A Web Application Firewall or WAF provides web application security for online services from malicious Internet traffic. WAFs detect and filter out threats such as OWASP Top 10 which could degrade, compromise or bring down online applications.

A firewall is the specified version of the router. In this, all data packets are entering or leaving the network pass through the firewall and after examining the firewall decide whether to allow or not. In a firewall, all traffic must pass through it and only authorized traffic should be allowed to pass. The firewall should be strong.

Purpose of a Web Application Firewall :  

Generally, Firewalls are administered to monitor network traffic which acts as an additional layer of protection that will scan all traffic at the site and secure the network against malicious bots and multiple different attack vectors.

whereas WAFs just not only passively monitor activity but also proactively shore up weaknesses in the web applications, they constantly scan the vulnerabilities, WAFs also often observe the weaknesses in the network long before the user notices and also make a patch in the weak points.

while patch does not serve as a long time resolution but it does give the user time to fix the issue and prevents potential breaches in the network.

Benefits of Web  Application Firewalls(WAFs) :

Now let us have a look on what are the benefits these WAFs can serve the user and why it's a great long-term investment to have them positioned on the site :

To stop customer data from being compromised–

WAFs make sure the customer data does not get exposed to any malicious attacks and potential vulnerabilities.

WAF makes sure that the data be strictly enforced to the standards HIPAA and PCI to make sure data is strictly organized thereby blocking any opportunities or vulnerabilities which may create a space for hackers to perform attacks.

WAFs do save a lot of resources for the user by automatically running security tests and monitoring traffic.

By performing effective monitoring and running security tests and creating patches to weak points WAFs prevent various attacks including SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. 

Differences Between WAFs and Firewalls : 

Now, let us move to our main agenda, identifying key differences between WAF and a firewall as follows.

As we know a firewall is administered in a network while a WAF is generally deployed near an application here there is a complete difference in the functionality, WAF focuses on ensuring security on application network traffic whereas a Firewall stresses on a network for protection and monitoring traffic. 

Both are placed in different locations of the network – 

In General, a firewall is deployed near the edge of a network which makes it a barrier between known and trusted networks and any unknown networks. Whereas a WAF is placed before application and servers thereby making it enabled to offer protection against any threat designed to attack servers, this can be taken into the record as the fundamental difference between both firewall and a WAF. 

Both offer protection against different kinds of threats –

Generally, standard firewalls are designed to deny or permit access to networks, thereby denying unauthorized access to networks, some examples of firewalls include blocking access to pornographic or questionable content from school computer labs and logging to a LAN of computers in a Computer Lab. WAFs generally focuses on offering protection to  HTTP/HTTPS applications and servers to prevent threats. like Attacks via SQL Injection, DDOS attacks, XSS, or cross-site scripting attacks. 

Both Concentrate on different layers of the OSI Model –

The OSI Layer represents the inner working and functions of a standard network, it is regarded as a bible map of the network. Firewalls concentrate on layers 3 (network) and 4(Transport) of the OSI model, Layer 3 generally is concerned with the transfer of packets between nodes in the network, Layer 4 of the model is concerned about the transformation of data to a destination host via a source. Whereas WAF's primary focus is on layer 7(Applications) which is closest to the user, Layer 7 is typically the software or interface with which the user interacts with the network. 

Both differ in the amount of access control offered –

As WAF's job is to focus on preventing attacks to applications by monitoring networks and not on restricting accesses WAFs don’t focus on access control or restricting access while on the other hand access control is the primary operation performed by a firewall. These settings are more often customized to serve users' needs and more often firewall will be enacted to deny access to folders, websites, networks – only allowing those with the proper credentials. 

Firewalls and WAFs run different Algorithms –

Since Firewalls and WAFs differ in design and function, users expect them to run a different kinds of algorithms which is true. WAFs run Anomaly Detection Algorithms, Heuristic Algorithms, and Signature Based Algorithms. While on other hand, Standard Firewalls run Proxy Algorithms, Packet-Filtering Algorithms, and Stateless/ Stateful Inspection Algorithms. 

Both have DDOS protection in Different areas –

DDOS or Denial-Of-Service attacks are kind of attacks, which leaves a network in a crippled condition. This type of attack is exactly what the name implies, it denies access to a network usually by flooding access points with extra overload. Each of these Firewalls offers some protection towards these DDOS attacks, while the location of protection offered differs between the two, Since WAFs primarily deal with the applications, their DDOS protection concentrates on the application layer which is Layer 7 of the OSI model. While the Standard Firewalls protect against Layers 3 and 4 of the Network Layer. 

Both Have different modes of operation –

WAF operates in two different modes are as follows. 

Passive Mode WAF operates passively that is without action, which effectively renders the application network not secure and should be used for testing use cases only. 

In Active Inspection Mode, a WAF will continuously scan and offer protection against any kind of threat. 

Standard Firewall also operates in two modes –

A Routed Mode is Firewall’s main mode operating on Level 3 executing static and routing protocols and acting similar to a network router. 

Transparent Mode works only on Layer 2 and allows transparent forwarding of data due to the bridging of interfaces, completely bypassing Layer 3. 

Both Have different Levels of application Protection –

As they differ in Design, Function, operating location Both WAF and Firewall also has a different kind of protection offered at the application level. As Firewalls operate in Levels 3 and 4 in the OSI Model, the focus of protection permits minimal attention to the application level, which allows Firewalls to transfer data between networks. On the other hand, a WAF’s primary function is to protect the application layer(level 7) of the network, thus providing security to the entire application layer of the network, this application layer includes applications, servers, software, and interfaces with which the user has direct access to the network. 

As The protection offered by each of these Firewalls gives each of them a different use case, WAFs are deployed in zones that have contact with the internet, protecting HTTP/HTTPS applications and servers. The focus of its protection is the safety of the application or server. Whereas Firewalls are usually meant to protect the individual user as well as a network of individuals(such as LAN or individual network), Traditional Firewalls are effective but they mostly offer protection at basic levels of the network. This is the reason why WAF is deployed along with a Firewall to make increased protection against multiple layers of the network. With Multiple Firewalls operating, a network becomes more strong and secure. 

Web Application Firewall(WAF) and Standard Application Firewalls fundamentally differ in their operation and are designed accordingly to provide secure and robust network infrastructure to users. Knowing these differences will help Consultants to provide the best scenario and implement the design in business. 

In this blog, we will discuss the difference between Firewall and WAF.

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