Applications have become mission-critical for organizations looking to drive rapid growth. They help facilitate an organization’s influence around the world and can act as the primary business model. These applications require protection from security threats, yet end-users demand high availability and an uninterrupted experience, which can make for a tough balancing act. On top of that, security threats are becoming more sophisticated and growing in volume. “More than six out of seven organizations (85.3%) experienced a successful cyberattack in 2021.”

Most organizations say they see security as a must, but, internally, many see security as a box that to be checked to meet requirements and regulations. This means budgets for security have been stagnant in recent years, while the need to implement security controls is growing as attacks become more prevalent and complex. Between January and December of 2021, Imperva noted a staggering 148% increase in account takeover attacks. Security teams are expected to keep up with development teams’ innovation while also not hindering growth through vulnerability mitigations. Security vendors must adjust to how the industry approaches security. Solutions need to enable rapid application development while keeping applications safe from the latest attacks. In the ever-evolving threat landscape, the legacy web application firewall (WAF) is no longer enough; vendors need to provide robust solutions that protect applications and their APIs from both bad actors and bad bots. Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) is the new way for organizations to implement application security.