F5 BIG-IP Advanced Web Application Firewall

Duration: 4 Days

In this 4 day course, students are provided with a functional understanding of how to deploy, tune, and operate F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall to protect their web applications from HTTP-based attacks. The course includes lecture, hands-on labs, and discussion about different F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall tools for detecting and mitigating threats from multiple attack vectors such web scraping, Layer 7 Denial of Service, brute force, bots, code injection, and zero-day exploits.

Course Outline:

Course Objectives
  • Describe the role of the BIG-IP system as a full proxy device in an application delivery network
  • Provision F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall resources
  • Define a web application firewall
  • Describe how F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall protects a web application by securing file
  • types, URLs, and parameters
  • Deploy F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall using the Rapid Deployment template (and other
  • templates) and define the security checks included in each
  • Define learn, alarm, and block settings as they pertain to configuring F5 Advanced Web
  • Application Firewall
  • Define attack signatures and explain why attack signature staging is important
  • Contrast positive and negative security policy implementation and explain benefits of each
  • Configure security processing at the parameter level of a web application
  • Use an application template to protect a commercial web application
  • Deploy F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall using the Automatic Policy Builder
  • Tune a policy manually or allow automatic policy building
  • Integrate third party application vulnerability scanner output into a security policy
  • Configure login enforcement and session tracking
  • Configure protection against brute force, web scraping, and Layer 7 denial of service attacks
  • Implement iRules using specific F5 Advanced Web Application Firewall events and commands
  • Use Content Profiles to protect JSON and AJAX-based applications
  • Implement Bot Signatures
  • Implement Proactive Bot Defense
 
Audience:

this course is intended for security and network administrators who will be responsible for theinstallation, deployment, tuning, and day-to-day maintenance of the F5 Advanced Web ApplicationFirewall.

 

Course Outline 
Setting Up the BIG-IP System
  • Introducing the BIG-IP System
  • Initially Setting Up the BIG-IP System
  • Archiving the BIG-IP System Configuration
  • Leveraging F5 Support Resources and Tools
Traffic Processing with BIG-IP
  • Identifying BIG-IP Traffic Processing Objects
  • Understanding Profiles
  • Overview of Local Traffic Policies
  • Visualizing the HTTP Request Flow
Web Application Concepts
  • Overview of Web Application Request Processing
  • Web Application Firewall: Layer 7 Protection
  • Layer 7 Security Checks
  • Overview of Web Communication Elements
  • Overview of the HTTP Request Structure
  • Examining HTTP Responses
  • How F5 Advanced WAF Parses File Types, URLs, and Parameters
  • Using the Fiddler HTTP Proxy
Web Application Vulnerabilities
  • A Taxonomy of Attacks: The Threat Landscape
  • Common Exploits Against Web Applications
Security Policy Deployment
  • Defining Learning
  • Comparing Positive and Negative Security Models
  • The Deployment Workflow
  • Assigning Policy to Virtual Server
  • Deployment Workflow: Using Advanced Settings
  • Configure Server Technologies
  • Defining Attack Signatures
  • Viewing Requests
  • Security Checks Offered by Rapid Deployment
  • Defining Attack Signatures
Policy Tuning and Violations
  • Post-Deployment Traffic Processing
  • How Violations are Categorized
  • Violation Rating: A Threat Scale
  • Defining Staging and Enforcement
  • Defining Enforcement Mode
  • Defining the Enforcement Readiness Period
  • Reviewing the Definition of Learning
  • Defining Learning Suggestions
  • Choosing Automatic or Manual Learning
  • Defining the Learn, Alarm and Block Settings
  • Interpreting the Enforcement Readiness Summary
  • Configuring the Blocking Response Page
Attack Signatures and Threat Campaigns
  • Defining Attack Signatures
  • Attack Signature Basics
  • Creating User-Defined Attack Signatures
  • Defining Simple and Advanced Edit Modes
  • Defining Attack Signature Sets
  • Defining Attack Signature Pools
  • Understanding Attack Signatures and Staging
  • Updating Attack Signatures
  • Defining Threat Campaigns
  • Deploying Threat Campaigns
Positive Security Policy Building
  • Defining and Learning Security Policy Components
  • Defining the Wildcard
  • Defining the Entity Lifecycle
  • Choosing the Learning Scheme
  • How to Learn: Never (Wildcard Only)
  • How to Learn: Always
  • How to Learn: Selective
  • Reviewing the Enforcement Readiness Period: Entities
  • Viewing Learning Suggestions and Staging Status
  • Defining the Learning Score
  • Defining Trusted and Untrusted IP Addresses
  • How to Learn: Compact
Securing Cookies and Other Headers
  • The Purpose of F5 Advanced WAF Cookies
  • Defining Allowed and Enforced Cookies
  • Securing HTTP headers
Visual Reporting and Logging
  • Viewing Application Security Summary Data
  • Reporting: Build Your Own View
  • Reporting: Chart based on filters
  • Brute Force and Web Scraping Statistics
  • Viewing Resource Reports
  • PCI Compliance: PCI-DSS 3.0
  • Analyzing Requests
  • Local Logging Facilities and Destinations
  • Viewing Logs in the Configuration Utility
  • Defining the Logging Profile
  • Configuring Response Logging
Lab Project 1
Advanced Parameter Handling
  • Defining Parameter Types
  • Defining Static Parameters
  • Defining Dynamic Parameters
  • Defining Parameter Levels
  • Other Parameter Considerations
Automatic Policy Building
  • Overview of Automatic Policy Building
  • Defining Templates Which Automate Learning
  • Defining Policy Loosening
  • Defining Policy Tightening
  • Defining Learning Speed: Traffic Sampling
  • Defining Track Site Changes
Web Application Vulnerability Scanner Integration
  • Integrating Scanner Output
  • Importing Vulnerabilities
  • Resolving Vulnerabilities
  • Using the Generic XML Scanner XSD file
Deploying Layered Policies
  • Defining a Parent Policy
  • Defining Inheritance
  • Parent Policy Deployment Use Cases
Login Enforcement and Brute Force Mitigation
  • Defining Login Pages for Flow Control
  • Configuring Automatic Detection of Login Pages
  • Defining Brute Force Attacks
  • Brute Force Protection Configuration
  • Source-Based Brute Force Mitigations
  • Defining Credential Stuffing
  • Mitigating Credential Stuffing
Reconnaissance with Session Tracking
  • Defining Session Tracking
  • Configuring Actions Upon Violation Detection
Layer 7 DoS Mitigation
  • Defining Denial of Service Attacks
  • Defining the DoS Protection Profile
  • Overview of TPS-based DoS Protection
  • Creating a DoS Logging Profile
  • Applying TPS Mitigations
  • Defining Behavioral and Stress-Based Detection
Advanced Bot Defense
  • Classifying Clients with the Bot Defense Profile
  • Defining Bot Signatures
  • Defining F5 Fingerprinting
  • Defining Bot Defense Profile Templates
  • Defining Microservices protection
Form Encryption using DataSafe
  • Targeting Elements of Application Delivery
  • Exploiting the Document Object Model
  • Protecting Applications Using DataSafe
  • The Order of Operations for URL Classification
Review and Final Labs
  • Final Lab Project (Option 1) – Production Scenario
  • Final Lab Project (Option 2) – Managing Traffic with Layer 7 Local Traffic Policies