Web Application and API Protection (WAAP)
Protect apps and APIs deployed across clouds and edge sites with industry-leading SaaS-based web application firewall (WAF), bot protection, advanced API security, L3-L7 DDoS defense, and cloud workload protection.
Audiences: Executive (CFO / CIO / VP of IT), Line of Business (LoB) Leaders / Business Owners, SecOps
Web Application Firewall and API Protection on Remote Sites
Fashion
Case Study
Problem/Challenge
Fashion customer that acquires new branches and subsidiaries around the world every year. All the new entities are then connected to the customer global network, and they may have their own application publicly available on the Internet. Sometimes those applications were not adequately protected, and they got different attacks that impacted the whole company.
Customer needs:
- When a new company joins the corporate, any public application needs to be protected with a consistent security policy
- This needs to happen quickly, even before the new company is connected to the global network
- It must be easy to make an internal application available to the new company from the beginning, even in the (not so unlikely) case of IP overlapping situation
F5 Services
- F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP (CE + RE)
- Bot Defense
- App Connect
Solution
F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP is a SaaS solution that provides application protection with avanced threat detection which make use of AI/ML intelligence. This makes it very easy to protect an application from the first day it is exposed to the Internet and provide real-time protection for applications that are distributed around the world from a single, consistent platform.
It provides DDoS Mitigation, WAF, Bot Defense and API Security. Using F5 XC Customer Edges (CE), a Point-of-Presence (PoP) that customer could install where he wants, toghether with the Regional Edges (F5 PoPs), it was proven how easy was to deploy the application through F5 Distributed Cloud, with the minimum effort from the local engineers.
The CEs require minimal configuration and promptly establish a connection to the F5 Distributed Cloud Global Network upon start-up, enabling seamless reception of updates and configurations. It automatically builds an SSL or IPSEC tunnel with the closest Regional Edges, which can protect the application, and then forward the traffic to the Origin Server through those tunnels. There is no need to deploy the application using the branches public IP addresses.
Customer Edges also bring the possibility to easily connect users to application at Layer 7, by automating creation of local endpoints, that uses the F5 global network to reach company applications that resides in other branches or headquarters, even in IP overlapping situation.
Web Application Firewall and API Protection On-Premises
Energy
Case Study
Problem/Challenge
Energy company customer that provides infrastructure and tools to secure electricity nationwide.
For resiliency factors, it has several data centers located across the nation, and all application traffic cannot be directed to other third-party data centers due to business limitations.
The customer was unable to manage the application security policy lifecycle because it had difficulty in management, application knowledge, and resources to devote.
Customer needs:
- Simple management during creation and lifecycle of WAF policy
- Ability to manage security policies easily, without performing traffic diversion
- Centralized management of the deployment of exposed and non-exposed applications across various private data centers
F5 Services
- F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP (CE only)
Solution
F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP is a centralized SaaS security platform that provides application protection with advanced threat detection making use of AI/ML intelligence. It simplifies the process of safeguarding an application from the moment it is exposed to the Internet, while also offering real-time protection for applications distributed globally from a unified, consistent platform.
With F5 Distributed Cloud Customer Edges you can easily protect your application - exposed or not – and manage all configurations with central console without traffic diversion outside customer data centers.
Through the WAAP capabilities of F5 Distributed Cloud, you can manage the protection of your applications without necessarily knowing in detail how the application was created:
- Advanced AI/ML features make it easy to manage security policies, automatically recognizing false positives and applying rule changes
- Standard Bot Defense allows you to protect against targeted zero-day attacks, protecting applications from automated traffic even if it is generated through a browser
- API Discovery enables recognition and protection of exposed APIs without detailed knowledge of all APIs
