Understanding the three protection modes#

• Log Only (Recommended for new sites): The firewall actively inspects every visitor, URL, and form submission. If it spots a hacking attempt, it creates an alert in your log table, but still lets the visitor through. This allows you to verify that real customers are not being flagged before turning on strict blocking.
• Block (Enforced) (Recommended for ongoing protection): The firewall actively blocks hackers. When an attack pattern is identified, WebOptiva immediately halts the request with an HTTP 403 Forbidden notice. The hacker never reaches your server.
• Disabled: The firewall is completely switched off. Traffic passes straight to your web host without being inspected.

What is Deep Request Body Inspection?#

Hackers don't just put malicious code into website links; they often submit it inside contact forms, product review boxes, search fields, and login screens. When you enable Managed OWASP Core Rulesets, WebOptiva also inspects JSON and form-urlencoded request bodies up to 64KB to ensure no hidden malicious code reaches your database.

Step-by-step: how to configure your firewall#

1. In Security operations, click the Edge WAF & Rate Limiting tab in the sub-navigation bar.
2. Select your website domain name from the dropdown at the top.
3. In the Web Application Firewall card, you will see three mode buttons: Log Only, Block (Enforced), and Disabled. Click Block (Enforced) when you are ready for active protection (or Log Only if testing).
4. Tick the Enable Managed OWASP Core Rulesets checkbox to turn on deep request body inspection.
5. Click Save Draft at the bottom of the card.
6. Click Deploy changes. The firewall settings are synced across all global edge servers in less than two seconds.

Expected result#

Round-the-clock automated defense that stops form spam, database hacking, and script injections before they can touch your website backend.