Fortinet FortiWeb Web Application Firewall WAF (PAYG)

The FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF)  is used when customers want to publish their sites and protect their internal public websites. Some customers ask to protect their AWS  or Azure  network, and during that time, we also suggest the web solution. In the network, we can use next-generation firewalls upstream or in flows wherever required, making it mandatory with the parameter-level layer security.

We focus on websites with FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) . Features such as anomaly input validation, XML protection, and API protection are already present, but we also need configuration settings that indicate the advantages or disadvantages of enabled features. If the GUI includes notifications and improved logging capabilities that allow us to see traffic and store logs for six months, that would be very helpful.

The features of FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) that have proven most effective in protecting web applications include web filtering, DDoS protection, geo-location blocking, and blocking SQL injection attacks.

The AI machine learning capabilities included in FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) analyze patterns effectively. For example, if any user tries to input any text format in a web form mistakenly using SQL queries, the web solution detects the input, checking whether it's impacting or analyzing queries in the database. Everything is analyzed to ensure protection.

Their AI technology is good. Overall, Fortinet is only good.

The improvement needed is in their response time. In the past three to four years, whenever we called for support, they responded quickly, often within five to ten minutes, and addressed our issues immediately. Now it takes longer, and they talk about SLA and 48-hour response times. Even with critical issues, they say, 'Okay, that ticket is assigned; we need to wait for their update in four hours or two hours,' which is taking too long now.

If there are issues, we need to contact the development team since we don't have configurations we can do ourselves; most features or configurations are managed by the development team. The graphical user interface looks difficult to understand, as other products allow us to see all features in one place.

The AI in FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) is just a checkmark option. To use machine learning features, we only need to enable or disable it. However, we must check how useful it is in real-time environments to determine how it protects or identifies threats.

There are features like web filtering, DDoS protection, geo-location blocking, SQL injection blocking, anomaly input validation, XML protection, and API protection already present, however, we also need configuration settings that indicate the advantages or disadvantages of enabled features. If the GUI includes notifications and improved logging capabilities that allow us to see traffic and store logs for six months, that would be very helpful. Currently, we cannot see any logs for allow traffic or monitor daily traffic effectively, which requires external syslog servers or cloud subscriptions. If inbuilt larger logging capability is added, it would enhance usability, and features like clickable options to unblock or create exceptions would greatly assist customers in managing their websites.

I have been working with them for Five years.

The technical support by Fortinet is good. The back-end development team is available, and if any issue arises, they will help us immediately by providing solutions when contacted.

Positive

The pricing for FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) is reasonable. That said, it depends on how many websites we need to protect. The licensing is based on the number of websites or individually. If the customer has multiple websites, the price reduces automatically since it depends on the number only. If the customer wants to buy initially, there is a default license available.

When going for multiple websites, the price also reduces.

I am providing next-generation firewalls or FortiWeb Web Application Firewalls (WAF).

Both web application firewalls and next-generation firewalls are available, which we are doing daily.

I usually recommend the FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) for various types of companies, including retail, hospitals, manufacturing, construction, and banking.

It is the best option on the market.

I rate FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF) eight out of ten.

I mentioned that the firewalls, such as the one from Fortinet, help protect my infrastructure from outside attacks. They perform a lot of network scanning and do not allow any unauthorized person to access my details and data. That's their application. A similar action is performed by the web application firewall, where web applications are restricted to certain users. This means that not anyone with malicious intent can access my web application content.

The good thing about Fortinet is that their enablement is very good in terms of training me and enabling resources on their technology. 

Secondly, if I look at their pricing, Fortinet's pricing is way more competitive than Cisco or Palo Alto. They have almost 45% share in the firewall market, as per IDC. Fortinet is a large-sized company where their channel program is very robust and very flexible. They also understand the different personas of the channel stakeholders. In that way, they are rapidly growing in the channel ecosystem space and have started getting a lot of business. They are replacing many big traditional players in that space.

There are some issues pertaining to the migration. If some of my customers want to migrate from F5 to Fortinet Firewall , or the Fortinet WAF  solution, there are some migration issues since I cannot migrate all the elements quickly using Fortinet Firewall . There is some integration work required to do that.

I have been working with Fortinet for almost one year and eight or nine months.

Their support is truly exceptional when I compare it with similar large-sized companies. In that category, they are top-notch at this point in time.

Neutral

I was with SquadCast earlier.

F5 is a leader. They have some technical supremacy. F5 is more in demand, however, other players like Radware are also available in the market.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten at least. 

FortiWeb is used for web application protection. It protects a web application against attacks targeting their web applications, such as cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and other common application-specific attacks.

FortiWeb allows the organization to operate efficiently without any downtime or serious security breach.

FortiWeb has a very extensive library of known attack signatures, which makes the product fit for any environment, regardless if the customer uses Windows-specific or non-Windows-specific applications. It also has a very low rate of false positives and incorporates other FortiGuard capabilities, such as detection of botnet traffic.

For users not familiar with Fortinet, it could be beneficial to provide more user-friendly analytics and reporting. The product could offer better capabilities and analytics to pinpoint threat landscapes more efficiently.

I have been working with FortiWeb for approximately four years, maybe more.

FortiWeb has proven to be very stable and does not introduce latency in the network.

The product can scale according to the organization's traffic and architecture. It is available as a virtual appliance and a hardware appliance.

Fortinet provides very good support, which I would rate as eight out of ten.

Positive

At the moment, we are only working with Fortinet and not with other web application firewalls.

Someone without prior experience with the product might find it challenging to deploy. However, Fortinet provides good online training to assist administrators.

The total cost of ownership should be calculated based on the actual protection it offers to the application. Deploying FortiWeb can save 20% to 30% of resources within the organization.

FortiWeb uses a subscription-based license, but there is also an option for a perpetual license. It's not the cheapest solution. That said, it is worth the investment.

I have experience with other web application products.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Our company provides data center and cloud services as infrastructure providers. When customers need infrastructure like VMs or server allocation, we provide them with the vendor and offer services to operate, manage, implement, and integrate these security components.

The most valuable feature is the tool's integration with load-balancing applications, similar to FortiADC. Its importance depends on customer requirements, such as whether they prioritize application load balancing or layer seven protection.

Regarding areas for improvement, the documentation needs work. We had issues with a customer because the documentation didn't clearly show which devices can connect with FortiWeb WAF, leading to misconfiguration and difficult meetings. We also need deeper technical support - finding who's responsible for technical aspects is challenging. Hungary has a good Fortinet office with strong sales and pre-sales employees.

I have been using the product for four to five years. 

I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten. 

It's not good with normal perpetual licensing, but we can solve the problem using flex licensing. That's why I'd rate it nine out of ten. We're satisfied with it. Many of our customers, including small, medium, and enterprise businesses, use FortiWeb WAF.

I rate the tool's deployment ease as seven out of ten. We have spent about 600 working hours to implement it. 

The product provides very good prices to customers. The price is set well and offers great value for money.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. I advise others looking to use FortiWeb WAF to create deeper policy rules.