F5 Safeguards Applications with New Cloud-Based WAF Service
April 14, 2015
F5 extends Silverline services platform with industry-leading WAF capabilities to protect web applications, speed application deployments, and reduce application security costs
RSA Conference USA 2015
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV) today announced a new cloud-delivered managed service to defend against web application attacks and ensure compliance across dynamic cloud and data center environments. The Silverline™ Web Application Firewall service offering provides quick web application firewall (WAF) implementation and unified, scalable policy enforcement capabilities. The service also includes 24x7 support from highly specialized F5 security experts with the company’s Security Operations Center (SOC) resources.
As the latest addition to F5’s Silverline cloud-based application services platform, the new WAF offering is built on the award-winning capabilities of the company’s BIG-IP® Application Security Manager™ product.
F5 seamlessly provides leading WAF services in both on-premises and subscription-based cloud offerings. The company’s versatile, easy to deploy WAF solutions let organizations confidently incorporate cloud resources while protecting apps and data from increasingly sophisticated security attacks, risks, and vulnerabilities.
DETAILS
Historically, enforcing web application security and compliance policies across a variety of traditional and cloud environments has meant greater complexity, security gaps, and higher costs. As a result, a number of organizations choose to offload WAF administration and policy management, mitigating attacks that might otherwise lead to application downtime, revenue losses, and a damaged brand. Along with on-premises application protection, F5 now enables WAF functionality through an “as a Service” model to make it easy for organizations to quickly bolster their defenses. Advantages of the new Silverline WAF service include:
• Increased Speed and Effectiveness for Reliable WAF Deployments
The new WAF offering protects applications by capitalizing on F5’s leading security capabilities, demonstrated in independent performance testing from NSS Labs. F5 is able to leverage its proven security efficacy to protect against advanced layer 7 attacks (such as those based on geolocation, DDoS, SQL injection, zero-day threats, AJAX applications, JSON payloads, OWASP Top Ten, and others) in a convenient, cloud-based service. In addition, F5’s WAF solutions offer automated, self-learning capabilities in a highly customizable framework that takes advantage of programmable iRules® and iApps® technologies to rapidly respond and adapt to evolving threats.
• Streamlined Operations for Reduced Costs
Silverline WAF decreases operational expenses by outsourcing WAF policy management and compliance functions to F5’s highly specialized SOC resources. F5’s SOC experts are available 24x7 to build, configure, and fine-tune security policies. This approach helps eliminate false positives while protecting applications and data from known and emerging threats. In addition, F5’s proactive monitoring incorporates external intelligence to secure apps against IP threats. The service also provides access reports through a customer portal, giving organizations additional data to reference in making IT security decisions. F5’s service frees in-house personnel and budget for other projects by removing operational burdens without sacrificing overall application security.
• Consolidated Security Functions for Added Peace of Mind
With its integrated Silverline offerings, F5 provides a growing number of hybrid, on-premises, and cloud-delivered application security solutions, including focused solutions around WAF, DDoS Protection, IP Intelligence, and Secure Web Gateway Services. Looking forward, F5 will offer additional services from its BIG-IP product portfolio through the Silverline platform, giving customers freedom and flexibility in how they combine owned, hosted, and managed IT resources. In the context of broader infrastructures, customers will also be able to centralize policy control and orchestration capabilities through APIs and future integrations with F5 management solutions. |
