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.
Student Testimonials
Instructor did a great job, from experience this subject can be a bit dry to teach but he was able to keep it very engaging and made it much easier to focus.
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Excellent presentation skills, subject matter knowledge, and command of the environment.
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Instructor was outstanding. Knowledgeable, presented well, and class timing was perfect.
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Prerequisites
Administering BIG-IP; basic familiarity with HTTP, HTML and XML; basic web application and security concepts.
Detailed Class Syllabus
Lesson 1 : 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
Lesson 2 : Traffic Processing with BIG-IP
Identifying BIG-IP Traffic Processing Objects
Overview of Network Packet Flow
Understanding Profiles
Overview of Local Traffic Policies
Visualizing the HTTP Request Flow
Lesson 3 : Web Application Concepts
Overview of Web Application Request Processing
Web Application Firewall: Layer 7 Protection
F5 Advanced WAF 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
Lesson 4 : Common Web Application Vulnerabilities
A Taxonomy of Attacks: The Threat Landscape
What Elements of Application Delivery are Targeted?
Common Exploits Against Web Applications
Lesson 5 : Security Policy Deployment
Defining Learning
Comparing Positive and Negative Security Models
The Deployment Workflow
Policy Type: How Will the Policy Be Applied
Policy Template: Determines the Level of Protection
Policy Templates: Automatic or Manual Policy Building
Assigning Policy to Virtual Server
Deployment Workflow: Using Advanced Settings
Selecting the Enforcement Mode
The Importance of Application Language
Configure Server Technologies
Verify Attack Signature Staging
Viewing Requests
Security Checks Offered by Rapid Deployment
Defining Attack Signatures
Using Data Guard to Check Responses
Lesson 6 : Policy Tuning and Violations
Post-Deployment Traffic Processing
Defining Violations
Defining False Positives
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
Lesson 7 : Attack Signatures & 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
Lesson 8 : 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
Violations Without Learning Suggestions
Defining the Learning Score
Defining Trusted and Untrusted IP Addresses
How to Learn: Compact
Lesson 9 : Cookies and Other Headers
F5 Advanced WAF Cookies: What to Enforce
Defining Allowed and Enforced Cookies
Configuring Security Processing on HTTP headers
Lesson 10 : Reporting and Logging
Overview: Big Picture Data
Reporting: Build Your Own View
Reporting: Chart based on filters
Brute Force and Web Scraping Statistics
Viewing F5 Advanced WAF Resource Reports
PCI Compliance: PCI-DSS 3.0
The Attack Expert System
Viewing Traffic Learning Graphs
Local Logging Facilities and Destinations
How to Enable Local Logging of Security Events
Viewing Logs in the Configuration Utility
Exporting Requests
Logging Profiles: Build What You Need
Configuring Response Logging
Lesson 11 : Lab Project 1
Lab Project 1
Lesson 12 : Advanced Parameter Handling
Defining Parameter Types
Defining Static Parameters
Defining Dynamic Parameters
Defining Dynamic Parameter Extraction Properties
Defining Parameter Levels
Other Parameter Considerations
Lesson 13 : 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
Lesson 14 : Web Application Vulnerability Scanner Integration
Integrating Scanner Output
Importing Vulnerabilities
Resolving Vulnerabilities
Using the Generic XML Scanner XSD file
Lesson 15 : Deploying Layered Policies
Defining a Parent Policy
Defining Inheritance
Parent Policy Deployment Use Cases
Lesson 16 : Login Enforcement and Brute Force Mitigation
Defining Login Pages
Configuring Automatic Detection of Login Pages
Defining Session Tracking
What Are Brute Force Attacks?
Brute Force Protection Configuration
Defining Source-Based Protection
Source-Based Brute Force Mitigations
Defining Credentials Stuffing
Mitigating Credentials Stuffing
Lesson 17 : Reconnaissance with Session Tracking
Defining Session Tracking
Configuring Actions Upon Violation Detection
Lesson 18 : Layer 7 DoS Mitigation
Defining Denial of Service Attacks
Defining the DoS Protection Profile
Overview of TPS-based DoS Protection
Create a DoS Logging Profile
Applying TPS Mitigations
Defining Behavioral and Stress-Based Detection
Lesson 19 : Advanced Bot Protection
Classifying Client with the Bot Defense Profile
Defining Bot Signatures
Defining Proactive Bot Defense
Defining Behavioral and Stress-Based Detection
Defining Behavioral DoS Mitigation
Lesson 20 : 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
Lesson 21 : Review and Final Labs
Review and Final Labs