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Azure WAF is a cloud-based firewall service that filters and monitors HTTP traffic to and from a web application. It operates according to a set of rules that help protect apps against attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other common threats outlined in the OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) top 10 vulnerabilities.
Create an Application Gateway:
Define HTTP Settings and Listeners:
Configure Rules and Custom Protection Policies:
Monitor and Log WAF Activity:
Example: Suppose you’re deploying an e-commerce site and want to ensure it’s protected against SQL injection attacks. You’d create an Application Gateway with WAF, configure the backend pool to your web app, set up a listener for HTTPS, and enable the SQL injection rule within the WAF rule set.
Create an Azure Front Door:
Enable WAF on Azure Front Door:
Customize WAF Rules and Managed Rulesets:
Logging and Monitoring:
Example: For a globally distributed web application, you may leverage Azure Front Door with integrated WAF policies. Upon setting up, you enable bot protection and rate limiting to prevent DDoS attacks while logging all threat detections for review and compliance.
Feature | Application Gateway WAF | Front Door WAF |
---|---|---|
Traffic Routing | Regional | Global |
OWASP Rule Set | Yes | Yes |
Custom Rules | Yes | Yes |
Managed Rules | Yes | Yes |
Protection Scenarios | Standard Web App Attacks | Same + DDoS |
Scaling | Autoscaling | Built-in Autoscaling |
TLS Termination | Frontend IP | Frontend Host |
Session Affinity | Supported | Supported |
Integrated CDN | No | Yes |
Whether you choose Application Gateway or Front Door for your WAF, the steps to set up protection for web apps are quite similar. Both solutions offer robust security features and the flexibility to define custom rules that match your organization’s needs. Integrated logging and monitoring capabilities ensure that any potential threats or anomalies are noted, enabling swift response and mitigation measures.
Answer: B) Azure Application Gateway
Explanation: Azure Application Gateway provides the Web Application Firewall (WAF) feature that protects web applications from common vulnerabilities and exploits.
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure WAF can be configured on Azure Application Gateway, Azure Front Door, and Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) to provide centralized protection of your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities.
Answer: A) They allow you to create rules based on geographical location. C) They can be used to block or allow specific IP addresses.
Explanation: Custom rules in Azure WAF provide the ability to create tailored rules to block or allow traffic based on certain conditions, such as geographic location or specific IP addresses. The set of rules is not fixed and it’s not exclusive to Azure Application Gateway.
Answer: C) SQL Injection
Explanation: Azure WAF provides rule sets that are designed to protect web applications from common threats such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other web vulnerabilities.
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure WAF on Azure Front Door supports both managed rule sets provided by Microsoft and custom rules defined by the user.
Answer: A) Regular updates and patches. B) Pre-configured settings for protection against common threats.
Explanation: Managed Rule Sets in Azure WAF provide regularly updated and pre-configured rules to address common threats such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other vulnerabilities.
Answer: C) Azure Application Gateway
Explanation: Azure Application Gateway supports Web Application Firewall (WAF) and can be configured with end-to-end SSL encryption to secure web applications.
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure WAF performs stateful inspection of traffic, allowing it to understand and track the state of network connections traversing it.
Answer: A) Core Rule Set (CRS) 1
Explanation: Azure Application Gateway WAF uses the OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set (CRS) 1 by default to provide protection against common web vulnerabilities.
Answer: A) Set custom rules. B) Define managed rules. C) Specify storage account for logs.
Explanation: With an Azure WAF policy, you can set custom rules, define managed rules, and specify a storage account for logs. JIT VM access is a feature of Azure Security Center and not directly related to Azure WAF.
Answer: False
Explanation: For Azure WAF to inspect HTTPS traffic, SSL termination must occur so that the WAF can inspect the unencrypted traffic. This process is often referred to as SSL offloading.
Answer: C) Threat intelligence
Explanation: Threat intelligence allows Azure WAF to learn from attacks on any site it protects and then use this to update its threat intelligence data and thereby provide protection across all sites it covers. Custom rules and managed rules are predefined or user-defined sets of rules; integrated vulnerability scanning is not a feature of Azure WAF.
A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a security feature that is designed to protect web applications from attacks.
Azure Application Gateway is a web traffic load balancer that enables you to manage traffic to your web applications.
Azure Front Door is a global, scalable entry point for web applications.
Azure Application Gateway is designed for web application load balancing and security, while Azure Front Door is designed for global HTTP load balancing and delivery.
The purpose of a WAF is to protect web applications from attacks by filtering and monitoring web traffic.
There are three types of WAF rules rule sets, custom rules, and managed rules.
A rule set is a predefined set of rules that is designed to protect web applications from known attack patterns.
Custom rules are user-defined rules that enable you to specify which requests are allowed and which are blocked.
Managed rules are preconfigured rules that are designed to protect web applications from common attack patterns.
The WAF policy in Azure Application Gateway is a collection of WAF rules and rule groups that can be applied to the gateway.
You can enable the WAF policy in Azure Application Gateway by creating a new WAF policy or selecting an existing policy.
The OWASP Core Rule Set (CRS) is a set of rules that are designed to protect web applications from known attack patterns.
The purpose of the WAF diagnostics logs is to provide information about the requests that are blocked or allowed by the WAF.
You can view the WAF diagnostics logs in the Azure portal or by using Azure Monitor.
The benefits of using WAF with Azure Application Gateway include protecting web applications from attacks, blocking malicious traffic, and providing visibility into web application traffic.
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