AWS Mastery for .NET Architects

AWS WAF: Protecting your APIs from common web attacks

1 Views Updated 5/4/2026

Web Application Firewall

AWS WAF is your shield against SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and automated bots.

1. Managed Rules

You don't have to write your own security rules. AWS provides **Managed Rulesets** that automatically block known bad IP addresses and common OWASP Top 10 exploits. **Architect Tip:** Always enable the 'Core Rule Set' (CRS) on your production Load Balancers.

2. Geo-Blocking and Rate Limiting

If your app only serves the US, you can use WAF to block all traffic from other countries. You can also set a rate limit (e.g., '100 requests per 5 minutes per IP') to prevent brute-force attacks on your login endpoints.

3. Architect Insight

Q: "Where should I attach WAF?"

Architect Answer: "You can attach WAF to an **ALB**, **API Gateway**, or **CloudFront**. If you are using CloudFront, attach the WAF there—this allows you to block malicious traffic at the 'Edge' before it ever reaches your infrastructure, saving you bandwidth and compute costs."

AWS Mastery for .NET Architects
1. AWS Global Infrastructure
AWS Foundations: Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations VPC Deep Dive: Subnets, Route Tables, and Internet Gateways IAM (Identity and Access Management): The Principle of Least Privilege Security Groups vs Network ACLs: Handling traffic for .NET apps
2. Compute for .NET
EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Choosing the right instance for C# apps AWS Lambda: Serverless .NET with Native AOT ECS & Fargate: Containerizing .NET APIs at scale Auto Scaling Groups: Handling spikes in traffic
3. Storage & Databases
S3 (Simple Storage Service): Architecting a binary storage layer RDS (Relational Database Service): Managed SQL Server in the cloud DynamoDB Mastery: NoSQL for extreme scale ElastiCache: Boosting performance with Redis/Memcached
4. Networking & Content Delivery
Route 53: DNS management and health checks Application Load Balancer (ALB) vs Network Load Balancer (NLB) CloudFront: Accelerating frontend delivery via CDN API Gateway: Building a unified entry point for Microservices
5. Security & Compliance
AWS WAF: Protecting your APIs from common web attacks AWS Secrets Manager: Managing connection strings securely KMS (Key Management Service): Data encryption for .NET CloudTrail: Auditing your infrastructure changes
6. Messaging & Events
SQS (Simple Queue Service): Decoupling .NET services SNS (Simple Notification Service): Pub/Sub patterns in AWS EventBridge: Building an event-driven bus Step Functions: Orchestrating complex serverless workflows
7. Monitoring & DevOps
CloudWatch: Metrics, Logs, and Alarms for C# apps X-Ray: Distributed tracing for .NET Microservices AWS CodePipeline: CI/CD for .NET on AWS CloudFormation & CDK: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with C#
8. Optimization & Scale
Cost Optimization (FinOps): Reducing your monthly AWS bill Case Study: Migrating a legacy Monolith to a Cloud-Native AWS stack