Imperva (IMPV)
Imperva, Inc (www.imperva.com) is a California-based cyber security firm offering integrated platforms and appliances for web, database and file security. Imperva’s primary application is a Web Application Firewall known as Secure Sphere which was recently rated as the leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.
Gartner’s analysis noted Imperva’s lead in several areas
- High success rate on protection rather than just detection of threats
- Simple “drop-in install” (alternatively called transparent bridge deployment)
- Amazon Web Services or on-premises deployment options
- Positive client feedback
Web Application Firewalls commonly abbreviated as WAF work by applying flow rules for HTTP traffic at the application level monitoring day-to-day activity against known threats. This provides an extra layer of protection on top of network firewalls such as those offered by Cisco or other vendors. Where network firewall is limited and WAF becomes beneficial is visibility into the layer where most attacks occur – the application layer. By looking only at the port network firewall is not able to detect cookie, session, or parameter tampering attacks. They cannot stop fraudulent devices or business logic attacks.
Common threats that Web Application Firewall is designed to protect against include:
Distributed Denial of Service attacks commonly abbreviated as DDoS which manipulate incoming web traffic using unique IP addresses to overload and slow down (or crash) your web application.
SQL Injection attacks which can give the attacker access to any data stored within your application including user accounts and financial information. The PCI Security Standards Council has recognized the protection that WAF offers for customer financial records and requires deployment of a certified appliance in order to remain within their compliance standard.
Cross-site scripting commonly abbreviates as XSS is done when an attacker injects client script into a web app. This danger here can range from relatively innocuous threats such as advertising injection or cookie stuffing all the way to mock logins stealing user sessions and in turn accounts and information.
XSS used can also be used by nefarious actors to upload spam links and malicious scripts to an externally facing website bringing down search engine rankings and potentially putting your customers at risk.
As the popularity of web-based applications used in the enterprise continues to grow WAF has become critical to businesses big and small. 75% of attacks are coming at the application layer and as apps such as Office 365, Yammer and Salesforce increase adoption so should use of Web Application Firewall.
The market is positioned for growth with expected compounded annual growth rate of 17.34% through the year 2019 and with Imperva as the leader based on the respected analysis of Gartner we expect much of the growth will go their direction.
Market analysts are expecting a surge in earnings with YOY growth of 38% and we think the stock will follow similar trends over the coming days and weeks.
As of market close today IMPV is trading at $73.02. We wouldn’t be surprised to see this surpass $80 within the year following the expected strong earnings release early next year.
Netfast IT Stock Research recommends IMPV as a buy…
About Netfast Technology Solutions:
Netfast (www.netfast.com) is an IT Services Company providing Cloud Managed Services to enable its customers to focus on key strategic business initiatives, create competitive advantage, drive business growth and improve the profitability of their business.
About Author:
Joe Asady is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of New York City based Netfast Technology Solutions Inc. Joe is a successful serial entrepreneur, who has created 13 companies in Information Technology, E-commerce, Media, Real Estate, Retail and International Trade in US (Dallas, San Francisco, New York), Europe (Amsterdam) and Asia (Bangalore, Dubai).
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