Incapsula brings web app firewall to SMEs

Incapsula, a spin off from data security firm Imperva, has launched a cloud-based web application firewall service designed to provide comprehensive web site protection for businesses with few IT resources.

Companies can be up and running with the service in minutes without requiring any hardware or software installed, the firm said, as all that is needed is a simple DNS change to route all web traffic through the Incapsula cloud.

As well as protecting customers from web-based threats, the service can improve web performance by caching content and optimising connectivity to the customer's site, explained Marc Gaffan, Incapsula's vice president of marketing and business development.

"Incapsula brings web application security to anyone with a web site. You don't have to be an expert or have a team of IT security experts behind you," he said. "Incapsula will make your site safer, faster and more reliable."

Gaffan explained that web site hacks leading to malware being secreted on a site can be difficult for firms to recover from, especially if Google blacklists the site.

"If a small site is hacked it could take two to four weeks for it to get back up," he said. "Not only do they have to fix the security problem, they must submit a request to Google to be ranked again."

Companies can also benefit from the global, unified nature of the service which means that an attack spotted on one customer site can be translated into a remedy for everyone else using the service, according to Gaffan.

"Everyone is learning together and improving their security thanks to this collaborative technology," he said.