what is a waf

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a specific form of application firewall that filters, monitors, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web service. It is designed to protect web applications from attacks such as cross-site request forgery (CSRF), cross-site scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and SQL injection. A WAF can be network-based, host-based, or cloud-based, and it is often deployed through a reverse proxy and placed in front of one or more websites or applications. By inspecting HTTP traffic, it can prevent unauthorized data from leaving the app and filter out malicious traffic. A WAF can be especially beneficial to a company that provides an e-commerce site, online financial services, or any other type of web-based product or service involving interactions with customers or business partners. However, since a WAF is not designed to ward off all types of attacks, it works best as part of a suite of tools that support a comprehensive application security program.