Conclusion

From our experience, Antibot can block up to 90% of malicious requests targeting an application.

WAFs, on the other hand, are effective for refining traffic and protecting against targeted attacks, hacking attempts, and threats from the OWASP Top 20 and API Security Top 20.

Don’t choose between WAF and Antibot — they complement each other. To achieve robust protection, test and implement both solutions as part of a comprehensive security strategy.

An antibot solution blocks all malicious automation before requests reach the web application or firewall. This minimizes WAF costs and significantly reduces the number of events that need to be processed.

Antibot solutions are essential for mitigating automated threats, such as those outlined in OWASP Automated Threats to Web Applications and API Security Top 20, vulnerability scanners, targeted attack scripts, and zero-day threats.

Antibot is not a substitute for WAF

A WAF (Web Application Firewall) only blocks what matches its malware signature database or adheres to rules configured by the administrator. Anything else is considered legitimate and allowed through to the web server.

For efficient query-by-query analysis under high loads, a WAF requires significant performance capacity. Without this, it may degrade or crash due to the large number of TCP connections that must be maintained in memory. As such, a WAF should not be relied on as the sole means of protection against DDoS attacks and bots.

WAF is not a substitute for Antibot

Table with comparison

For each request, Antibot constructs a vector of factors, evaluates its legitimacy, and determines whether the request originates from a bot or a human. Malicious requests are then blocked, even if the bot is not present in the database. Unlike traditional WAFs, Antibot does not rely on signature updates or server logs to make its decisions.

How Antibot works

Antibot, on the other hand, uses multi-factor analysis of incoming requests, leveraging technical metrics and behavioral patterns rather than relying solely on predefined signatures.

The WAF analyzes the content of requests sent to the application, comparing them to a database of known signatures (predefined indications that a request is malicious). If no matching signature is found, the WAF typically allows the request to pass. Additionally, when an application is under attack, the firewall requires time to filter the malicious traffic.

How WAF works

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is designed to protect web applications from targeted attacks, such as attempts to exploit vulnerabilities or flaws in application code to access sensitive data.

There are many types of attacks, each with distinct functionalities. As such, the countermeasures must also differ

IS WAF enough?

Anna Nigmati

Business Development Manager at Secwell

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