Configuring and Updating Baseline Protection

Baseline Protection provides instant security to your web applications with minimum configuration work.

If you previously configured some rules in your security configuration, baseline protection adds its own rules up to the existing rules. Baseline protection never disables or modifies any of your custom rules.

First-Time configuration

To add baseline protection to an application:

  1. Run the Baseline Protection Wizard for the application to which you want to add baseline protection (see Using Wizards to Configure Applications for details on how to enter the wizard). In the wizard, choose the most recent baseline for use.
  2. Commit and activate your ruleset (see Committing and Activating Ruleset Changes).

Your web application is now protected.

Usually, your configuration is now finished and does not require any further refinement. If you’re an advanced user, you can manually fine tune the Baseline Protection Handler, which was added by the wizard.

How to find out when new baselines are available

vWAF automatically downloads new baselines, but it does not automatically add them to your ruleset. When vWAF has downloaded a new baseline, a hint on the Home page (see Starting Administration) notifies you that an update is available for configuration and activation:

If you see the message “didn’t check for updates” on the home page, check your installation settings (see Installation). For the automatic update notification to work, you need an active Internet connection when you log in to vWAF. If you use a proxy, you must configure this proxy in the configuration file zeusafm.conf (attributes see System Configuration).

If you previously configured an alert (see Configuring Alerts and New Baselines Available Event Source), you are also notified by email or another event destination. You can also check for available baselines using Baseline Management.

Updating the baseline

To update the current baseline:

  1. Run the Baseline Protection Wizard for the application for which you want to update the baseline. In the wizard, choose the option Update to latest version.
  2. Commit and activate your ruleset (see Committing and Activating Ruleset Changes).