Application firewalls are on a higher level in the OSI model compared to traditional firewalls. This is due to the fact that you protect the application itself, which provides it with an extra layer of security. What differs a WAF from traditional firewalls is that it is a bit more ‘user friendly’. You don’t have to rewrite rules in it all of the time. If a new type of hacker attack is discovered you can update the WAF software with the attack signature, which enables it to learn the patterns of that traffic and block it. One could say that a WAF gives a more intelligent protection than traditional firewalls.

A WAF examines and filters traffic to web applications. It keeps track of communication between the client and server, and server and server when building advanced web applications. A WAF allows you to, on a very detailed level, control access and decide what traffic should be blocked. A WAF protects against some of the most common cyber attacks, including SQL injections, cross-site scripting and (D)DoS attacks.

Healthcare Sector to Witness Significant Growth. Firewalls are the first line of defense for every healthcare network and protect EHRs (Electronic Health Record) and protected health information (PHI) from malware and other cyber attacks. Healthcare organizations have more than just computers and smartphones accessing the network. Connected medical devices are Wi-Fi enabled and usage of the network to collect patient data and monitor health. While hackers may not get the information they are looking for directly from connected medical devices, they can use these devices by means of remote network access as a means to freely access the entire network. Medical devices are often overlooked as a cyber security vector because they may lack traditional interfaces associated with accessing the network. Healthcare firewalls have to cover more ground than firewalls in other industries because of the value of EHRs and clinical data, since there are numerous ways where hackers can gain unauthorized access to the network.

The trending WAF technologies are offering machine learning and artificial intelligence, which play vital roles in the WAF arena. WAF solutions and services can be deployed over an enterprise’s cyber infrastructure using hardware WAF appliances, virtual appliance-based systems, and cloud-based applications. The major vendors offering supporting services include system integration and training, along with support and maintenance, for a seamless transition and implementation of WAF solutions.

The web application firewall is a fragmented market. Currently, the number of web application attacks are increasingly creating new spaces for the players and the existing players are segmented in business enterprises as small, medium, and large sector. The high rivalry is in small and medium players, by which the competitive rivalry is high in the market. Key players are Akamai Technologies Inc., F5 Networks Inc., Barracuda Networks Inc., Imperva, Inc., etc.

The current trend is to merge the ability of network vulnerability scanners with the toolkits for the web application security space. This gives the ability to use data found from one level and drive a more focused approach for the other level. Web-based applications and services have changed the landscape of information delivery and exchange in today's corporate, government, and educational sectors. Due to the easy availability of information and the richness of web services, a higher reliance is placed on web-based services and firewall market for greater integration of internal information systems. Certain industry and government regulations require the deployment of a WAF (Web Application Firewall) solution, either explicitly or implicitly. For example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is a well-known and important regulation that drives WAF adoption in the market. WAF functionality can be implemented in software or hardware, running in an appliance device, or in a typical server running a common operating system. The main challenge to web application firewalls are cost and performance. Performance is often an issue because these tools inspect all incoming and outgoing traffic at the application layer. Each protocol, such as HTTP, SMTP, etc., requires its own proxy application, and support for new network applications and protocols can become slow to emerge.