Scope of Analysis

• WAF comprises hardware, software, or services that organizations deploy at the front of a web server. A WAF analyzes open systems’ interconnection with layer-7 traffic to protect applications from attacks that aim to exploit vulnerabilities.
• The study provides insights into the Greater China WAF solutions industry by market: China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
• The market size is based on sales revenues from WAF hardware, software/virtual appliances, and cloud-delivered WAF services.
• The study uses information and insights from Frost & Sullivan’s secondary research, vendors, channel partners, and other industry stakeholders. However, all revenue estimates and forecasts are based on Frost & Sullivan’s analysis and modeling.
• As customers embrace hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, WAF solutions increasingly support hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This study will only include vendors that provide dedicated and cloud-agnostic WAFs that support these environments.
• The study excludes revenues from product maintenance service charges; professional services, such as deployment, consulting, maintenance, and managed security; and add-on modules on other platforms, including unified threat management and application delivery controller.

Key Competitors

Growth Drivers

Growth Restraints

Competitive Environment

Industry Convergence

• Why
  • The increasing reliance on application programming interfaces (APIs) for digital interactions has streamlined operations and enhanced customer experiences, but it has also led to a rise in cyberattacks. These include automated bot attacks and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks targeting APIs, exploiting their vulnerabilities.
  • As web applications and APIs remain primary targets for attackers, the growing sophistication of these threats necessitates a more robust and comprehensive security approach to effectively protect web systems.
• Frost Perspective
  • In the next 3 years, organizations will continue to demand a holistic web protection solution that integrates WAF, DDoS protection, API security, and bot mitigation for more effective security outcomes.
  • WAF vendors in China will place greater emphasis on integrating their WAF solutions with complementary security tools, as mentioned above, to deliver more comprehensive protection in securing web applications and APIs from various modern security threats.

Disruptive Technologies

• Why
  • The Chinese government continues accelerating the development of the Digital China program to boost the digital economy. Part of its digital economy strategy includes promoting emerging services like cloud computing.
  • The growing usage of cloud computing has resulted in the increasing adoption of public, industry, government, and private clouds across sectors, leading to increasing demand for WAF protection in cloud environments.
• Frost Perspective
  • In the next 3 years, it is crucial for WAF vendors to enhance their offerings, positioning them as organizations across various complex cloud environments.
  • While organizations continue to move their workload to multi-cloud environments, they will need to ensure that WAFs that can provide robust protection to their dynamic cloud environment.

Transformative Megatrends

• Why
  • With the growing sophistication of the threat landscape, WAF solutions have evolved from solely focusing on signature-based detection to a more advanced detection that combines machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
  • The integration of AI technology with WAF transforms the approach to web application security, enhances web threat detection, reduces false positives that lead to operational disruptions, and facilitates real-time threat intelligence.
• Frost Perspective
  • In the next 3 years, WAF vendors will increasingly integrate AI and ML technologies into their solutions, fostering a more proactive, adaptive, and intelligent defense against both known and unknown web attacks.
  • By continuously enhancing AI and ML models, WAF solutions leveraging these technologies help organizations stay resilient while addressing challenges posed by rapidly evolving threat landscapes.