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AWS Web Application Firewal(WAF)

Ecommerce Use Cases

1. Protection Against Common Web Exploits (OWASP Top 10)

  • Use Case: Mitigate common web application vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) that can compromise the e-commerce application.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF's built-in rules to detect and block these common threats, ensuring that the web application remains secure and compliant with security best practices.

2. Bot Protection

  • Use Case: Prevent malicious bots from scraping product information, automated purchases (scalping), or running brute force login attempts.
  • Solution: AWS WAF can detect patterns typical of bots and block or challenge them using CAPTCHA. You can also customize rules to identify and mitigate unwanted bot traffic.

3. Rate Limiting to Prevent DDoS Attacks

  • Use Case: Protect the e-commerce website from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that overwhelm the server with traffic, causing slow performance or downtime.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF to set rate-based rules to limit the number of requests from a single IP address or user, mitigating the effects of DDoS attacks and ensuring application availability.

4. Virtual Patching

  • Use Case: Quickly respond to newly discovered vulnerabilities in third-party plugins or custom code without deploying a software patch.
  • Solution: Use custom AWS WAF rules to block traffic targeting the vulnerability until a patch can be deployed, providing a virtual patching mechanism to protect the e-commerce application.

5. Protection Against Account Takeover Attacks

  • Use Case: Prevent attackers from using stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts, potentially compromising sensitive information.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF to implement rules that detect and block login attempts from suspicious IP addresses or regions. AWS WAF can also be integrated with Amazon Cognito for more robust account security.

6. Custom Security Rules for Sensitive Data Exposure

  • Use Case: Prevent exposure of sensitive data, such as customer credit card numbers, through data leaks or unsecured API endpoints.
  • Solution: Create custom AWS WAF rules to inspect request payloads and block requests containing sensitive information patterns, such as credit card numbers or personally identifiable information (PII).

7. Prevent Price Manipulation and Fraudulent Activities

  • Use Case: Prevent attackers from manipulating requests to alter product prices or quantities in their shopping cart to commit fraud.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF to inspect HTTP requests and block those that attempt to modify parameters like product price, using patterns outside the normal behavior expected for the application.

8. Mitigate Spam and Abuse

  • Use Case: Block malicious users from spamming product reviews, comment sections, or registration forms.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF to set rules that filter and block repeated unwanted activities based on request patterns, IP addresses, or user-agent strings.

9. Protection Against Zero-Day Attacks

  • Use Case: Guard the application against new and unknown threats before a patch or fix is available.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF's anomaly detection capabilities and custom rules to monitor traffic patterns and block abnormal activities that could indicate a zero-day attack.

10. Restrict Access to Specific Geographic Regions

  • Use Case: Limit access to the application to certain countries to comply with business requirements or regulatory restrictions.
  • Solution: Use AWS WAF’s geolocation matching to block traffic from specific geographic regions or countries.

11. Monitor and Log Traffic for Analysis

  • Use Case: Track and log web traffic to understand user behavior, monitor for potential threats, and improve security posture.
  • Solution: Integrate AWS WAF with Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail to monitor, log, and analyze incoming traffic, enabling proactive threat identification and response.