such, WAFs are crucial in keeping AI systems secure.

Protecting innovative IoT use cases

Interestingly, the IoT market is projected to grow at a pace similar to the WAF market. This does not necessarily make WAF demand a definitive barometer of IoT innovation, but it is one of the many indicators that the rising use of IoT devices drives demand for suitable security solutions – which include WAFs.

IoT has provided innovative ways to solve problems in different industries. It is used in precision agriculture, predictive maintenance, environmental monitoring, automated retail operations, automated manufacturing, as well as smart public safety infrastructure. To sustain these innovations, securing IoT ecosystems, which can be easy targets for threat actors, is important because IoT devices generally do not have internal or native security solutions. They are low-resource devices that cannot run full-fledged cybersecurity systems; hence, they need external security tools.

WAFs protect IoT data collection networks with device anomaly detection, data integrity mechanisms, access control, and threat intelligence integration features. They monitor traffic patterns to spot potentially compromised devices that exhibit malicious activities. They filter anomalous payloads transmitted between IoT devices and backend systems. Additionally, they can be used to enforce strict access controls to make sure only authorized users and devices get to interact with an enterprise’s network.

Providing added blockchain protection

Blockchain has been driving innovations across different sectors, and it is often touted as highly secure technology. However, the reality is that it is far from invincible. It can fall prey to sophisticated attacks, especially phishing and other social engineering campaigns. Smart contracts can also have vulnerabilities that may allow hackers to steal funds or lock down accounts.

Additionally, there are so-called “51% attacks,” wherein hackers manage to gain majority control over the mining power on a network, allowing them to manipulate records, interfere with legitimate transactions, and even double-spend cryptos.

Web application firewalls (WAFs) are important weapons in combating attacks on blockchains. They can secure smart contracts by monitoring and regulating transactions to prevent the exploitation of vulnerabilities. They can also protect blockchain networks from DDoS attacks, which hamper transaction processing. WAFs also protect data integrity by preventing unauthorized access and data tampering.

Last words

Given the increasing reliance of today’s activities on online connectivity and cloud services, it is important to deploy security solutions that effectively address web-based threats. Web application firewalls are among these effective solutions. They not only secure digital assets, applications, and IT infrastructures; they also protect and support innovations based on technologies targeted by web-based attacks. Integrating WAFs into security strategies is a must for organizations that seek to fend off security threats and pursue innovations with prominent web-based technologies.