For a small logistics company, securing their website had never been a top priority. The website was simple — a service platform for booking deliveries and tracking shipments. However, as the business grew, so did its online presence and vulnerability to cyber threats. The company’s lead developer quickly found themselves dealing with a growing number of attacks, from SQL injection attempts to brute-force login attempts.
That’s when they decided to deploy SafeLine, an open-source Web Application Firewall (WAF), to protect the site and its users from common security threats. Here's how SafeLine helped this small logistics company secure their website without the need for immediate code changes or costly third-party services.
The Problem: Security Threats and Limited Resources
The company’s website had been running for several years without any dedicated security measures. The development team focused primarily on scaling the platform and adding new features, but they hadn’t put much thought into web application security. This oversight became painfully clear when they started receiving reports of SQL injection, XSS attacks, and even brute-force login attempts aimed at their user authentication system.
- SQL Injection: Malicious users attempted to exploit vulnerabilities in the platform's booking system by injecting harmful queries into the database.
- Brute-force Attacks: Automated bots tried to guess admin credentials by attempting various username-password combinations.
- Scraping: Competitors started scraping delivery pricing and shipment data from the website.
These vulnerabilities were not only putting the website at risk but also threatening the trust of their customers. The development team knew they needed to act fast but had limited resources to dedicate to security fixes.
The Solution: SafeLine WAF
Quick Setup with No Downtime
After researching various options, the team found SafeLine — an open-source, self-hosted WAF with an impressive set of features to counteract web security threats. Unlike commercial WAF services, SafeLine offered a cost-effective solution that could be deployed without incurring extra costs. The best part? It could be set up quickly and without affecting the ongoing operations of the website.
SafeLine acted as a reverse proxy, sitting in front of the website and blocking malicious traffic before it could reach the platform’s backend. The setup process was straightforward, and with SafeLine's intuitive interface, the team was able to deploy the firewall in a matter of minutes.
Key Features That Secured the Website
1. Protection Against SQL Injection
One of the first threats faced was SQL injection. The booking system was vulnerable because it used concatenated SQL queries to retrieve delivery data. SafeLine immediately blocked all suspicious traffic targeting the database, including those attempts that involved common SQL injection patterns. By using behavioral analysis, SafeLine was able to detect unusual parameter behavior even when traditional signatures didn’t match.
2. Brute-Force Login Protection
The second challenge was the constant threat of brute-force login attempts on the website’s admin panel. Since the website wasn’t using CAPTCHA or other rate-limiting mechanisms, bots were able to try thousands of password combinations. SafeLine’s rate-limiting feature automatically blocked IPs that made too many failed login attempts in a short period. This kept the login page secure without needing immediate changes to the underlying authentication system.
3. Bot Scraping Prevention
As the business grew, competitors started scraping delivery pricing and shipment data. SafeLine’s human verification feature helped block these bots by requiring CAPTCHA challenges for suspected automated traffic. Real users could continue using the website normally, while bots were blocked in real-time.
Moreover, SafeLine’s dynamic content protection was a game-changer for the team. It obfuscated HTML and JavaScript content, ensuring that even if a bot bypassed the human verification, it would still struggle to scrape any valuable information.
Real-Time Monitoring and Actionable Insights
SafeLine’s dashboard provided the team with real-time insights into the security status of the website. The dashboard displayed:
- Blocked attacks: The team could see how many attacks were blocked each day.
- IP address frequency: A quick way to spot any suspicious activity from specific IP addresses.
- Targeted URLs: Which pages on the website were under attack.
This made it easier to quickly identify security issues and monitor ongoing threats without having to sift through complex logs.
How SafeLine Helped in Real-World Scenarios
Scenario 1: SQL Injection Blocked in Real-Time
The booking system came under attack by a bot trying to inject malicious SQL queries into the backend database. SafeLine’s semantic analysis engine identified unusual query patterns even though they didn’t exactly match known signatures. SafeLine immediately blocked the attack, preventing any damage to the database or the integrity of the data.
Scenario 2: Brute-force Protection During Peak Traffic
During a busy sales period, the admin interface came under a brute-force attack. SafeLine automatically detected the high volume of failed login attempts and rate-limited the traffic from the attacking IP. The development team didn't need to manually adjust firewall rules or implement complex CAPTCHA systems; SafeLine handled it seamlessly, keeping the site up and running without disruptions.
Scenario 3: Scraping Bots Targeting Shipment Data
The website’s shipment data and delivery prices were scraped by competitors looking for an edge. SafeLine’s dynamic protection obfuscated the website’s HTML and JavaScript on every page load, making it impossible for scraping bots to parse the data accurately. Within days, the bot traffic stopped, and the pricing remained secure.
SafeLine's Open-Source Nature: Perfect for Small Businesses
For the development team, the fact that SafeLine is an open-source solution was a key benefit. As a small business with limited IT resources, the ability to deploy and manage SafeLine on their own infrastructure was invaluable. They didn’t have to worry about subscription costs or data privacy concerns often associated with third-party WAF providers.
Conclusion: A Reliable Security Solution for Small Businesses
With SafeLine, the team was able to mitigate a variety of cyber threats without requiring extensive changes to their existing website infrastructure. The self-hosted WAF provided comprehensive protection against SQL injection, brute-force attacks, and bot scraping. Furthermore, SafeLine's user-friendly interface and real-time monitoring allowed them to manage security with ease, giving the team more time to focus on growing the business.
For small businesses and developers facing similar challenges, SafeLine offers a powerful, cost-effective way to safeguard your website and web applications. With over 470,000 installations and 1 million websites protected, SafeLine is a reliable, open-source security solution that helps businesses of all sizes stay safe from cyber threats.
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