1 min read · Oct 26, 2023
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Azure offers two distinct security services: Azure Firewall and Web Application Firewall (WAF). Azure Firewall is a cloud-native design tailored for Azure Virtual Network resources, functioning as a stateful firewall. It inspects both east-west (within the network) and north-south (in and out of the network) traffic. With built-in high availability, it offers unrestricted cloud scalability and integrates with Azure Firewall Manager. On the other hand, Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) is designed to shield web applications from prevalent exploits. It operates as an application-level firewall, focusing on web application traffic. Its high availability and scalability depend on the deployment method. WAF integrates with Azure services like Azure Application Gateway, Azure Front Door, and Azure CDN. While Azure Firewall emphasizes stateful capabilities and traffic inspection, WAF specializes in defending against common web vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
For a comprehensive comparison and understanding of Azure Firewall and WAF, please refer to the original article.