Protecting Your Website with Amazon Web Application Firewall (WAF)

In this tutorial, we will explore how to use Amazon Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block specific IP addresses from accessing our website. To achieve this, we will configure a WEB ACL in WAF and deny access to our home PC's IP address.

Step 1: Review Your Instance Configuration

Before we begin, let's review our instance configuration. In our scenario, we have two instances called LinuxWebserver1 and LinuxWebserver3 that are part of an Application Load Balancer (ALB). Our goal is to ensure that our home PC's IP address cannot access this website.

Step 2: Verify ALB Configuration

To verify that our ALB is working correctly, let's go to the Load Balancer on the left side and copy and paste the long DNS name. After refreshing the page, we should see both content of the Websites, indicating that our ALB is functioning properly.

Step 3: Use Domain Name with Route 53

As an alternative, since we have an 'A' record set up in Route 53, we can use the domain name on Route 53. This will simplify the process and make life easier for us.

Step 4: Configure Web ACL

Now that we have our ALB configured, it's time to block access to our website from our home PC's IP address using WAF. To do this, go to WAF and click on 'Configure WEB ACL' under the Concepts overview. Then, click Next and name your web ACL 'WebDenyACL'.

Step 5: Block Home PC's IP Address

In the Web ACL configuration page, we can block our home PC's IP address from accessing our website. To do this, simply add a rule to deny access from that specific IP address.

With AWS WAF, you can help protect your web applications from common exploits that could affect app availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources. By configuring a WEB ACL and denying access to specific IP addresses, you can ensure the security of your website and prevent unauthorized access.

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