What outcome is a typical purpose of employing a WAF?

Employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) serves the critical purpose of protecting web applications from various attacks and threats. A WAF acts as a security barrier that monitors, filters, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web application, helping to defend against common vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other web-based attacks. By analyzing incoming traffic and enforcing rules regarding what is allowed or deemed suspicious, a WAF can prevent exploitation attempts before they reach the web application, thereby securing the application and its data from potential breaches.

While reducing server loading times, analyzing network traffic, and managing user sessions are important aspects of overall web infrastructure and security management, they do not encapsulate the primary function of a WAF. A WAF’s main objective is centered around application security, which is crucial in the increasingly hostile landscape of cyber threats targeting web applications.