Trustwave SpiderLabs Uncovers Unique Cybersecurity Risks in Today's Tech Landscape. Learn More

Trustwave SpiderLabs Uncovers Unique Cybersecurity Risks in Today's Tech Landscape. Learn More

Services
Capture
Managed Detection & Response

Eliminate active threats with 24/7 threat detection, investigation, and response.

twi-managed-portal-color
Co-Managed SOC (SIEM)

Maximize your SIEM investment, stop alert fatigue, and enhance your team with hybrid security operations support.

twi-briefcase-color-svg
Advisory & Diagnostics

Advance your cybersecurity program and get expert guidance where you need it most.

tw-laptop-data
Penetration Testing

Test your physical locations and IT infrastructure to shore up weaknesses before exploitation.

twi-database-color-svg
Database Security

Prevent unauthorized access and exceed compliance requirements.

twi-email-color-svg
Email Security

Stop email threats others miss and secure your organization against the #1 ransomware attack vector.

tw-officer
Digital Forensics & Incident Response

Prepare for the inevitable with 24/7 global breach response in-region and available on-site.

tw-network
Firewall & Technology Management

Mitigate risk of a cyberattack with 24/7 incident and health monitoring and the latest threat intelligence.

Solutions
BY TOPIC
Microsoft Exchange Server Attacks
Stay protected against emerging threats
Rapidly Secure New Environments
Security for rapid response situations
Securing the Cloud
Safely navigate and stay protected
Securing the IoT Landscape
Test, monitor and secure network objects
Why Trustwave
About Us
Awards and Accolades
Trustwave SpiderLabs Team
Trustwave Fusion Security Operations Platform
Trustwave Security Colony
Partners
Technology Alliance Partners
Key alliances who align and support our ecosystem of security offerings
Trustwave PartnerOne Program
Join forces with Trustwave to protect against the most advance cybersecurity threats
SpiderLabs Blog

Forrester Research Q2 2006 Web Application Firewall Evaluation

Back in March 2006 I was approached by Forrester Research and invited to participate in their Q2 web application firewall evaluation, along with six other WAF vendors. I was delighted with their invitation and gladly accepted. It is not often that an open source product is invited to play with the commercial guys. It turned out the participation required a lot of work on my part. I had to systematically cover and describe the entire feature set of ModSecurity, and that's not something I do often (at least not with that level of detail). It was, however, a very productive exercise because I had to make a step back and look at a bigger picture.

The results were published a couple of weeks ago and I think we did rather well. We were praised for our positive aspects (e.g. everything is configurable) and criticised for our weaknesses (e.g. lack of a management GUI). Unfortunately the entire report is not available online - you would have to buy the report if you want to read it. Revealing excerpts are available for the main report and for ModSecurity.

Two quotes from the ModSecurity scorecard summary are of particular interest:

"...ModSecurity is by far the most extensively deployed Web application firewall, with more than 10,000 customers."

and:

"ModSecurity's stringent implementation standards — build nothing unless you approach the highest level of security — will push the entire Web application firewall market toward higher-quality products."

[Source: Forrester WaveTM: Web Application Firewalls, Q2 June 2006", Forrester Research, Inc., June 2006.]

P.S. Forrester are also making available a PowerPoint presentation that gives a quick overview of the reviewed products.

(August 7 Update) Michael Gavin, the lead researcher behind the Forrester WAF evaluation, wrote to me to say that their comments referred to the 1.9.x branch of ModSecurity, and that he expects ModSecurity 2.x to address most, if not all, of the issues they identified.

Latest SpiderLabs Blogs

Zero Trust Essentials

This is Part 5 in my ongoing project to cover 30 cybersecurity topics in 30 weekly blog posts. The full series can be found here.

Read More

Why We Should Probably Stop Visually Verifying Checksums

Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. Let me get straight into it and start things off with what a checksum is to be inclusive of all audiences here, from Wikipedia [1]:

Read More

Agent Tesla's New Ride: The Rise of a Novel Loader

Malware loaders, critical for deploying malware, enable threat actors to deliver and execute malicious payloads, facilitating criminal activities like data theft and ransomware. Utilizing advanced...

Read More