In this blog, we’ll explore why turning the WAF into a fraud-fighting powerhouse by analyzing deep session risk on every API connection request can revolutionize your ATO defense strategy.
Web Application Firewalls (WAF) block brute-force bot attacks and credential stuffing. At the same time, attackers now leverage sophisticated account takeover (ATO) tactics, combining geo-fraud, deepfakes, spyware, and even man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks into powerful combination punches that bypass typical WAF defense policies.
For example, consider this typical WAF defense policy:
If URI = /login AND failed_logins_from_IP > X in Y seconds → block
If the attackers use rotating proxies or VPNs to change IP addresses with each request, the WAF sees each login attempt as coming from a different source and fails to correlate them as part of a broader attack.
What if your WAF could do more than just protect APIs against simple brute-force bot attacks?
The Gap Between Anti-Fraud Products vs. WAF Policies
We know the WAF can block network-based attacks and brute force bot traffic at the perimeter, but miss the more sophisticated fraud, scam, and deepfake attacks used to bypass biometric authentication or commit ATOs. Likewise, anti-fraud solutions typically operate after the mobile app connects to the API, after login or after the camera is called – meaning well into the session of the app. This allows the attacker to attach to critical processes and carry out fraudulent manipulations before fraud detection can flag suspicious behavior within the mobile app. This gap allows the attacker to complete their malicious actions before detection (if any).
It’s also fair to say that the relatively slower performance of fraud-detection products typically means they are last in line, all the way back in the evaluation of transaction patterns—rather than real-time session risk. As a result, they may not allow businesses to act quickly enough to pre-empt or stop fraud as it happens, leaving a window of opportunity for attackers to carry out fraud or ATOs.
Use Session Risk to Bring Anti-Fraud to the Perimeter
My colleague’s earlier blog talked about using Appdome’s deep inspection of session risk in the WAF policy to stop fraud, ATOs and other hyper-targeted attacks. For this blog, assume your WAF gets the deep session risk data from Appdome’s MobileBOT™ defense.
Here are my top five reasons to turn your Web Application Firewall into a Fraud-Fighting Powerhouse:
1. Maximize Existing Infrastructure
Your WAF infrastructure is already in place. It’s the first line of defense to protect critical APIs. By giving every WAF in your infrastructure detailed session risk data, you avoid adding and maintaining unnecessary defense infrastructure. Instead, leverage the existing WAF to do much more than just mitigate brute force bot and DDoS attacks, and enjoy dramatic cost savings for the business.
2. Unified Threat & Defense Posture Management
Every WAF has a rules engine. This means that as long as the WAF can get the needed session risk signals and data, it can handle both the brute-force attacks and detect fake users, fake devices, geo-fraud, deepfakes, man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks, and other fraud-specific threats. In addition, the WAF is already managed centrally. Integrating deep inspection of session risk into the WAF means fewer tools and data siloes, and centralized threat visibility. By consolidating fraud prevention and security under the WAF umbrella, you can simplify your security operations, reduce configuration errors, and guarantee a unified strategy to defeat fraud and cyberattacks.
3.Scalability and Performance Benefits
WAFs are high-performance network security elements, built to handle high traffic volumes. Fraud detection solutions are slower and can be resource-intensive, which may introduce performance bottlenecks. WAFs can scale easily to accommodate increasing traffic and inspection duties, all while ensuring real-time threat detection and mitigation. The WAF scalability ensures that applications with high-volume API calls or global reach can protect their critical APIs without compromising performance.
4. Faster Response Time and Real-Time Mitigation
Since WAFs operate at the network edge, and mobile apps make lots of discrete API requests through the lifecycle or use, WAFs can detect and block malicious activities at any point in the application lifecycle from login to payment, to password reset and more. Fraud detection solutions often operate after malicious traffic has entered your network. The WAF, with its ability to intercept malicious activities at the connection request to any API, provides instant mitigation, preventing attacks like account takeovers and data breaches in real-time.
5. Increased Agility vs. Fraud & ATO Attacks
WAF rules are highly customizable, enabling you to create specific inspection rules to evaluate session risk for each mobile API on demand. Unlike traditional fraud solutions that are often limited in customization, WAF rules engines provide the flexibility to adjust threat detection based on specific variables such as geolocation, device fingerprinting, and abnormal traffic patterns, as well as fraud indicators, each tailored to your app’s unique user behavior and APIs.
It’s Time to Turn Your WAF into a Fraud-Fighting Powerhouse
By turning your WAF into a fraud-fighting machine, you’re not just enhancing your ability to detect and mitigate bot-driven attacks and ATO risk; you’re also addressing a wide range of modern threats such as deepfakes, spyware, geo-fraud, and MiTM attacks in one centralized way.
This approach provides mobile businesses with a cost-effective, scalable, and efficient way to secure critical API endpoints without requiring separate fraud detection systems. By maximizing existing infrastructure, improving performance, and eliminating point products, businesses can create a unified, comprehensive defense strategy that not only fights fraud but also enhances the overall security posture of their mobile business.
In the fast-moving world of mobile and web security, it’s time to take full advantage of your existing tools. Turning your WAF into a fraud-fighting machine is the future of fraud prevention—smart, scalable, and ready for the challenges of tomorrow.
If you want to see how Appdome’s MobileBOT™ defense works, contact us or request a demo. We’d love to talk to you.
