What is a WAF and does my small business need one?

A WAF (web application firewall) sits in front of your website and inspects incoming traffic, blocking common attacks before they reach your pages. For most small businesses it is worth having, and often already within reach:

• What it stops - automated probes, injection attempts and known attack patterns, the constant background noise every public site receives.
• Where you already have one - many hosts and content delivery networks such as Cloudflare include a basic WAF on free or low-cost plans; you may only need to switch it on.
• What it is not - a substitute for keeping software patched and headers in place; it is a layer in front, not a reason to neglect the basics behind it.

Check whether your host or CDN already offers one before buying anything - for most small sites, enabling what you have is enough.