Comprehensive Security for Web Apps and APIS

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The internet is one of the most important inventions of our time, and the way in which we use it to communicate with each other, run our businesses, and socialize has changed dramatically over the last 20 years or so.

Why the need for a new and better way to protect your web applications?

With millions of people worldwide connecting to your web applications and APIs each day, it’s critical that you monitor for fraudulent traffic that may be entering your system. The need for security on web apps and APIs is greater than ever, but common industry conclusions like WAF security solutions are prohibitively expensive, complex to set up, and difficult to maintain—not to mention incredibly reactive rather than proactive in nature. That’s why IronMQ has developed its new method of delivering A WAF AS A SERVICE offering.

WAF AS A SERVICE

The OWASP top 10 web application security risks and mitigation strategies

If you’re worried about web app security, you can use a web application firewall (WAF) or API protection services to check your apps for common vulnerabilities. WAFs typically monitor traffic and block attacks. API protection services do more than that—they also identify weak spots in your code and recommend ways to fix them. Both types of services can help protect you from data breaches and other cyberattacks, but there are differences between them. Let’s take a look at those.

XML External Entities (XXE)

XML External Entities vulnerabilities allow attackers to send HTTP requests that can access files and system commands on a server. If you’re in charge of building or maintaining web apps, it’s important to make sure your systems are protected from XXE vulnerabilities. A good way to do so is by leveraging a web app firewall (WAF) as a service like Cloudflare Workers.

Injection

The idea behind an API firewall is simple: to protect your API, you need a second line of defense in place to monitor, detect and block any attempt to exploit it. What makes API protection services different from other web app firewalls is that they also scan for injection attacks through APIs, which a traditional WAF can’t do.

Broken Authentication and Session Management

Vulnerabilities in session management and authentication are among the most common threats facing web apps. This is why security experts say that protecting your app against them should be your first priority when creating a web app firewall. Luckily, our WAF provides numerous tools to thwart both attacks as well as others like DoS, DDoS, SQL Injection, XSS, and CSRF.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-site scripting is a vulnerability that occurs when an attacker embeds malicious code—usually in JavaScript—into a website. The resulting XSS vulnerability can be used to steal user credentials, execute scripts on users’ systems, and even alter website content and inject malware into visitors’ browsers.

Insecure Deserialization

Imagine what could happen if a SaaS app offers endpoint protection via API-based security rules, but then doesn’t protect it with a web app firewall. Attackers can exploit insecure deserialization to leverage a vulnerability in how an application receives or handles data streams from other systems to compromise not only your protected API endpoints but everything else on your network. Organizations can use WAF as a service (WaaS) providers to deliver complete API and web app protection across multi-cloud infrastructures—giving them peace of mind when providing services through any channel.

Information Exposure through Debugging Tools, System Logs, or Other Traffic Data

Code-level security measures, such as secure configurations and vulnerability protections, can help protect your web apps from exposure in log files. Additionally, you can use debug tools to test for vulnerabilities without exposing your application to a real attack. If these measures fail, firewalls and anti-malware systems can be used to shield exposed APIs or prevent the exploitation of vulnerable code. These practices should be part of an overall plan to achieve comprehensive API protection services.

Today’s businesses collect huge amounts of data that make operations more effective but also raise concerns about protecting proprietary information and safeguarding users’ privacy. Modern applications are typically rich in dynamic content, frequently update on a regular basis, receive external communications via APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and often integrate with other online resources.

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