What is the primary purpose of a Web Application Firewall (WAF)?

The primary purpose of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) is to protect web applications from security threats. A WAF specifically filters, monitors, and manages HTTP traffic to and from a web application, helping to protect against common cyber threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other web-based exploits. By inspecting incoming traffic, the WAF can block malicious requests before they reach the web application, effectively serving as a protective barrier.

This focus on security is essential because web applications often have vulnerabilities that cyber attackers can exploit. WAFs are configured to apply security measures based on pre-defined policies and threat signatures, which allows them to respond to evolving threats more dynamically.

In contrast, the other options describe functions that do not relate to the primary security role of a WAF. Monitoring network bandwidth usage is more associated with network performance management rather than security. Analyzing user behavior patterns might be relevant for user experience enhancement or fraud detection but does not specifically address the protection of web applications. Providing cloud storage solutions is an entirely different service and does not pertain to safeguarding web application traffic from attacks.