Over the years, web applications are constantly facing cyber attacks of different types. That why security has become an important concern for the companies and they have security as their first priority. Luckily there are multiple sources available for enhancing security for your AWS environment. AWS WAF(Web Application Firewall) is one of them that is used to improve the security of your AWS environment.
AWS WAF is a type of firewall that protects your web applications servers against the threats. In this comprehensive article we will walk you through the What AWS WAF is, its features and benefits, how it works and how you can create Web Access Control List. (www.unlockbase.com)
Let’s get started with the understanding of AWS WAF.
Table of Contents
What is AWS WAF?
AWS WAF stands for Amazon Web Services Web Application Firewall. It is a tool of security privacy and security that you can use to protect your AWS environment and APIs from cyber threats and typical web vulnerabilities such as chatbots that can damage your privacy and lead to downtime.
- AWS WAF monitors and controls unusual traffic and allows you to block common attack patterns. This also reduces the risk of DDoS and speeds up your website.
- It helps you monitor the HTTP and HTTPS requests that are forwarded to an Amazon API Gateway API, Amazon CloudFront, or an Application Load Balancer.
- Amazon WAF controls your web content by using an IP address from where the request originates.
- There are three main components that make Amazon WAF works – Access control lists (ACLs), Rules, and Rule Groups.
- Using Amazon WAF you can also manage data accessibility to the site.
- implementing WAF you may also set CloudFront to generate a customized 404 error.
Types of Web Attacks That can WAF protect
Before getting started with the features of AWS WAF you need to know types of web attacks that can be protected by WAF:
1. DDoS(Denial-Of-Service) attacks
This is a common attack these days. These attacks are implemented by putting a large number of requests or malware infected traffic on the web server. This slows down the web application and it can damage the reputation of the brand.
2. SQL injections
SQL injection is a code injection process of running malicious SQL queries on your web applications. That may harm your SQL Database.
3. Cross-Site Scripting
Cross-site scripting is the process of running malicious scripts in the form of browser-side script.These type of attack can even rewrite the content of the HTML pages.
4. Remote file inclusion (RFI)
RFI is the procdure of embedding external files implemented in the web application. If the process allows modification of the path to a processed file.
What can an AWS WAF do?
- WAF can block the malicious traffic including SQL injection (SQLi), Cross-site scripting (XSS), Remote file inclusion (RFI), DDoS attacks on layer 7, Bad bots based on applied rules.
- It can be used for traffic filtering including IP and geographical filtering, Actions on HTTP/HTTPS traffic (allow/block), Regex and String match support.
Features of AWS WAF Features
In this section we’ll delve into the key features of AWS WAF. Here are the key features of the given:
1. Real-time Visibility
It monitors and gathers the raw requests and offers real-time analytics including IPs, geolocations, URIs(Uniform Resource Identifiers), User-Agent, and Relevant individuals.
2. Full Feature API
AWS WAF allows businesses to manage rules, as well as include rules into the design and development processes.
3. AWS Firewall Manager Integration
AWS Firewall Manager helps you to manage web application deployments over different AWS accounts.
4. Web traffic filtering
Amazon WAF helps you create clear guidelines for visitors depending on conditions that consist of IPs, HTTP headers, and body, or custom URIs. This provides you safety from attacks in third-party internet packages.
5. Bot control
It’s a group of managed rules that allows you to easily monitor and control common bot traffic with just a couple of clicks. This bot traffic can use too many resources and can lead to downtime.
6. Integration With Other AWS Services
AWS Firewall offers seamless integration with other AWS services like Amazon EC2, CloudFront, Load balancer, and more AWS services.
Benefits of AWS WAF
Now It’s time to cover the advantages of using this protection service.AWS WAF offers a wide range of benefits empowering you to secure your web applications. Here are some key advantages of using AWS WAF:
1. Protection against web attacks
AWS WAF enables you to react very faster with minimum latency when you are suffering from an attack or when any security issues occur. Its rules can inspect any element of a web request.
2. Easy deployment and maintenance
Deployment and maintenance process of AWS WAF is easy. It protects applications deployed on either Amazon CloudFront, Load Balancer, or Amazon API Gateway. There is no additional software needed to deploy, DNS configuration, or SSL/TLS certificates to manage.
3. Cost-effective
AWS WAF is available with cost effective prices. As-pay-as-you-go model is implemented for the pricing, meaning you have to only pay for the resources that you use.
4. Scalability
AWS WAF is tailored to control and manage high volume traffic and it can be scaled to meet your web application’s specific requirements.
5. Flexibility
AWS WAF has great flexibility features to define your application’s security policies that offer a wide range of options for creating custom rules for traffic filtering.
AWS WAF Architecture
Let’s take a quick look at the architecture of the AWS firewall and understand the key elements used in it.
Amazon Web Application Firewall architecture contains a couple of key components you need to know about such as AWS Firewall Manager, Amazon CloudFront, Load Balancer, AWS API Gateway, and AWS APPSync.
AWS Firewall Manager
AWS Firewall Manager smoothly manages AWS WAF rules, AWS Shield Innovative safeguards, and Amazon VPC system services among numerous users and sources. This Firewall manager defines its policies and security measures throughout the profiles and assets.
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is used in any CDN(Content Delivery Networks) solutions to check when creating a web ACL.
Application Load Balancer
ALB in WAF is an elastic Load Balancing feature that allows you to design content-based entry and exit which can traverse EC2 services or containers.
Amazon API Gateway
AWS API Gateway is the feature that allows you to separate your client interface from your backend code. Using AWS WAF firewall you can safeguard your API Gateway against common attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
AWS AppSync
AWS AppSync is used for deploying Cloud hosting GraphQL backends in the AWS environments. Amazon WAF integration for GraphQL APIs is now available in AWS AppSync, making it easy to defend your APIs from common online attacks.
Working of AWS WAF
In this section, we will know how AWS WAF works. But before understanding the working it is important to know about some key components:
Web ACL
Web ACL stands for Web Access Control List. It is a set of rules that helps you to manage how an Amazon API Gateway API, Amazon CloudFront distribution, or AWS WAF Load Balancer reacts to web requests. A Web ACL can define up to 10 rules.
WAF Conditions
WAF Conditions are the conditions that define what AWS WAF needs to look for in web requests. Conditions include matching IPs, specific strings, or detecting SQL injections. You can create your rules by including these conditions to specify which requests need to allow, block, or count.
WAF Rules
WAF Conditions are part of WAF rules. If you combine several conditions in a rule, a request must meet all the conditions to be allowed or blocked.
WAF Managed Rules are predefined rules that protect your web applications from software vulnerabilities. So,to use them, set your WAF conditions, then combine them into WAF rules, which you then combine into a web ACL.
When your ACL is ready, link it to AWS CloudFront, Amazon API Gateway, Application Load Balancer or AppSync.
The working of AWS WAF includes three key steps:
- Create a policy: Firstly, it enables users to create their own rules for filtering web requests using a simple visual tool rule builder. Users can define these rules to detect illegal attempts.
- Block & Filter: Using these rules users can block or filter the web requests for each rule.
- Monitor Traffic: AWS WAF allows users to monitor the access of any request. They can use Cloud Watch or Amazon Kinesis for monitoring.
How to Create a Web ACL?
Now , we will go through the step-by-step process of creating Web ACL.
Step 1: Sign Up on AWS
First of all,you need to register on Amazon Web Services(AWS) to use all the AWS services, including AWS WAF-Web Application Firewall.
Step 2: Go to AWS WAF Page
To start with Amazon Web Application Firewall, go to the AWS WAF or WAF & shield in the AWS console.
Step 3: Create a Web ACL
On the AWS WAF page, you will see the option “ Create Web ACL”. Click on it.
Step 4: Enter ACL Name and Region
Enter “Web ACL Name” and select “Region”.Then enter Select “AWS resource to associate” in the dialogue box.Choose “Add” once you’ve determined which resource should be associated with the Web ACL. Press “Next.” Then define the filter condition for your Web ACL in order for your rules to work.
Step 5: Create Rules
Now, create rules using the conditions and define their activities such as Allow, block or count. And click on a default action you need. Then click on “Review and Create”.
Step 6: Review and Create
Finally, you will be redirected to review and create your page. Check again your conditions and rules and then click on “Confirm and create”.
This is the way you can create a Web ACL.
Choose SupportFly’s AWS Professional Services Consulting
While AWS WAF has established itself as a powerful protection tool for your web applications. Setting it up and managing it effectively might be challenging for you. Here comes the role of SupportFly’s Managed AWS Professional & Consulting Services. Our team of AWS experts can help you with:
- Assess Your Needs: We access your web applications to identify the best security measures and WAF configurations.
- Rule Creation: We help you create rules and define activities specifically tailored to your security needs.
- Seamless Integration: Our team ensures that your WAF setup is seamlessly integrated with multiple AWS resources.
- Management and Monitoring: We offer regular monitoring and management of your Amazon WAF setup to keep your applications securely working.
By choosing SupportFly, you can benefit from the full potential of AWS Web Application Firewalls while focusing on your core business operations. Our AWS experts ensure that your web applications are protected with minimum efforts.
Conclusion
Here in this comprehensive article, we have discussed what exactly AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) is. We have covered the most important pillar of AWS security, that is AWS WAF. We have also gone through its key features and benefits, architecture of WAF, and its key elements such as AWS Firewall Manager, Amazon Load Balancer, Amazon CloudFront, and Amazon API Gateways. We have understood how it works and how to create Web ACL.
