In a recent OWASP meeting I gave an overview presentation on how WAFs interact with cloud computing, both utilizing the cloud and protecting cloud based applications. I have discussed the following scenarios:

It was only a matter of time before someone creates an in the cloud WAF based on Amazon cloud computing services. Art of defence, one of the early WAF in the cloud solution provider. has won the innovation race this time.

As usual, RSA is the time of year companies choose for major announcements. The WAF announcements this year focus, following the general computing trend, around cloud computing:

• Art of Defense, a WAF vendor from Germany, has launched its SaaS WAF solution which target mostly service providers and SaaS vendors.
• Savvis, a web hosting turning into cloud services company, has added WAF in the cloud offering based on Imperva SecureSphere WAF.
• SecureWorks, a managed security services provides, announced full management for Imperva SecureSphere and monitoring for other WAFs.

Two challenges facing WAFs in the cloud are bandwidth and complexity.