The WAF and API security technology leader delivers multi-cloud security solutions

F5 has introduced its customer-focused approach to Application Protection at RSA Conference 2020, bolstered by new offerings and the company’s recent acquisition of Shape Security.

Informed by customer use cases, prominent industry attack practices, and threat intelligence from F5 Labs, F5’s extensive portfolio safeguards all applications without impacting the end-user experience or slowing time-to-market.

As a leader in WAF and API security technology, F5 delivers application security with consistent policies and controls across hybrid- and multi-cloud environments.

Our security strategy is rooted in what customers are trying to accomplish—optimum app performance with maximized uptime, lower overall costs, and reduced losses due to fraud or abuse, said John Morgan, VP and GM of Security at F5.

Security remains a key area where we see conflict between increasing business velocity and implementing adequate protections. F5’s application security solutions free developers to focus on the application business logic and customer experience while also providing world-class threat protection with policy and control consistency across on-prem and cloud environments, he said.

Digital transformation efforts often result in hundreds of apps hosted across multiple clouds and on-premises. Modern architectures include distributed microservices, containers, and APIs. Combined, these have radically changed (and increased) the attack surface for applications.

Simultaneously, CI/CD workflows make it critical for security to be addressed throughout the life of an app, as the cycle time for moving apps from development to production is declining rapidly.

The challenge, then, is how to manage security policies across multiple environments with both consistent controls and operational efficiencies. IT personnel must be equipped with better tools such as machine learning and AI to protect against increasingly sophisticated attacks on applications and APIs.

F5’s application security portfolio spans four solution areas that correlate directly to the areas organizations must protect to deliver applications and services: Application Layer Security; Trusted Application Access; Application Infrastructure Security; and Intelligent Threat Services.