Atomicorp’s Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Yes. Atomicorp’s web application firewall (WAF) solution, Atomic WAF, participates in the same enterprise WAF market as Akamai App & API Protector, AWS WAF, Barracuda Web Application Firewall, BitNinja WAF, Cloudflare WAF, F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF, Fastly Next-Gen WAF, and Fortinet FortiWeb. In addition, Atomic WAF also competes in the enterprise WAF market with Immuniify360 WAF, Imperva Cloud WAF, Microsoft Azure Web Application Firewall, NetScaler Web App Firewall, Radware AppWall, and many others.

Atomic WAF meets all the defined requirements of enterprise WAF including Layer 7 traffic inspection and filtering, the ability to meet OWASP Top 10 List protections such as defending against SQL injection and XSS, and remediating broken access control and security misconfigurations. Atomic WAF also provides a dual security model enforcement, which includes the blacklisting and whitelisting of IP addresses, users, files, applications, plus additional filtering.

Yes. Atomic WAF provides users with core application protection and API security, which includes protection for SQL injection (SQLi), cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF), path/directory traversal, remote/local file inclusion (RFI/LFI), command injection, insecure deserialization, and XML external entity (XXE) attacks. Atomic WAF also stops header/parameter injection and HTTP parameter pollution, malicious file uploads, API abuse and rate-limit/bot attacks (credential stuffing), brute-force/account-takeover attempts, HTTP protocol abuses (request smuggling/splitting), exploitation of known-vulnerabilities and the OWASP Top-10 web threats as well as advanced bot mitigation and more.

Atomic WAF is a full-featured web application firewall (WAF) and WAAP solution that inspects Layer 7 HTTP/S traffic to block web attacks. It combines a graphical management console, commercial ModSecurity rules, real-time threat intelligence, and 24/7 support. It protects websites, APIs, control panels, containers, hybrid cloud workloads, web applications and more.

Atomic WAF provides enterprise-grade protections and management tools, including core security and detection capabilities, architecture and integration features, logging, auditing, and compliance. It also includes intelligence and automation, administration and policy control, SSO integration, SIEM integration, role-based access control (RBAC), advanced security and compliance, operational and support requirements, and compliance and regulatory alignment.

Atomic WAF comes equipped with full Layer 7 inspection for HTTP, HTTPS, and WebSocket traffic and comprehensive signature and rule engine supporting regex, chaining, and transformations. It also provides organizations with virtual patching and CVE-specific rule updates, protocol anomaly detection for malformed HTTP headers and encodings, positive and negative security models (allow-list and deny-list), rate limiting and request throttling for brute force and DoS prevention, and behavioral and anomaly detection using traffic baselines. 
Other capabilities include custom rule authoring via GUI, CLI or API, API and JSON inspection (REST, GraphQL, SOAP, XML-RPC), file upload inspection for extensions, MIME type, and file magic mismatches, and malware and webshell scanning for uploads. Atomic WAF also covers encoded payload normalization (URL, Unicode, Base64, gzip), and session and authentication abuse detection, data leakage detection (PII, credit cards, credentials), and application-layer DoS mitigation.

Key architecture and integration features in Atomic WAF enable organizations to deploy a powerful, scalable, and interoperable web application firewall solution for any environment or use case. These features include reverse proxy and inline deployment modes, dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 support, TLS 1.3 with FIPS 140-2/3 validated cryptographic modules, and integration with hardware security modules (HSMs) for key protection.
Additional application architecture capabilities are high-availability clustering with fail-open and fail-secure options, SIEM integration via syslog, JSON, or Fluentd, centralized rule and policy management, and deployment on virtual, physical, or container platforms (VMware, KVM, Docker, Kubernetes).

Atomic WAF provides a log management, auditing control and compliance toolset that enables a full audit trail of configuration and administrative actions, detailed HTTP transaction logging (headers, parameters, body metadata), configurable log retention and rotation, and time-synchronized logs (NTP) for forensics and correlation. It also includes role-based access control (RBAC) for administration, compliance with STIG/SRG and NIST 800-53 audit requirements, tamper-resistant logging (signing and syslog-TLS), and log forwarding in CEF, Splunk, LEEF, and JSON formats.

Yes. Atomic WAF comes with threat intelligence and automated detection and response. This is possible through threat-intelligence feed integration (STIX/TAXII, MISP, commercial sources), IP reputation and Tor exit node blocking, and GeoIP allow-listing and blocking. Atomic WAF also provides machine-learning and adaptive behavioral detection, and dynamic rule and signature updates.

Administration and policy control features in Atomic WAF consist of a web-based management console with full CLI access. centralized configuration, custom dashboards and compliance reports (PCI DSS, NIST, etc.). Atomic WAF also provides out-of-the-box integration with SSO systems and secure and verified updates with cryptographic integrity checks.

Advanced security and compliance features include FIPS 140-2/3 cryptographic operation support, signed software updates, and compliance with the DoD’s Ports, Protocols, and Services Management (PPSM) standards. Atomic WAF adds IPv6 and DNSSEC compliance (DoD IPv6 profile), full certificate chain validation (OCSP, CRL) and secure configuration baselines and STIG-ready templates. Also included are file integrity verification for WAF binaries and policies, air-gapped or offline update capability, and PKCS#11 and custom crypto module support.

Atomic WAF customers get 24/7 enterprise support with update service along with their purchase, as well as managed tuning or custom rule assistance. Atomic WAF also comes with documented SLAs for security patch turnaround, integration guides for Apache, nginx, IIS, and others, and administrator training and certification programs.

Atomic WAF meets or supports multiple standards requirements such as NIST SP 800-53, NIST 800-171, NIST 800-172, and DISA STIG and CNSSI 1253. Atomic WAF meets the PCI DSS 4.0 requirements for a web application firewall, and it also addresses requirements in HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO/IEC 27001.

Atomic WAF can be deployed in two primary deployment modes:
Embedded Mode – In this mode, Atomic WAF runs directly within Apache, nginx, IIS, and LiteSpeed via ModSecurity.
Transparent Proxy Mode – Here, Atomic WAF inspects traffic to local or remote HTTP/S services without re-architecting networks.

Atomic WAF supports any web server.
Embedded mode is supported with:
Apache/IIS using ModSecurity 2.9.5+
Nginx using libmodsecurity 3.0.6+
IIS using ModSecurity 2.9.5+
LiteSpeed using its proprietary modsecurity engine
HAProxy 2.4+ (HAProxy recommends 2.6 and higher)
Varnish 7.2 or newer

 If you are using a control panel, Atomic WAF integrates with cPanel and Plesk. However, a control panel is not required to use Atomic WAF.

Atomic WAF secures public and internal web applications, APIs (REST, GraphQL, SOAP, etc.), hosting panels (cPanel, Plesk), web platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and many others), application servers, and more. It also protects containers, pods, and hybrid workloads, east-to-west traffic inside private networks, and additional web microservices.

Atomic WAF blocks web, inline and lateral attacks including OWASP Top 10, injection attacks, cross-site scripting (XSS), remote and local file inclusion, path traversals, SQL injection, code injection, serialized attacks, malicious file uploads and cross-site request forgeries. It also blocks HTTP and HTTP header attacks, authentication and session attacks, brute force and credential abuse, application logic abuse, API and JSON abuse, HTTP request and response manipulation, and bots and malicious scanners. Atomic WAF also prevents exploit and CVE-specific attacks, data and parameter tampering, application layer denial of service (DoS), business logic abuse, and sensitive data exposure.

Atomic WAF defends against a broad spectrum of injection-based attacks that target web applications, APIs, and back-end systems. It detects and blocks payloads attempting to manipulate interpreters, databases, directories, or operating system shells.
Key injection types prevented include:
SQL Injection (SQLi) – Prevents manipulation of database queries to extract or modify data.


Command Injection – Detects use of shell metacharacters or system calls intended to execute unauthorized commands.


OS Command / Shellshock Injection – Blocks attacks leveraging HTTP headers or payloads to exploit environment variables and spawn unauthorized processes.


LDAP Injection – Identifies and stops attempts to alter LDAP queries to gain unauthorized access or bypass authentication.


XPath / XML Injection – Detects malicious input crafted to manipulate XML or XPath query logic, often used to extract sensitive data.


NoSQL Injection – Protects applications using MongoDB, CouchDB, or similar databases by filtering dangerous JSON-based or query-operator payloads.


Expression Language (EL) Injection – Prevents exploitation of template or expression evaluators (such as JSP EL or Spring Expression Language, aka SpEL) that could lead to remote code execution.


SMTP / IMAP Injection – Blocks newline and carriage-return sequences that could modify mail headers or enable email spoofing.


SSI Injection (Server-Side Includes Injection) – Detects attempts to execute unauthorized commands via SSI directives in dynamic web pages.


CRLF Injection / HTTP Header Injection – Prevents crafted payloads from injecting newlines into headers or responses to manipulate cookies or caching.


ORM / Hibernate Query Injection – Protects against injection into object-relational mapping (ORM) layers that can lead to arbitrary query execution.


In addition, Atomic WAF uses behavioral correlation and heuristic analysis to detect new or obfuscated injection vectors that evade signature-based filters, including chained and hybrid payloads. Its inspection engine understands multiple encodings (URL, Base64, Unicode, nested JSON/XML) to catch attacks even when hidden within nested requests or APIs.

Atomic WAF protects against all major forms of cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks — including reflected, stored, and DOM-based — by sanitizing and validating input, inspecting response payloads, and detecting malicious JavaScript or HTML injection patterns across both web and API traffic.
Key XSS types prevented include:
Reflected XSS (Non-Persistent) – Blocks attempts to inject malicious scripts into requests that are immediately reflected back in the response, such as through query parameters, form submissions, or URL fragments.
 Example: Script tags, event handlers (onload=, onclick=), or encoded payloads embedded in GET/POST parameters.


Stored XSS (Persistent) – Detects and neutralizes attempts to store malicious JavaScript in back-end databases, message boards, comment fields, or any user-generated content that could later execute in another user’s browser.
 Example: Injected 


How does Atomic WAF stay updated?
Atomic WAF updates continuously using a combination of threat intelligence feeds, behavioral analysis, machine-learning–assisted rule tuning, and vulnerability-specific protections. Updates are delivered by Atomicorp’s security research team, who monitor global attack trends, CVEs, exploit kits, malware campaigns, botnets, and scanning behaviors. These updates include new signatures, anomaly detection improvements, correlation logic, and ruleset optimizations.
All updates are delivered automatically with no downtime or service interruption.


Does Atomic WAF protect against zero-day vulnerabilities?
Yes. Atomic WAF blocks zero-day attacks using behavioral detection, anomaly scoring, correlation-based analysis, and generic protections that identify suspicious patterns even without prior knowledge of a specific exploit. Atomic WAF’s engine inspects multiple layers (URI, headers, cookies, body, JSON, XML, multipart, API payloads) using hundreds of heuristic checks, making it capable of stopping unknown or emerging attack methods.
When a new CVE is discovered, Atomic WAF typically has rules released within hours if a specific pattern emerges, but in many cases the core engine already blocks the exploit attempts even before the CVE is publicly known.


Does Atomic WAF detect and stop bots?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects and blocks malicious bots using behavioral profiling, signature analysis, request pattern correlation, rate limiting, header validation, device fingerprinting, and anomaly scoring. It identifies scanners, brute-force bots, scraping bots, credential stuffing tools, vulnerability scanners, and custom automated attack frameworks.
Unlike simple user-agent filtering, Atomic WAF analyzes request behavior, scoring it for abnormal frequency, malformed headers, session irregularities, and automation indicators.


Does Atomic WAF protect against brute-force attacks?
Yes. Atomic WAF identifies and blocks brute-force attacks using adaptive rate controls, failed authentication detection, IP and session correlation, distributed attack pattern detection, and sudden velocity changes in login attempts. It can automatically block or slow suspicious sources while allowing legitimate traffic.
Protections apply to login endpoints, password reset pages, administrative consoles, APIs, and authentication services.


Does Atomic WAF protect APIs?
Yes. Atomic WAF protects REST, GraphQL, SOAP, and custom APIs by inspecting JSON, XML, query parameters, HTTP headers, content types, and request bodies. It detects injection attacks, schema abuse, malformed requests, enumeration attempts, recursion attacks, authentication failures, and excessive request rates.
Atomic WAF also understands nested data structures and multiple levels of encoding, preventing evasions used against APIs.


Does Atomic WAF prevent parameter tampering?
Yes. Atomic WAF blocks parameter tampering by inspecting query strings, cookies, body fields, JSON nodes, arrays, and hidden form inputs for suspicious values, manipulation patterns, or abnormal changes. It blocks attempts to alter pricing, permissions, workflow states, or application logic.
Protections include detection of out-of-range values, unexpected data types, missing integrity markers, and multi-stage workflow tampering.


Does Atomic WAF protect against request smuggling?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects and prevents HTTP request smuggling by validating header consistency, enforcing RFC-compliant parsing logic, detecting ambiguous Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding behaviors, and rejecting malformed or desynchronized request patterns.
It blocks known smuggling techniques, including CL/TE inconsistencies, TE/CL attacks, chunked encoding manipulation, and prefix/suffix smuggling variations.


Does Atomic WAF prevent HTTP response splitting?
Yes. Atomic WAF prevents HTTP response splitting attacks by filtering CRLF sequences, abnormal header injection attempts, unsafe characters, and encoded payloads that attempt to break out of expected header boundaries.
It identifies attempts to inject control characters, set unintended cookies, manipulate caching, or alter downstream responses.


Does Atomic WAF protect against session fixation and session hijacking?
Yes. Atomic WAF protects against session fixation and session hijacking by inspecting cookies, session identifiers, authentication tokens, and workflow states for abnormalities. It detects stolen, reused, or manipulated session identifiers, signs of credential replay, inconsistent IP/session bindings, and abnormal changes in authenticated behavior.
Atomic WAF enforces secure cookie behaviors and detects attempts to inject or override session identifiers.


Does Atomic WAF detect malicious file uploads?
Yes. Atomic WAF inspects file uploads (multipart/form-data, raw uploads, API uploads) for malicious content including embedded scripts, web shells, executable payloads, polyglots, and files with spoofed MIME types. It validates extensions, magic bytes, encoding, size limits, and abnormal upload patterns.
It detects malware-laced images, document exploits, fake PDFs, reverse shells disguised as text files, and obfuscated embedded scripts.



Can Atomic WAF detect application logic abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects manipulation of application workflows and unauthorized access to restricted functions.
Key protections include:
Detection of forced browsing and hidden admin endpoint access.


Identification of parameter tampering in URL or form variables.


Correlation of abnormal request sequences that deviate from expected user flows.


Can Atomic WAF detect API and JSON abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF provides deep inspection and validation for modern API traffic, including REST, GraphQL, and JSON-based requests.
Key protections include:
Detection of malformed JSON, schema violations, and oversized payloads.


Blocking of parameter pollution, recursive objects, or injection payloads in API requests.


Identification of API enumeration, token abuse, and endpoint probing.


Enforcement of Content-Type, Accept, and CORS policies to prevent misuse.


Can Atomic WAF prevent HTTP request and response manipulation?
Yes. Atomic WAF prevents tampering with HTTP messages by validating header integrity, content types, and payload encodings.
Key protections include:
Detection of content-type mismatches (e.g., declared JSON with HTML body).


Blocking of oversized headers, invalid compression, or encoding anomalies.


Detection of base64, hex, and multi-layer-encoded payloads used to hide exploits.


Validation of chunked transfer encoding and message framing to prevent evasion.


Can Atomic WAF detect and block bots and scanners?
Yes. Atomic WAF includes advanced bot and scanner detection capabilities to prevent reconnaissance and automated attacks.
Key protections include:
Identification and blocking of known scanners such as sqlmap, Nikto, DirBuster, and WPScan.


Detection of spoofed or malformed user agents and automated probing behavior.


Rate-limiting and behavioral fingerprinting to block distributed scanning.


Optional integration with threat-intelligence feeds for known malicious IPs and botnets.


Does Atomic WAF block exploit- and CVE-specific attacks?
Yes. Atomic WAF delivers virtual patching for high-impact CVEs and known web-framework vulnerabilities.
Key protections include:
Detection of RCE, SQLi, and deserialization exploits targeting unpatched systems.


Coverage for CMS and plugin vulnerabilities (e.g., WordPress, Joomla, Drupal).


Rapid deployment of signature and behavioral updates for emerging CVEs.


Protection against weaponized proof-of-concept payloads and exploit kits.


Does Atomic WAF stop data and parameter tampering?
Yes. Atomic WAF monitors and validates critical parameters and payloads to prevent data manipulation and replay attacks.
Key protections include:
Detection of parameter or field tampering within JSON, XML, or form data.


Validation of JWT, OAuth, and API tokens for modification or reuse.


Detection of replayed requests or manipulated transaction identifiers.


Context-aware correlation with previous session data to identify anomalies.


Does Atomic WAF detect application-layer denial of service (DoS)?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects and mitigates application-layer DoS attacks that target server resources rather than network bandwidth.
Key protections include:
Detection of slow POST, slowloris, and large request-body attacks.


Rate-based analysis to block high-frequency or concurrent requests.


Enforcement of request timeouts, size limits, and session quotas.


Correlation with other behavioral indicators to detect low-and-slow DoS attack patterns.


Can Atomic WAF detect business logic abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF identifies abnormal transaction patterns that indicate abuse of legitimate application functionality.
Key protections include:
Detection of mass account creation, coupon reuse, or inventory manipulation.


Identification of workflow violations and suspicious transaction sequencing.


Behavioral correlation to detect automated or scripted misuse of business logic.



Can Atomic WAF detect application logic abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects manipulation of application workflows and unauthorized access to restricted functions.
Key protections include:
Detection of forced browsing and hidden admin endpoint access.


Identification of parameter tampering in URL or form variables.


Correlation of abnormal request sequences that deviate from expected user flows.


Can Atomic WAF detect API and JSON abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF provides deep inspection and validation for modern API traffic, including REST, GraphQL, and JSON-based requests.
Key protections include:
Detection of malformed JSON, schema violations, and oversized payloads.


Blocking of parameter pollution, recursive objects, or injection payloads in API requests.


Identification of API enumeration, token abuse, and endpoint probing.


Enforcement of Content-Type, Accept, and CORS policies to prevent misuse.


Can Atomic WAF prevent HTTP request and response manipulation?
Yes. Atomic WAF prevents tampering with HTTP messages by validating header integrity, content types, and payload encodings.
Key protections include:
Detection of content-type mismatches (e.g., declared JSON with HTML body).


Blocking of oversized headers, invalid compression, or encoding anomalies.


Detection of base64, hex, and multi-layer-encoded payloads used to hide exploits.


Validation of chunked transfer encoding and message framing to prevent evasion.


Can Atomic WAF detect and block bots and scanners?
Yes. Atomic WAF includes advanced bot and scanner detection capabilities to prevent reconnaissance and automated attacks.
Key protections include:
Identification and blocking of known scanners such as sqlmap, Nikto, DirBuster, and WPScan.


Detection of spoofed or malformed user agents and automated probing behavior.


Rate-limiting and behavioral fingerprinting to block distributed scanning.


Optional integration with threat-intelligence feeds for known malicious IPs and botnets.


Does Atomic WAF block exploit- and CVE-specific attacks?
Yes. Atomic WAF delivers virtual patching for high-impact CVEs and known web-framework vulnerabilities.
Key protections include:
Detection of RCE, SQLi, and deserialization exploits targeting unpatched systems.


Coverage for CMS and plugin vulnerabilities (e.g., WordPress, Joomla, Drupal).


Rapid deployment of signature and behavioral updates for emerging CVEs.


Protection against weaponized proof-of-concept payloads and exploit kits.


Does Atomic WAF stop data and parameter tampering?
Yes. Atomic WAF monitors and validates critical parameters and payloads to prevent data manipulation and replay attacks.
Key protections include:
Detection of parameter or field tampering within JSON, XML, or form data.


Validation of JWT, OAuth, and API tokens for modification or reuse.


Detection of replayed requests or manipulated transaction identifiers.


Context-aware correlation with previous session data to identify anomalies.


Does Atomic WAF detect application-layer denial of service (DoS)?
Yes. Atomic WAF detects and mitigates application-layer DoS attacks that target server resources rather than network bandwidth.
Key protections include:
Detection of slow POST, slowloris, and large request-body attacks.


Rate-based analysis to block high-frequency or concurrent requests.


Enforcement of request timeouts, size limits, and session quotas.


Correlation with other behavioral indicators to detect low-and-slow DoS attack patterns.


Can Atomic WAF detect business logic abuse?
Yes. Atomic WAF identifies abnormal transaction patterns that indicate abuse of legitimate application functionality.
Key protections include:
Detection of mass account creation, coupon reuse, or inventory manipulation.


Identification of workflow violations and suspicious transaction sequencing.


Behavioral correlation to detect automated or scripted misuse of business logic.



Can Atomic WAF identify sensitive data exposure?
Yes. Atomic WAF prevents accidental or intentional exposure of sensitive information by inspecting both request and response payloads.
Key protections include:
Detection of credit card numbers, social security numbers (SSNs), API keys, and access tokens in URLs, parameters, or responses.


Pattern-matching for PII, financial, and healthcare data across multiple encodings.


Blocking or redacting sensitive data in transit to prevent leakage or compliance violations.


Integration with Atomic DLP rules for advanced data-loss prevention coverage.


How often are rules updated and how is tuning handled?
Atomicorp’s real-time WAF rules are updated daily, addressing new CVEs and zero-day patterns. The WAF console allows administrators to enable, disable, or tune specific rules and report false positives. Updates addressing user-reported issues are also released the same day.


How does Atomic WAF work with Cloudflare and other CDNs?
Atomic WAF includes a native Cloudflare integration. When combined with a CDN or edge WAF, it provides hybrid protection—that is, global absorption of volumetric attacks at the edge and granular inspection within your infrastructure. Administrators should configure client-IP forwarding headers to preserve origin IP visibility.


What should I know about compression and content encodings?
Atomic WAF blocks undefined or unsupported compressed payloads because they cannot be safely inspected. Compression and TLS termination should occur after WAF inspection or on devices where Atomic WAF can inspect the plaintext payload.


Does Atomic WAF support containers and Kubernetes?
Yes. Atomic ModSecurity and the WAF rules integrate with Kubernetes environments. NGINX Ingress and reverse-proxy configurations are also supported. Atomic WAF can also be deployed as a lightweight virtual appliance or sidecar container for pod-level and container protection.
Modsecurity can also be inside containers themselves—for example, when building your own WAF you can use Atomic ModSecurity Rules with your own custom-built containers.


What compliance and reporting capabilities are available?
Atomic WAF provides real-time audit logs and event dashboards, built-in compliance reports supporting PCI DSS and similar standards, and log export and integration options for SIEM and central logging systems. It meets PCI DSS 4.0 Requirement 6.4.2 for an automated technical solution, such as a web application firewall, that detects and prevents web-based attacks. Supported SIEM connectors and log formats include syslog, Fluentd, JSON, LogRhythm, Splunk, and QRadar.


How does Atomic WAF compare with major enterprise WAFs such as Cloudflare, AWS WAF, Imperva, or F5?
Enterprise WAFs generally differ by deployment model:
Cloud-native/Edge WAFs (Cloudflare, AWS WAF, Akamai) are fully managed at the provider edge.
WAF Hardware/Virtual Appliances (F5, Imperva) are deployed in data centers and are often high-cost and high-throughput.
WAF Software Appliances (Atomic WAF) delivers the same protection and compliance visibility as on-prem, cloud, or hybrid environments, with transparent per-server pricing. This allows organizations to deploy the Atomic WAF anywhere, on hardware, virtual machines, in the cloud, airgapped environments and containers. Many organizations choose Atomic WAF for environments requiring internal control, customization, and full visibility. They also select Atomic WAF for its affordability.



Can Atomic WAF be used alongside other enterprise WAFs?
Yes. Many deployments pair Atomic WAF with a cloud or hardware WAF:
Whereas the edge WAF absorbs volumetric or DDoS traffic, Atomic WAF performs deeper, context-aware inspection, rule tuning, and compliance logging. This layered model strengthens security while maintaining local control. Atomic WAF also provides vital east-to-west protection against insider threats and credential theft, something you can't get with a hardware WAF or cloud WAF alone.


Can Atomic WAF handle enterprise performance and scalability needs?
Atomic WAF and Atomic ModSecurity Rules are built with performance in mind. Multiple WAF nodes can be deployed behind a load balancer for large-scale traffic handling.


How is a WAF different from a NIDS?
A WAF analyzes Layer 7 web traffic (HTTP/S) to protect applications and APIs. A network intrusion detection system (NIDS) monitors lower-level network protocols for exploits and anomalies and may not be able to see inside the encrypted web traffic. A NIDS is also limited in how it can construct the web traffic to properly inspect it. Both are complementary—WAFs secure web applications, while NIDS monitors broader network behavior, but you can't use a NIDS in place of a WAF.


What is the pricing model and minimum purchase?
Atomic WAF pricing starts at $330 per IP/server per year, with volume discounts for larger deployments.
 Online purchases require a five-unit minimum, and multi-server or OEM licensing is available.