Making WAF Mainstream: From Static Defenses to Living, Learning Protection
Roy Weisfeld, Surya Pentakota
BSidesSF 2026 · Day 2 · AMC Theatre 10
This talk, "Making WAF Mainstream: From Static Defenses to Living, Learning Protection," delivered by Roy Weisfeld and Surya Pentakota, addresses the pervasive frustrations associated with traditional **Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)** and proposes a revolutionary approach to transform them into intelligent, adaptive **edge security layers**. The speakers argue that conventional WAFs, with their static rule sets and fragmented visibility, are inadequate for today's complex, multi-cloud, and global application environments, leading to significant operational overhead, revenue loss, and security gaps.
AI review
A vendor pitch wearing a case study costume. Roy is selling Huskys, his WAF management startup, and TikTok's Surya provides enterprise credibility cover. The problem statement is real and well-articulated, but everything after that is product marketing dressed as research.