Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. Scalability: The solution must be able to scale easily to handle increasing web traffic and accommodate the growth of web applications. 2. Global Coverage: The WAF must have a global presence with multiple data centers strategically located around the world to ensure low latency and optimal performance for users in different regions. 3. Real-Time Threat Detection: The solution must have advanced threat detection capabilities to identify and mitigate a wide range of web application vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and remote file inclusion. 4. Bot Protection: The solution must offer bot protection mechanisms to detect and mitigate malicious bot traffic, including botnets, web scraping, and credential stuffing attacks. 5. Web Traffic Monitoring: The solution must provide real-time monitoring of web traffic, giving visibility into incoming and outgoing requests, traffic patterns, and potential security threats. 6. Customizable Security Policies: The solution must allow for creation and customization of security policies based on specific application requirements. This includes defining rules, whitelisting/blacklisting IP addresses, and implementing granular access controls. 7. Threat Intelligence Integration: The solution must integrate with threat intelligence services to leverage up-to-date information on known malicious IPs, URLs, and attack patterns. This integration enhances the effectiveness of threat detection and response. 8. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection: The solution must have built-in DDoS protection capabilities to detect and mitigate volumetric, application layer, and protocol-based DDoS attacks. 9. Web Application Firewall Rule Updates: The solution must have a robust and timely rule update mechanism to ensure protection against emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Regular updates must be provided by the vendor. 10. Compliance Support: The solution must support compliance with industry standards such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It must provide necessary features and controls to meet specific compliance requirements. 11. Security Analytics and Reporting: The solution must offer comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing insights into security events, attack attempts, and overall web application security posture. It must provide customizable reports and real-time alerts for efficient incident response. 12. Ease of Integration: The cloud-based solution must seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure, including web servers, load balancers, content delivery networks (CDNs), and other security solutions. 13. Performance and Availability: The solution must ensure minimal impact on web application performance while delivering high availability and reliability. It must have redundant architecture and failover mechanisms to prevent downtime. 14. API and Automation Support: The WAF must provide robust APIs and automation capabilities to facilitate seamless integration with DevOps and CI/CD processes, allowing for automated configuration and management. 15. 24/7 Support: The vendor must provide round-the-clock customer support, including technical assistance, incident response, and guidance for optimal configuration and usage of the solution.
