About this interactive
Web applications are attacked more than most applications, and they have to be reachable. A common design puts the web servers in a DMZ, or screened subnet, with the firewall opening a hole so people can get to them, while the internal network behind it stays protected differently.
The standard network firewall is good at what it decides on: addresses and ports. Traffic to a port that is not open, to the internal network, or from a blocked range never gets in. But once the web port is open, it lets web requests through without judging what is inside them.
A web application firewall (WAF) sits in front of the web servers and does judge them. It looks for certain kinds of behaviour and traffic aimed at the application, such as a denial-of-service attempt, and attack content carried inside ordinary requests, and stops it before it reaches the app. To decide a card, ask whether the threat comes in through the allowed web port.
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