AWS Web Application Firewall

Firewall (WAF) comes in.Introduction to WAFA WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect your web applications. Think of it like the specialized commando unit of your network security, specifically trained to protect your web applications and websites from threats that conventional network firewalls might miss. WAFs are particularly good at protecting against application layer attacks.The Difference Between a Regular Firewall and a WAFA conventional firewall and a WAF differ in the type of traffic they monitor and protect. A traditional firewall, such as pfSense CE, primarily focuses on protecting network traffic at the transport layer, while a WAF concentrates on HTTP/HTTPS traffic at the application layer.So, while a regular firewall checks if the delivery truck (packet) coming to your warehouse (network) is on the approved list, a WAF checks what’s inside the truck (inspects the data) to ensure it’s not carrying anything harmful.Discussing How a WAF Works and Where It is Placed in a NetworkJust as an airport uses both metal detectors and luggage scanners for security, a comprehensive network security approach uses both firewalls and WAFs.A WAF is generally placed in front of your web applications, acting as a protective shield. It examines web traffic and uses rules (often known as web security rules) to filter out malicious activity such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection, and DDoS attacks.AWS WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect your web applications running on AWS, but you can also set up a WAF using the open-source pfSense software on your own hardware.The WAF functions like a cyber traffic cop, directing the flow of data between your web applications and the external network. By using content filtering, it can block, allow, or redirect web traffic based on predefined security policies. It’s like a specialized bouncer for your web applications,

Per month.The exact cost for your business will vary, so check out their pricing configurations here.Amazon Web Services (AWS) WAF: Best for highly customized rulesThe AWS WAF is offered by Amazon and protects your website and web applications from common security gaps and malicious bots.Amazon’s service is focused on keeping your web properties secure and available so that your business is not impacted.Plus, its firewall software allows you to create highly customized security rules and logic to further refine your web traffic and content filtering.If your business desires greater control over the cybersecurity process, the AWS WAF may be the right choice for you.Key Features:Customized rules filter web traffic with the ability to maintain centralized rules across multiple websitesBot Control provides visibility and control over common bot traffic that can consume resources and cause downtimeAccount Takeover Prevention stops unauthorized logins and compromised credentialsPros and Cons:ProsConsThe WAF is very easy to implement and offers simple integrations with other Amazon services that can further help you manage traffic, access, and performanceThe AWS WAF provides real-time visibility of traffic metrics to help you improve security rules and better protect your web assetsDeploying and creating security rules is a simple process using APIsThe WAF requires additional integrations if you want to protect websites that are not hosted on AWSAWS does not offer managed services so your in-house team needs to have some cybersecurity knowledgeCosts can be high for organizations that do not use the tool at significant volumePricing:As of January 2023, AWS bills customers for their WAF on a pay-per-usage basis.Instead of paying a subscription fee each month, you are invoiced depending on the number of control lists, security rules, and web requests your organization uses.Costs vary somewhat but generally follow the structure seen below.You can also see a detailed explanation of the AWS WAF pricing here.Azure WAF: Best for comprehensive security coverageAzure’s WAF is offered by Microsoft as a cloud-native service that protects your website and web applications from common attacks and security gaps.The service is easy to deploy with preconfigured rulesets that cover the Open Web Application Security Project’s Top 10 security risks. Custom rules can also be added or modified for additional protection.You can rest easy with this choice because Azure’s firewall protection is backed by the cybersecurity investments and expertise at Microsoft.Key Features:Managed rulesets provide advanced malware protection based on the latest cybersecurity intelligenceEasy-to-navigate user interfaceAlerts for security administrators regarding

And exposed/cached by an Amazon CloudFront distribution.The portal backend is built with AWS Step Functions, AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB and exposed to the frontend as a REST API with Amazon API Gateway.EC2 Image Builder is used to create workstation and connection gateway images (AMIs & Launch Templates) together with AWS Systems Manager automation which prepares the EC2 instances used for the workstations.For users to connect to workstations:They leverage the NICE DCV client (available for multiple OS, to download here)The Network load balancer (NLB) load balances the TCP or UDP traffic from the users to a dynamically scalable fleet of connection gateways.The NICE DCV Connection Gateway fleet is based on Amazon EC2 instances and can scale up and down with an autoscaling group.Workstations are also based on EC2 instances and contains the NICE DCV Server software.The solution leverage several security services such as Amazon Cognito for the authentication on the frontend, AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) to protect the frontend (IP allow list), AWS KMS to encrypt data at rest and obviously AWS Identity and Access Management(IAM) to manage permissions. Note that if required by your company, you may need to perform additional penetration tests on the web portal.You can get more information in the Detailed architecture.🎒 RequirementsAn AWS Account must be available and the deployment machine must be able to deploy on this account. (How to create an AWS account | AWS Command Line Interface)The user or role deploying the solution must have the following policies:PowerUserAccessIAMFullAccessTerraform v.1.2.2+ must be installed

Compliance.Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (Virtual Appliance): The Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) is a security appliance that protects corporate networks and data centers. It provides users with highly secure access to data and network resources – anytime, anywhere. The remote users can use Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client on the endpoints to securely connect to the resources hosted in the Data Center or the Cloud.Cisco Next-Generation Firewall / Firepower Threat Defense (Virtual Appliance): The Cisco Firepower NGFW helps you prevent breaches, get visibility to stop threats fast, and automate operations to save time. A next-generation firewall (NGFW) is a network security device that provides capabilities beyond a traditional, stateful firewall by adding capabilities like application visibility and control, Next-Generation IPS, URL filtering, and Advanced Malware Protection (AMP).Scalable and Resilient Remote VPN architecture for AWS (Single-VPC & Multi-AZ)Due to layer-2 abstraction in the cloud, it not possible to provide native firewall high availability, firewall clustering, and VPN clustering. AWS offers native services like AWS route53, AWS route tables that enable DNS based load balancing.Figure 2: Cisco Remote Access VPN scalable design using AWS Route53Traffic Flow:The remote access VPN user initiates a VPN connection using a hostname (example: answamivpn.com), and the DNS server returns an IP address. AWS route53 monitors all the firewalls using AWS route53 health checksRemote user makes the connection to the firewallAccess the resources hosted in AWSRecommendation for the architecture shown in figure 2:Each availability zone (AZ) should have multiple firewalls (ASAv or NGFWv)Each firewall should have a dedicated

Security capabilities against stringent security benchmarks that set the standard for credibility in the NSPM and NGFW categories. Key areas that AWS’ assessment found Aviatrix to be highly innovative and impactful for customers include: The Aviatrix centralized security policy model that manages Aviatrix Distributed Cloud Firewall, as well as VPCs’ native security groups in AWS, and extends to other clouds in a consistent, repeatable manner. Security anomaly detection based on learned baselines such as catching abnormal trends, DDoS, geofencing, etc. Aviatrix Distributed Cloud Firewall Layer-7 capabilities with end-to-end visibility, which allows enterprises to build a security posture that is most effective for distributed application traffic while helping optimize cloud costs. Not paying for NAT data process charges and saving cost on traditional NFGWs are good examples that can significantly reduce an organization’s cloud bill. Choosing the Innovative Path Forward “Customer obsession” and “customer-centric innovation” are two principles both Aviatrix and AWS share to help their customers realize tremendous success with their cloud journey. Aviatrix’s Security Software Competency accreditation is a perfect example of how AWS and Aviatrix are coming together to help customers secure their application transactions in cloud. Aviatrix has a rich set of security capabilities that are embedded in the fabric of the network, providing security teams more control while achieving higher performance, better visibility, and significant cost efficiencies. These features include: Secure Egress filtering Threat protection Anomaly detection End-to-end and high-performance encryption Service insertion of 3rd party security devices Cloud network segmentation Geo blocking Aviatrix continues to innovate at a rapid pace in the security space. The latest announcement of the first ever Distributed Cloud Firewall is a testament to the rapid innovation Aviatrix is bringing to market for AWS customers. With Aviatrix Distributed Cloud Firewall, a centralized, programmable interface creates policies wherever required across AWS and hybrid, multicloud environments. Cloud-aware policy creation is simpler and streamlined, leveraging dynamic cloud workload identity tags and attributes instead of static IP addresses. It also abstracts how and where policies are enforced by programmatically configuring native cloud services where required. If you’d like to explore Aviatrix’s security capabilities, join us at an upcoming event such as AWS Summits in D.C. and New York, or schedule an exploratory call.

Standard browser and they are clear and well laid out.Who is it recommended for?Prophaze is a good choice for businesses that want to manage their WAFs themselves but don’t have high-quality security expertise to precisely define security policies. As these policies get adjusted over time by the WAF’s behavior analysis, mistakes made in the definition of security policies will eventually be corrected.Pros:Flexible Protection Mechanisms: Adapts to unique traffic patterns, offering customized security.User-Friendly Interface: Designed for ease of use, even for non-technical users.Robust Multi-Platform Support: Compatible with a variety of hosting environments, including Kubernetes.Cons:Lack of On-Premise Version: Does not offer an on-site deployment option, which might be a limitation for certain use cases.Features include DDoS protection and virtual patching. It hardens the protected system and prevents data loss, aiding towards compliance to GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, PCI-DSS, and SOC2.6. MS Azure Web Application FirewallMicrosoft Azure is a well-known hypervisor system that is one of the most successful cloud platforms available. Like AWS, the Azure division of Microsoft doesn’t just offer the platform system for cloud services, it also produces a range of software that provide utilities to other systems. The Web Application Firewall is one of these products.Key Features:Robust Brand Reputation: Backed by Microsoft’s extensive expertise in cloud services.Comprehensive Traffic Filtration: Thoroughly scrutinizes incoming and outgoing web traffic for security threats.Data Protection Focus: Emphasizes safeguarding data, particularly useful for organizations with strict data security requirements.Why do we recommend it?Microsoft Azure Web Application Firewall is a competent service that both protects Web assets from hacker attacks and scans outgoing traffic to block data theft. Although hosted on Azure, this system is not just for protecting Azure and you don’t need to host your Web assets on the Azure platform in order to benefit from this tool.As with any WAF, this service acts as