F5 Named an Overall Leader in KuppingerCole Leadership Compass for WAF 2022

Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) continue to evolve and have become a critical must-have for enterprises battling ongoing cyber threats.

The number of vulnerabilities and app or API-related attacks continues to rise. NIST.gov highlighted that approximately 18,378 categorized vulnerabilities were reported last year; however, the total number of vulnerabilities in 2021 was 25,646 (clearly much higher than the reported figure). In the last year, we’ve witnessed vulnerabilities like Log4j impact many organizations—this is where WAF solutions provide a sense of protection for apps and APIs.

KuppingerCole evaluated many vendors for core WAF capabilities, API protection, bot management, DDoS protection, as well as Admin & DevOps support. F5 was named an Overall Leader, Product Leader, Innovation Leader, and Leading Vendor in the Leadership Compass.

F5 received positive remarks for product, market presence, and strategy. F5 scored high for attributes including API protection, core WAF capabilities, bot management, DDoS protection, and Admin & DevOps support.

The report acknowledged F5’s API security as “capable of securing REST/JSON, XML, GraphQL, and GWT API protocols” and how “BIG-IP Advanced WAF also provides a declarative API or JSON that can be introduced within a CI/CD pipeline for shift-left security” to enhance development and app security.

Advanced WAF’s threat intelligence services like Threat Campaigns and Leaked Credential Check also were noted by KuppingerCole. The report highlights, “Credential protection prevents credential theft associated with application-level credential encryptions.” While vulnerabilities such as Log4j continue to be an issue across the industry, F5 quickly released Threat Campaigns for active Log4j exploitations within four days of the vulnerability being released.

KuppingerCole also called out F5’s different deployment options to match customers’ preferred consumption and operational models. The report mentions, “Good deployment model options are given since the same WAF engine is used in other solutions,” and “WAF delivery includes containers and microservices, serverless, cloud, and on-premises options.”

F5’s app-layer DoS protection also received positive remarks. F5’s DDoS protection monitors application stress and adapts to changes in real-time, with behavioral analysis through machine learning and dynamic signatures mitigating attacks automatically.  

Please reach out to your Account Manager to evaluate the F5 WAF delivery model that best meets your application and API security needs.

Here’s a link to F5’s press release on the report or take a look at KuppingerCole’s report here.