WAF
WAF
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
WAF stands for Web Application Firewall. It's a smart filter sitting in front of your web app that reads every HTTP request and blocks anything that looks malicious — SQL injections, XSS, weird bot traffic. Cloudflare's WAF is one of the most popular. A must-have for any public-facing app.
Real Talk
A WAF inspects HTTP/HTTPS requests and responses against a rule set to block malicious traffic. It can operate in detection mode (logging only) or prevention mode (actively blocking). WAFs can be deployed as reverse proxies, network appliances, or cloud services.
When You'll Hear This
"Enable the WAF in blocking mode for the production environment." / "The WAF's managed rule set covers OWASP Top 10 attacks."
Related Terms
DDoS (DDoS)
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is when thousands of computers flood your server with so much fake traffic that it can't handle real users.
Firewall
A firewall is the bouncer at your network's door. It checks every incoming and outgoing connection against a list of rules and blocks anything suspicious.
SQL Injection
SQL injection is when a hacker types SQL code into a text field instead of normal text, and your stupid database runs it.
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
A WAF is a smart firewall that understands web traffic.
XSS (XSS)
XSS stands for Cross-Site Scripting. Hackers inject their own JavaScript into your site so when other users visit, the evil script runs in their browser.