Application gateway with web application firewall.

In recent times, web application hosting in cloud has become very popular, since cloud provides all the necessary services required for hosting a web app and makes it easier compared to traditional web hosting. Web application security has become increasingly important as the web applications can be attacked (or) hacked (or) exploited for reasons like data breaching. Already existing systems like proxies and honey pots are no longer enough to ensure secure access to networks or clouds A Web Application Firewall (WAF), provides web security for web applications by protecting them from malicious attacks such as SQL Injection, CSS Cross Scripting etc. Cloud based WAFs have advanced detection capabilities that protect web applications against major attacks including the OWASP Top 10. Unlike a standard firewall, which acts as a barrier between external and internal network traffic, WAF protects web applications by targeting the HTTP traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]