#Zuplo + WAF/DDoS Services
A common setup for customers using Zuplo (or any API Gateway) is how to setup a WAF and DDoS protection in front of their API Gateway. Because Zuplo is deployed to the edge (meaning lots of different locations all around the world close to your customers), it is important that your WAF/DDoS services also support edge-based deployments. Configuring a legacy WAF solution that runs in one or only a few data centers in front of Zuplo will result in increased latency and suboptimal experiences for your end users. This document outlines the various strategies as well as the recommended setup for several popular services.
When picking WAF + DDoS services to run in front of your Zuplo API Gateway consider the following:
- What level of customization do you require for your WAF + DDoS? If common configurations are enough, consider Zuplo Managed WAF + DDoS.
- Is your WAF/DDoS service also deployed at the edge?
- How can you ensure that requests cannot bypass your WAF/DDoS and make requests directly to your API Gateway?
#Zuplo Managed WAF + DDoS
Customers on Zuplo’s enterprise plans have the option to use our managed WAF + DDoS products. All public entry points for Zuplo API Gateways are terminated with Cloudflare. We use Cloudflare to issue SSL Certificates, DNS, and networking. Zuplo’s managed security services are built on top of Cloudflare’s powerful solutions for WAF and DDoS.
Zuplo’s managed WAF + DDoS allows for customers to choose several levels of protection on their Gateway as well as enable protection for common threats such as zero-day vulnerabilities, OWASP rules for common attacks like SQL injection, and more. Zuplo’s managed security services are a good fit for customers who need common protections, but don’t want to manage specific rules and configurations.
If you require the ability to finely control your WAF Rules we recommend using your own solution in front of Zuplo.
If you are interested in using Zuplo’s Managed WAF + DDoS services contact our sales team today.
#Cloudflare WAF + DDoS
Cloudflare is the easiest solution for custom WAF + DDoS in front of your Zuplo API Gateway. Because Zuplo is already terminated with Cloudflare, the integration is seamless and requires virtually zero configuration. Simply point your Cloudflare managed domain to Zuplo and you are protected. You can fully customize your WAF, firewall, DDoS or any other security configuration offered by Cloudflare. When a request comes into Cloudflare, it will be routed first through your account’s configuration, then will be sent to your Zuplo API Gateway. The same thing happens on the outbound as well.
A custom domain configured on Zuplo that utilizes Cloudflare DNS is completely protected from requests bypassing your WAF and hitting Zuplo directly. Additionally, because your WAF and DDoS are in the same edge locations that Zuplo uses to terminate our endpoints, there will be no additional latency.
#Fastly Next-Gen WAF (powered by Signal Sciences)
Fastly’s next-gen WAF is another good edge-based solution for WAF/DDoS protection. Fastly can be configured with minimal setup to work with Zuplo. Because Fastly is most of the same edge locations as Cloudflare (while they don’t disclose this, we suspect that in many cases they are often in the same physical colo data centers) there will be virtually no additional latency using the two products together.
#AWS Shield + AWS WAF + Cloudfront
AWS offers DDoS (Shield) and WAF products that run at Cloudfront edge locations. This is another good option for edge-based WAF/DDoS protection in front of your Zuplo API Gateway. AWS Cloudfront is also in hundreds of edge locations that are very close to Cloudflare locations (again, this isn’t something either company discloses, but we suspect there is significant overlap in the physical locations used by AWS and Cloudflare).
For more information on AWS Shield and WAF, see the following links: