How WAF Works and Why Your Business Needs It: A Complete Guide

Many technical specialists often ask: how does WAF differ from a regular firewall? WAF (Web Application Firewall) is a specialized tool that analyzes traffic at the application layer (Layer 7 of the OSI model). While a classic firewall blocks ports and IP addresses, a web application firewall ‘peers’ into the content of each data packet. It checks user requests to detect suspicious activity hidden within legitimate traffic.

The main task performed by WAF in protecting a website is to prevent attacks targeting the logic of the web resource. When we talk about what WAF protects, we are mainly referring to databases, user sessions, and API interfaces. Without such a tool, your resource remains open to automated scanners and bots that are continuously searching for vulnerabilities in the code.

When considering the principles of a web firewall, it is important to understand the mechanism of deep analysis. It is based on the constant filtering of http/https traffic, which occurs in real time. The system matches incoming data against a set of signatures and behavioral patterns. This allows attempts to hack to be instantly recognized and blocked before they reach the server.

Modern solutions focus primarily on protection against SQL injections and XSS (cross-site scripting). These types of attacks allow attackers to steal data from databases or inject malicious code into your clients’ browsers. WAF website protection effectively filters out such requests, ensuring the integrity of information. Understanding why a WAF is needed comes immediately after the first prevented attempt to steal customers’ personal data.

Many mistakenly believe that a standard network firewall is sufficient for security. However, the difference between a network screen and firewalls in terms of functionality is fundamental. A network screen (L3/L4) works like a security guard at the entrance of a building, checking only the registration (IP). At the same time, a web application firewall is an inspector who examines the content of every package delivered to a specific office.

Comparing WAF vs traditional firewall, it’s worth noting the adaptability of the former. Traditional solutions are powerless against attacks using allowed ports (such as 80 or 443). This is why a web application firewall is an essential component for any business operating in e-commerce or fintech. The key advantages of WAF include not only blocking threats but also providing detailed visibility of what WAF is protecting at any specific moment.

iIT Distribution, as the official distributor in Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, offers the Ukrainian market an advanced solution – Cloudflare WAF. This modern web application firewall operates on the connectivity cloud global network, analyzing threats in real time. The web firewall’s operating principles allow it to process up to 126 million HTTP requests per second, ensuring instant response to zero-day exploits. Thanks to intelligent algorithms, the system guarantees reliable protection against SQL injections and XSS, preventing hacks at the earliest stage. Considering that a WAF is not just a barrier, but an intelligent filter, Cloudflare uses machine learning to block anomalies. Deep http/https traffic filtering allows companies to maintain high performance at maximum security levels.

When choosing Cloudflare solutions from iIT Distribution, partners and customers gain key advantages of WAF, including ease of deployment in just a few clicks without the need for lengthy staff training. The fundamental difference between network and application firewalls of Cloudflare lies in the system’s ability to detect and block L7 attacks invisible to regular firewalls.

When considering WAF and a traditional firewall, the cloud solution demonstrates superiority by using global analytics to protect against account takeover. This is exactly what WAF protects – the integrity of your data and brand reputation in the digital space. The professional web application firewall integrates with any security services, clearly proving why WAF is needed by modern Ukrainian businesses.