AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) is a security service that helps protect web applications from common web exploits and vulnerabilities. It provides several key features and resources, including developer guides, API references, managed rules, and fraud control strategies. Below is a detailed overview of the available resources and features of AWS WAF.
Key Features of AWS WAF
- Access Control: AWS WAF allows you to monitor HTTP and HTTPS requests to your web applications. You can control access based on specific conditions such as IP addresses, request headers, or query string values. You can either allow, block, or count requests based on these conditions (AWS Documentation) (AWS Documentation).
- Rule Management: AWS WAF supports both custom rules and managed rules. Managed rules are pre-configured and provided by AWS or third-party sellers from the AWS Marketplace, offering protection against common threats like OWASP vulnerabilities, bots, and CVEs. These rules can be integrated with your custom rules for enhanced security (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
- Rate-based Rules: These rules help mitigate web-layer DDoS attacks, brute force login attempts, and bad bots by limiting the number of requests allowed from a single IP address within a specified time frame. You can also exempt certain high-traffic IP ranges from these rate limits (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
- GeoIP Blocking: AWS WAF can block requests based on the geographic location of the incoming requests, using a highly accurate IP address to country mapping database (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
- Real-time Metrics and Monitoring: AWS WAF integrates with Amazon CloudWatch to provide real-time metrics and monitoring. It also offers visibility into sampled web requests, allowing you to see which requests were blocked or allowed and why (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
Documentation and API References
- Developer Guide: The AWS WAF Developer Guide provides comprehensive information on configuring and using AWS WAF, including creating and managing web ACLs and rules (AWS Documentation).
- API Reference: AWS WAF API Reference includes detailed information about API actions, data types, and errors. This is particularly useful for developers who need to integrate AWS WAF with their applications programmatically (AWS Documentation).
- Migration to AWS WAFv2: AWS WAFv2 offers significant improvements over the original version, including a unified API for both global and regional applications, simplified rule management, and better cost management through rule capacity settings (AWS Documentation).
Additional Resources
- Videos and Webinars: AWS provides various videos and webinars on AWS WAF, covering topics from basic introductions to advanced bot control and fraud prevention strategies (AWS Documentation).
- AWS Shield and Firewall Manager: For enhanced protection, AWS offers AWS Shield Advanced for additional DDoS protection and AWS Firewall Manager for centralized management of firewall rules across multiple accounts and resources (AWS Documentation).
- Account Takeover Prevention (ATP): AWS WAF includes ATP, a managed rule group designed to monitor and prevent unauthorized access to user accounts through credential stuffing and brute force attacks (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
- FAQs: The AWS WAF FAQs provide quick answers to common questions about configuration, rule management, visibility features, and integration with other AWS services (Amazon Web Services, Inc.).
These resources provide a comprehensive set of tools and documentation to help you effectively implement and manage AWS WAF for your web applications. For more detailed information, you can visit the AWS WAF resources page on the AWS website.