A WAF, or Web Application Firewall, acts as a security filter between users and web applications, blocking malicious requests in real time before reaching the backend.
A typical WAF can block common web attacks, detect bots, rate-limit requests, log suspicious traffic, and apply custom rules to safeguard APIs.
WAFs work as reverse proxies, inspecting every request and response to match against security rules, including signature-based detection and heuristic analysis.
It is crucial to use a WAF, especially for publicly accessible apps, as an additional layer of protection against exploits, despite following security guidelines and writing secure code.