AWS WAF vs. AWS Firewall Manager vs. WAS Shield | Deep Dive.

Here’s twtech deep dive Comparison of AWS WAF, AWS Firewall Manager, and AWS Shield, focusing on their purpose, scope, architecture, and use cases.

Focus:

•        High-Level Overview,
•        Core Functions and Responsibilities,
•        Layered Security Model Integration,
•        Together AWS WAF + Shield + Firewall Manager,
•        Protection Layers in OSI Model Context,
•        Feature Comparison Matrix,
•        Sample Scenarios,
•        Best Practice: Combined Use,
•        Summary,

 High-Level Overview

Service	Primary Function	Layer of Protection	Typical Use Case
AWS WAF	Application layer firewall (L7)	Protects HTTP/S traffic	Filter/Block malicious web requests
AWS Shield	DDoS protection (L3/L4 + partial L7)	Protects network & transport layers	Defend against volumetric or protocol DDoS attacks
AWS Firewall Manager	Centralized policy management	Multi-account governance layer	Manage WAF, Shield, Network Firewall, DNS Firewall policies org-wide

 Core Functions and Responsibilities

Capability	AWS WAF	AWS Shield	AWS Firewall Manager
Main Role	Web traffic filtering (L7)	DDoS protection (L3/L4 + L7 for Advanced)	Centralized management for multiple accounts/policies
Where It Applies	CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway, AppSync	Global Accelerator, CloudFront, ALB, EC2 (Elastic IPs)	Across AWS accounts using AWS Organizations
Protection Type	OWASP Top 10, bots, SQLi/XSS	SYN floods, UDP floods, reflection attacks	Applies and enforces WAF, Shield, SG, NF policies
Configuration	Web ACLs with rules and rule groups	Auto-enabled (Shield Standard) or configurable (Shield Advanced)	Policy definitions (WAF/Shield/Security Groups/DNS/NF)
Automation Scope	Individual resource level	Account-level (per resource)	Organization-level (multi-account, OU-based)
Compliance Reporting	Per Web ACL metrics (CloudWatch)	Attack diagnostics and reports	Compliance dashboard and remediation
Pricing	Pay-per-WebACL & request	Standard (free) / Advanced (paid)	Pay-per-policy per account

 Layered Security Model Integration

#  Together AWS WAF + Shield + Firewall Manager:

• WAF defends against application-layer attacks (SQLi, XSS, bots).
• Shield defends against network-layer DDoS (SYN floods, UDP floods).
• Firewall Manager ensures consistent protection across all accounts and new resources.

 Protection Layers in OSI Model Context

OSI Layer	Example Threats	AWS Service Defense
Layer 3 (Network)	SYN floods, UDP floods	AWS Shield Advanced
Layer 4 (Transport)	TCP connection exhaustion	AWS Shield Advanced
Layer 7 (Application)	SQLi, XSS, bad bots	AWS WAF
Management / Governance Layer	Configuration drift, inconsistent policy	AWS Firewall Manager

 Feature Comparison Matrix

Feature	WAF	Shield	Firewall Manager
Custom Rules	✅ (Web ACLs, managed rule groups)	❌	✅ (enforce org-wide)
DDoS Protection	⚠️ Basic (via rate limits)	✅ Advanced detection	✅ Auto-enroll Shield via policy
Multi-Account Policy Enforcement	❌	❌	✅
Bot Management	✅ (Bot Control add-on)	❌	✅ (via policy)
API Gateway Integration	✅	⚠️ (via WAF only)	✅
CloudFront Protection	✅	✅	✅
VPC-Level Protection	❌	⚠️ (for Elastic IPs)	✅ (via AWS Network Firewall policy)
Compliance Dashboard	⚠️ Limited	✅ (attack reports)	✅ (org-wide compliance view)
Auto-Remediation	❌	❌	✅ (enforce/reapply policies automatically)
Security Hub Integration	⚠️ Manual	✅	✅
Cost Control	Pay-per-ACL	Flat per resource (Adv)	Pay-per-policy

 Sample Scenarios

Scenario	Recommended Service(s)
Protect CloudFront & ALB from SQL injection, XSS	AWS WAF
Prevent DDoS attacks on a public-facing ALB or IP	AWS Shield Advanced
Apply a standard WAF + Shield policy across 50 AWS accounts	AWS Firewall Manager
Ensure every new VPC includes a Network Firewall policy	AWS Firewall Manager
Detect & block bots scraping APIs	AWS WAF Bot Control
Audit and restrict overly permissive Security Groups	Firewall Manager (Security Group policy)

 Best Practice: Combined Use

Goal	Recommended Combination
Full-stack DDoS + Web protection	Shield Advanced + WAF
Multi-account security compliance	Firewall Manager + (WAF/Shield)
Auto-protection for new workloads	Firewall Manager policies with tag-based enforcement
Visibility + Response	Integrate all with AWS Security Hub and CloudWatch

 Summary

Aspect	AWS WAF	AWS Shield	AWS Firewall Manager
Primary Focus	Web app security (L7)	DDoS resilience (L3/L4)	Org-wide policy enforcement
Managed By	Security/DevOps team	Security/Infra team	Central SecOps
Scope	Resource-level	Account-level	Organization-level
Best For	Custom traffic rules, bots	DDoS protection, SLAs	Governance & automation