Web application firewalls (WAFs) primarily protect against which type of attacks?

Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are specifically designed to monitor and filter HTTP traffic to and from a web application. Their primary role is to protect applications by enforcing security policies in real-time. The most common types of attacks that WAFs defend against include Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and SQL Injection.

XSS attacks occur when an attacker injects malicious scripts into content from otherwise trusted websites, and a WAF can filter out potentially harmful requests containing these scripts. SQL Injection is a specific type of attack that allows an attacker to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its database. A WAF can prevent these malicious SQL queries from being executed, thus protecting sensitive data and maintaining the integrity of the application.

In contrast, the other options are not the primary focus of WAFs. Syn floods are a type of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that targets network layers rather than application layers. Password cracking involves brute-force methods or dictionary attacks against user credentials, which falls outside the purview of a WAF's protections. Ransomware primarily targets files and systems rather than web applications directly, and while some broader security measures may help, it is not the primary function of a WAF to