Web Application Firewall Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The web application firewall market is growing at a CAGR of 16.92% during the forecast period. The current trend is to merge the ability of network vulnerability scanners with the toolkits for the web application security space. This allows the ability to use data from one level and drive a more focused approach for the other level.

Key Highlights

• The rising incidences of cyber theft, fraud, and stringent government laws related to data and cyber security are expected to propel market expansion. Furthermore, in today's corporate, government, and educational sectors, web-based apps and services have transformed the nature of information delivery and interchange. Because of the cheap availability of information and the variety of web services and web-based services, the firewall market is being increasingly relied upon for greater integration of internal information systems.
• Specific business and government laws, expressly or implicitly, demand the deployment of a WAF (Web Application Firewall) solution to deploy. For example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is a well-known and significant standard that promotes WAF use. WAF capability can be implemented in software or hardware and run on an appliance device or a standard server with a common operating system.
• Additionally, organizations with online retailing and banking platforms mainly utilize WAFs to secure their operations and protect consumers' sensitive data. Furthermore, the healthcare industry's increased usage of firewalls is boosting the market. Through Wi-Fi-enabled equipment and other linked devices, WAFs help prevents unwanted access to essential healthcare networks and electronic patient records.
• However, web application firewalls face two significant challenges: cost and performance. Because these tools monitor all incoming and outgoing information at the application layer, performance is frequently a concern. Each protocol, such as HTTP and SMTP, has its proxy program, and new network applications and protocols can take a long time to gain support.
• Due to exceptional circumstances, the COVID-19 epidemic has spurred demand for web application firewall solutions during the previous two years. For example, many businesses are refocusing their security efforts on endpoint protection for work-from-home systems. Additionally, company security teams lack the resources to solve numerous online application security challenges, raising the market for an efficient web application firewall.

Key Market Trends

Healthcare Sector to Witness Significant Growth

• Firewalls are the first line of defense for every healthcare network and protect EHRs (Electronic Health Records) and protected health information (PHI) from malware and other cyber attacks.
• Healthcare organizations have more than just computers and smartphones accessing the network. Connected medical devices are Wi-Fi enabled and network usage to collect patient data and monitor health. While hackers may not get the information they are looking for directly from connected medical devices, they can use these devices using remote network access as a means to access the entire network freely. Medical devices are often overlooked as a cyber security vector because they may lack traditional interfaces associated with accessing the network.
• Healthcare firewalls have to cover more ground than other industries because of the value of EHRs and clinical data since there are numerous ways hackers can gain unauthorized access to the network.
• In 2021, Verizon analyzed 849 incidents, 571 of which had confirmed data exposure, and discovered that web applications were the most common vector. The confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of healthcare applications, systems, data, and resources may be affected by web application attacks targeted at healthcare organizations.
• Mount Sinai, a health care company, chose the Barracuda CloudGen WAF based on a solid recommendation from Microsoft that emphasized the convenience of use and intuitiveness of the user interface without sacrificing the feature set. With the help of this technology, the health care company can use a mix of HTTP and HTTPS to secure web and mobile applications in the cloud, in particular Mount Sinai's six apps and patient portals.

North America Holds the Largest Share in Web Application Firewall Market

• Regarding technological breakthroughs and usage, North America dominates the global web application firewall industry. It has a well-equipped infrastructure as well as the economic means to engage in web application firewall solutions. Furthermore, the market growth is predicted to be fueled by an increase in defense industry investments, along with technological advancements in the telecommunications industry during the forecast period. The web application firewall (WAF) market is driven by government regulations on data security.
• It is primarily due to a rise in the number of investments committed in research and development (R&D) activities by established economies that have boosted security technology improvements. North America is regarded as the most advanced region for technological adoption and infrastructure due to the presence of cyber security vendors and developed countries, such as the United States and Canada. On the other hand, the growing IoT trend, as well as increased internal and external threats, are luring businesses to use WAF solutions and driving the WAF market forward.
• North America is regarded as the most advanced region for technology adoption and infrastructure due to security breach occurrences and the existence of cyber security vendors. In the region, threat awareness is a key economic and security challenge. In recent years, the growing concern over the security of sensitive data has resulted in more government intervention.
• North America is leading in terms of the higher presence of security vendors. North America is the most advanced region for cyber security technology adoption and infrastructure due to developed countries, such as the United States and Canada.
• The market is projected to be driven by services, such as security information and cloud applications. Furthermore, the presence of industry players, like Imperva, F5, Akamai, Citrix, Barracuda, and Fortinet, as well as a diverse product portfolio, help to fuel the market in this region. Furthermore, the market players are likely to benefit from the increase related to artificial intelligence and web application usage. Furthermore, the entry of new industry players is expected to boost market growth during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The web application firewall is a fragmented market. Currently, the number of web application attacks is increasingly creating new spaces for the players, and the existing players are segmented into business enterprises as small, medium, and large sectors. The high rivalry is among small and medium players, which the competitive rivalry is high in the market. Key players are Akamai Technologies Inc., F5 Networks Inc., Barracuda Networks Inc., Imperva, Inc., etc.

• May 2022 - Barracuda Networks' Barracuda Cloud Application Protection has added automated API Discovery and GraphQL security capabilities to prevent outages and make it simple to grow the use of web application firewalls. The combination of the Venafi Trust Protection Platform and the Barracuda Web Application Firewall enables the continuously automating machine identity management for TLS certificates.
• March 2022 - According to Cloudflare, its free plan users have been entitled to a free Web Application Firewall (WAF). Access to the WAF user interface, which includes a ruleset that can be used to block threats automatically, would be made available by the WAF. The Free Cloudflare WAF consists of a managed ruleset created to stop a wide range of common vulnerability attacks.
• May 2021 - Imperva, Inc has announced that it agreed to acquire CloudVector, a provider of advanced API security. With CloudVector, customers can discover, monitor, and protect all API traffic in any environment from exploits and breaches. This acquisition drives the company's vision for web application and API protection.

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