F5 launches cloud-based WAF service in EMEA

During F5 EMEA’s Agility 2015 conference in Edinburgh, F5 Networks has launched a new cloud-delivered managed service in EMEA to defend against web application attacks and ensure compliance across dynamic cloud and data centre environments.

According to F5 Networks, the new Silverline Web Application Firewall service offering provides web application firewall (WAF) implementation, and unified scalable policy enforcement capabilities. The service also includes 24×7 support from highly specialised F5 security experts with the company’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) resources. As the latest addition to F5’s Silverline cloud-based application services platform, the new WAF offering is built on the capabilities of the company’s BIG-IP Application Security Manager product.

Mark Vondemkamp, VP of Security and Silverline Technologies, F5 Networks, said, “With security needs outpacing the number of qualified WAF experts in the industry, many organisations find themselves under-protected. Silverline solutions expand F5’s fabric-based Synthesis framework to include cloud-delivered services—giving customers the benefit of F5 experts proactively looking after WAF functionality. This approach effectively makes F5 the application security IT engineer for the customer, providing internal personnel the opportunity to focus on other priorities.”

F5 now enables WAF functionality through an “as a Service” model to make it easy for organisations to quickly bolster their defenses. F5 also stated that the new Silverline WAF service has the capability to protect applications by capitalising on their security features. F5 is able to leverage its 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.

Silverline WAF decreases operational expenses by outsourcing WAF policy management and compliance functions to F5’s highly specialised SOC resources. F5’s SOC experts are available 24×7 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 organisations 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.

Through its Silverline offering, F5 also 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. Moving forward, F5 will be offering additional services from its BIG-IP product portfolio through the Silverline platform, which will give customers the flexibility of choosing how they combine owned, hosted, and managed IT resources. In the context of broader infrastructures, customers will also be able to centralise policy control and orchestration capabilities through APIs and future integrations with F5 management solutions.