Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are required to keep your web application secure from various types of threats. Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are designed to protect Web Applications from vulnerabilities, including Malicious attacks, Cross-Site scripting, SQL injection, DDoS attacks, request forgeries and much more. There are two different types of Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) available- Cloud-based and Integrated.

Hardware and Integrated Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are complex and require an expert to configure and maintain them. WAF protection is not merely a one-time configuration, it requires ongoing maintenance. Cloud-based Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are simple to use and configure, no maintenance is required and this option is cost effective too.

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is an online community that creates documentation, tools, and technologies for web application security.

Below are the top 10 threats listed by OWASP:

  • Injections
  • Broken Authentication and Session Management
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
  • Insecure Direct Object References
  • Security Misconfiguration
  • Sensitive Data Exposure
  • Missing Function Level Access Control
  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
  • Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
  • Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards

Here are the top 3 Cloud Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) to stop website attacks:

Incapsula

Incapsula’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) is PCI-certified and protects from OWASP top 10 threats, including SQL injection, XSS, Remote file inclusion, etc. Incapsula also offers Two Factor Authentication for any website or application to protect administrative access. It does not merely provide cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF) but also provides protection + CDN from 28 data centers worldwide.

  • Bot protection
  • Login protection
  • Backdoor protection
  • DDoS protection

Incapsula by Imperva offers a FREE account which has a few basic security protections. To use the Web Application Firewall (WAF) you need to enroll for a PRO plan at minimum. A FREE-TRIAL is available for all Web Application Firewall (WAF) plans.

Incapsula provides the absolute best security features in the industry and superior CDN services. Their plan starts from $59 per site/month.

CloudFlare

Cloudflare’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) protects your web application from OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities and protects from following types of attacks:

  • DDoS attacks
  • SQL injection
  • SPAM protection
  • XSS
  • Application specific vulnerabilities like WordPress, Joomla.
  • Empty User-Agent
  • Numbers Botnet
  • SQLi probing
  • ShellShock
  • Block Semalt crawler
  • SVG XSS attempt
  • Null cookie headers
  • Prevent fake search engine (Google, Baidu, Yandex) bots from crawling
  • Brute force attacks

Cloudflare provides many web optimization features to improve your over web application performance; however, It does not offer features like Two Factor Authentication. CloudFlare provides a FREE plan for personal websites and blogs.

CloudFlare is known for their excellent CDN services and high-quality Security features. Their plan starts from $20 per site/month.

Sucuri

Sucuri is cloud-based SaaS (service as a software) Website Application Firewall (WAF) and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) for Websites. Sucuri has 2 security services available – Website Antivirus and Web Application Firewall. Sucuri also offers features like file change detection, malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, and more. If Web Application Firewall (WAF) protection is all you are seeking then you can begin with Sucuri Firewall basic plan, which covers the following:

  • XSS (Cross Site Scripting)
  • RCE (Remote Code Execution)
  • SQLi (SQL injection)
  • Layer 7 DDoS protection
  • Brute Force protection
  • Intrusion Detection System
  • Intrusion Prevention System
  • HTTP Flood protection
  • 2FA, Captcha and Password protection

Sucuri does not have a FREE Trial or Free account. There plan starts from $19.99 / month.

Conclusion

We highly recommend Incapsula if you are looking for a Web Application Firewall (WAF) It has more security features, built-in two-factor authentication on any URL and ease of configuration. CloudFlare would be great if you are focusing on performance as well as on security. Cloudflare has more CDN server capabilities than Incapsula which can improve the performance of your site all around the world.

Sucuri provides a comprehensive list of security features and their monthly plans are reasonably priced. So Sucuri is recommended for small businesses.

For more insights into which WAF edition is best suited to your unique business requirements