Are traditional security solutions enough to keep sensitive data secure? As cyber threats continue to advance and organizations race to keep up, it’s time to reassess whether conventional methods that once proved effective are still an adequate solution for protecting sensitive information.
Traditional security measures fall short in addressing the complex landscape of modern cyberattacks. No single tool is sufficient to protect a business today because most attacks are sophisticated, combining multiple strategies to maximize the damage they cause.
That’s where WAAP comes in. WAAP goes beyond traditional solutions to provide comprehensive data protection and privacy. In this article, we take a closer look at how WAAP helps organizations meet regulatory requirements and secure sensitive information.
The Link Between WAAP, Cyberattacks, and Data Protection Regulations
Web applications and APIs are prime targets for hackers due to their central role in today’s digital ecosystem. Cyberattacks can lead to significant data breaches, exposing sensitive information and causing major damage to a company’s reputation and finances. The types of cyberattacks your business might be contending with include:
- SQL injections: Malicious SQL code, a database language, is inserted into a database query, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data.
- Brute-force logins: Access to a system is achieved by trying many different passwords or passphrases until the correct one is found.
- API abuse: An API—rules that allow different software applications to communicate with each other—is misused or exploited in ways that the developers did not intend, often to access or manipulate data unlawfully.
WAAP solutions offer a strong defense against these threats and more. Market-leading WAAP solutions, like Gcore WAAP, combine advanced security measures like bot protection, anomaly detection, and machine learning-based threat analysis, WAAP protects applications and APIs from a wide range of attack methods. This thorough approach not only secures against known vulnerabilities but also adapts to new threats, providing comprehensive protection from data breaches.
Beyond preventing cyberattacks, WAAP plays a vital role in ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), PCI DSS, and HIPAA impose stringent requirements on how enterprises manage and protect data. Non-compliance can lead to large fines and damage to an organization’s reputation. WAAP solutions help organizations adhere to these regulations by implementing stringent security controls and ensuring that the required data privacy principles are upheld.
How WAAP Helps Protect Data
WAAP solutions are designed to protect data on multiple levels, going beyond the capabilities of traditional security solutions to ensure that sensitive information stays secure throughout its lifecycle. Today’s cyber threats are sophisticated and often combine multiple attack methods to maximize damage. Let’s look at some key features of WAAP that contribute to data protection by addressing these complex threats.
Preventing Data Leaks
Data leakage prevention is essential for WAAP. Through vigilant monitoring and control of data flows, WAAP identifies and blocks unauthorized attempts to access or steal sensitive information. WAAP uses policies and algorithms to filter and cleanse inputs, neutralizing this threat.
Securing APIs
APIs are vital for contemporary applications, representing >80% of all web traffic, but present exploitation risks since they remain a “black hole” for most organizations. Often, there’s not enough mapping of which APIs are exposed and what data they actually reveal, plus there’s the challenge of shadow APIs—those that are undocumented and accidentally exposed. On top of that, managing permissions, privileges, and authentication can be challenging, and APIs are also vulnerable to common web threats like DDoS attacks and injections.
Cybercriminals may exploit APIs to access data illicitly or carry out malicious activities. WAAP safeguards APIs by enforcing stringent access controls, validating requests, and spotting anomalies indicative of attacks. This ensures that only legitimate requests are processed, protecting APIs from abuse and data breaches.
Blocking Malicious Bots
Malicious bots can perform a variety of harmful activities, such as scraping data, conducting brute-force attacks, or exploiting vulnerabilities. WAAP solutions use advanced behavioral analysis and machine learning techniques to differentiate between good and bad bots. By filtering out malicious bots while permitting beneficial ones, WAAP preserves web application integrity and prevents data theft.
Detecting Anomalies
The best WAAPs on the market employ machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect unusual patterns in web traffic and application behavior. This includes identifying signs of cyberattacks or data breaches. With a continual learning curve from past incidents and adaptation to new threats, leading WAAPs like Gcore WAAP delivers proactive protection against both familiar and novel vulnerabilities.
Meeting Data Protection Regulations
Complying with data protection regulations is more than just a legal necessity, it’s fundamental to fostering customer trust. WAAP solutions assist in meeting these requirements by delivering comprehensive data protection and real-time threat monitoring. GDPR mandates powerful security measures for personal data protection. In some cases, the extensive security features provided by WAAP may offer alignment with GDPR standards, enabling enterprises to prove compliance if they choose their WAAP provider wisely.
The Extent of Data Protection With WAAP
WAAP provides a formidable defense that significantly reduces breach risks. It addresses a broad array of attack techniques, from traditional SQL injections and brute-force logins to advanced zero-day exploits and API abuse. Its holistic defense mechanism means WAAP offers comprehensive protection for all application components, including web interfaces and APIs.
Choose Gcore WAAP for Comprehensive Data Security
Gcore WAAP sets itself apart with a seamless user experience and consistent protection, simplifying deployment while enhancing threat detection accuracy and response speed. Gcore WAAP leverages advanced machine learning and behavioral analysis to continuously learn from past incidents and adapt to new threats. This proactive approach allows it to detect unusual patterns in web traffic and application behavior swiftly, providing comprehensive protection against both known and novel vulnerabilities. By integrating multiple security measures, including bot protection, anomaly detection, and machine learning-based threat analysis, Gcore WAAP safeguards applications and APIs from a wide range of attack methods, ensuring robust and adaptive security.
Operating globally while maintaining data sovereignty, Gcore’s edge network, with over 180 global points of presence, allows businesses to serve customers worldwide while keeping data local. This approach streamlines compliance with complex local and regional regulations, ensuring low latency and high performance for users. Private and sovereign cloud options help ensure data sovereignty, keeping data within specific jurisdictions to comply with stringent data protection regulations like GDPR and the US Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. This capability is essential for highly secure organizations needing to maintain strict compliance while protecting sensitive data.
Gcore WAAP brings a unified, modern approach to data protection. It addresses common vulnerabilities and sophisticated threats cohesively, making it an industry-leading solution for advanced cybersecurity.
Embracing WAAP for Advanced Cybersecurity
In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, traditional WAFs are no longer enough. Companies need comprehensive WAAP solutions to protect their applications and APIs from sophisticated cyberattacks. WAAP provides a layered defense that addresses a wide range of threats, ensures data privacy, and helps meet regulatory requirements.
Gcore WAAP delivers an industry-leading approach to cybersecurity, delivering advanced, compliant protection that’s intuitive to use.
For more insights on how Gcore WAAP can secure your applications and APIs, look out for the next article in this series on why API protection is no longer optional for businesses.
