App firewall helps counter DDoS threats

Application firewalls can better weed out bad requests and help businesses prevent denial-of-service attacks just as those inflicted on PayPal, Visa and MasterCard from happening, says a security expert who as well expects to see a security "revolution" take place in cloud computing.

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Vladimir Yordanov, director of research at F5 Networks, explained that with 80 percent of attacks hitting Web apps these days, traditional protection just as the conventional perimeter system firewall offers very little protection. Such systems are the reason why DDoS-type attacks are successfully executed to compromise Web sites and payment systems, he added. "Tradition systems, just as intrusion prevention or intrusion detection systems, cannot block effective requests as these are not easily detected. The attacks targeting coding or browser flaws are normally let through, and it is the application firewall's job to weed out bad traffic," Yordanov noted while an one-on-one interview with ZDNet Asia on Monday.

According to before reports, this series of attacks--codenamed "Operation Payback"--were initiated by supporters of jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose Web site has been shut down by Internet service providers, Web hosting companies and payment providers across the U.S. and Europe.

No foolproof solution Otherwise creating app firewalls, other forms of protection that enterprises could look at include "clean pipes" from ISPs that filter out bad traffic and putting in place a high level network security, Yordanov pointed out. As well, enterprises can sanitize their protocols, ensure that all information needed to establish the connection is present previously allowing access, he added.

However, as security innovation is constantly evolving, hackers and cybercriminals have managed to find ways to compromise systems, and this is made worse by the increasing access of networks from mobile devices. Yordanov let on that the more dispersed a workforce is, the greater risk of an attack, which is currently a situation that criminals are exploiting.

The F5 director noted that during shutting down the system is helpful, the option is suited only for enterprises with enough manpower to constantly monitor Web traffic. Cloudy security prospects When quizzed on the level of security for cloud computing, the IT expert expressed pessimism at the current situation, however said things will improve given time.

The industry is on the whole at an early stage

He went on to say that the industry is on the whole at an early stage, to put it more exactly like e-commerce when it first started. The executive expects to see a similar "revolution" within cloud computing to spur adoption, even though.

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