6 Must-Have WAF Features Insurance Companies Need in 2025

The insurance sector is in the middle of a cybersecurity storm. 

In 2024, Indusface analyzed over 495 million attacks targeting insurance websites and APIs. The findings were alarming: attackers are no longer spraying and praying; they’re precise, persistent, and increasingly automated. 

Here’s what the data showed: 

• 3X increase in attacks per website between Q1 and Q4
• 8X rise in exploitation of known vulnerabilities
• 2.5X higher bot attacks compared to other industries
• 55% of blocked attacks were stopped by custom security rules 

Insurance companies, which handle high volumes of personal and financial data, cannot afford security gaps. And yet, many continue to rely on outdated WAFs with generic protection models that leave them exposed. 

Here are the core WAF features that modern insurance firms should prioritize in 2025, mapped to their unique challenges.

Key WAF Features Insurance Firms Must Prioritize

1. Eliminate False Positives That Disrupt Customer Journeys

Insurance applications often serve customers filing claims, brokers logging into dashboards, and underwriters processing sensitive data. A single false positive can disrupt this flow, delaying policies and frustrating users. 

The WAF must:

• Combine automation and manual testing to validate vulnerabilities
• Offer precise detection models that minimize false positives
• Be trusted enough to run in block mode without hesitation 

False positives erode trust and create operational bottlenecks. Precision is essential in a sector built on reliability.

2. Remediate Vulnerabilities Fast to Protect Compliance and Sales

According to industry studies, vulnerabilities remain open for an average of 180 days in most organizations. For insurers, this isn’t just a technical issue—it can delay audits, disrupt compliance, and even cost business. 

Security-conscious enterprises and regulators increasingly demand proof that vulnerabilities are patched promptly.

Unpatched flaws can:

• Compromise confidential data such as policyholder information
• Jeopardize accreditations like PCI-DSS, HIPAA, or IRDAI compliance
• Cause delays or loss in deals with security-conscious clients 

A modern WAF should fix issues fast, ideally within hours, and without needing engineering cycles. 

3. Secure APIs That Power Everything from Claims to Brokers

Insurance businesses are API-first by necessity. From mobile apps to aggregator APIs and broker portals, APIs connect everything. 

Unfortunately, these same APIs often introduce shadow endpoints or expose sensitive data. 

A capable WAF must:

• Automatically discover APIs, including undocumented and third-party ones
• Use behavioral models to enforce positive security policies
• Continuously scan for OWASP Top 10 API vulnerabilities
• Generate documentation for inventory and security audits 

Additionally, client-side protection mechanisms help mitigate risk from third-party scripts or forms that could be tampered with. 

Most modern WAFs now include API security as a core capability, and this broader category is referred to as WAAP (Web Application and API Protection).

4. Defend Against Bots and DDoS That Target High-Value Apps

In 2024, insurance platforms saw 2.5X more bot attacks than the average across industries. These attacks often involved credential stuffing, quote scraping, and claims abuse—activities that cost time, resources, and revenue. 

DDoS attacks, both at the network and application layer, further disrupt operations and can lead to SLA violations. 

A modern WAF must include:

• AI-driven behavioral models for rate limiting and fingerprinting
• Real-time mitigation of both volumetric and application-layer attacks
• CAPTCHA, JS challenges, and human verification techniques
• SLA-backed uptime guarantees to ensure application continuity

5. Enforce Business Logic Protection Through Custom Rules

Insurance workflows are complex and context-specific. Generic rules can’t understand scenarios like premium recalculations, claims approvals, or underwriting rules. 

In our attack analysis, 55% of threats were stopped using custom rules tailored to application logic. 

A strong WAF must:

• Support fine-tuned rule creation based on app-specific behavior
• Allow continuous updates driven by live traffic analysis
• Include manual penetration testing services to uncover business logic flaws beyond automation’s reach 

6. Reduce Third-Party Risk from Brokers, Aggregators, and External Scripts

Insurance ecosystems are rarely self-contained. From broker platforms to third-party aggregators and customer support portals, insurers depend heavily on external systems and scripts. Each of these integrations can introduce security risks—especially when scripts are injected client-side or vulnerabilities exist in partner applications.

An effective WAF strategy must account for these external risks, especially when data flows between systems the insurer does not directly control.

A WAF built for insurance needs to:

• Detect and monitor client-side scripts to prevent form-jacking, cross-site scripting, or malicious injections
• Use autonomous remediation to patch vulnerabilities fast, limiting exposure time from known flaws
• Provide continuous visibility into third-party dependencies across websites and APIs
• Protect against browser-based attacks that bypass server-side protections

With insurers facing increasing scrutiny from regulators and enterprise clients alike, securing the extended ecosystem is no longer optional—it’s fundamental.
 

How AppTrana WAAP Addresses These Needs 

AppTrana, Indusface’s fully managed Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) platform, is purpose-built for high-risk industries like insurance. Here’s how it maps to the needs discussed: 

• Precision Protection: Combines AI-powered DAST with manual testing to eliminate false positives
• Autonomous Remediation: With SwyftComply, critical vulnerabilities are virtually patched within 24 hours, no code changes needed
• 72-Hour Compliance: Enables faster audit clearance with clean reports
• API Security: Discovers shadow and third-party APIs, enforces behavioral controls, and scans continuously
• Bot & DDoS Mitigation: Uses ML to mitigate malicious activity in real-time with 100% uptime assurance
• Business Logic Security: Through manual pentests and expert-tuned rules
• Client-Side Protection: Secures third-party components and mitigates form-jacking and script-based threats
• Managed Expertise: A 24×7 SOC handles tuning, onboarding, and threat response 

In Action: How Bandhan Life Stopped Millions of Attacks 

One of India’s fastest-growing insurance firms, Bandhan Life, faced relentless cyberattacks targeting both public and internal APIs. 

With AppTrana, they were able to:

• Block millions of attacks in real-time, including bot campaigns
• Achieve zero downtime onboarding without disrupting business
• Use the 24×7 SOC team for tuning and threat monitoring
• Clear audits faster, thanks to clean, auditor-ready vulnerability reports 

AppTrana helped Bandhan Life secure applications and scale securely, all without additional load on their tech team. 

Read the full case study, here.

Final Thoughts 

A next-gen WAF is central to this mission. The must-have features in 2025 include real-time remediation, API protection, behavioral bot defense, zero false positives, and full-stack managed support. 

If you’re in the insurance industry and still relying on legacy protection, it’s time to rethink. AppTrana WAAP is built for this moment—and ready to help. 

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