Q&A about Barracuda’s new AWS Security Competency

We recently shared the news that Barracuda has achieved AWS Application Security Competency for distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection and for web application firewall (WAF). This recognition shows that Barracuda Web Application Firewall successfully met the AWS technical and quality requirements for providing customers with a deep level of software expertise in Application Security to help them achieve their cloud security goals.

To give you a closer look at what this means and how it can help your business, we sat down with Nicole Napiltonia, VP of Alliances here at Barracuda, to get her insights.

Q&A with Nicole Napiltonia, VP of Alliances

As I understand, Barracuda already holds an AWS competency.

Yes, we’ve maintained multiple AWS Security Competencies for a few years now. Barracuda Web Application Firewall has had AWS Security Competency status since 2016. And then in 2018, Barracuda CloudGen Firewall also achieved AWS Security Competency status, making Barracuda one of the first Advanced Technology Partners in the AWS Partner Network (APN) to achieve two security competencies. So, we have a long history of success with these AWS programs.

What’s changed? What’s different about these new competencies?

AWS prides itself on being even more secure than on-premises, and as a result they felt a need to significantly raise the bar for ISVs promoting AWS competencies.

What was involved in achieving this competency, and why should our readers care?

AWS placed a number of requirements around these new competencies. First and foremost, Barracuda had to demonstrate our solutions in practice by providing real-world examples with real customers. Second, Barracuda had to demonstrate foundational knowledge of general cloud security and best practices across the AWS cloud. Third, Barracuda had to demonstrate its’ technical capabilities and prowess at securing applications in AWS.

Meeting all of these requirements shows customers that Barracuda has the technical expertise and real-world experience needed to help them adopt, develop, and deploy complex security projects on AWS — no matter the size of their business.

Could you tell me more about the two new competencies Barracuda achieved?

Yes, we achieved one for DDoS and the other for WAF protection. Most customers don’t realize that other companies separate DDoS from WAF protection. At Barracuda, we believe application security needs to cover all potential threats, not just, say, OWASP top 10.

What should readers take away from this?

It’s simple. Most companies have some motion in the cloud. Many have motions in multiple clouds, and nearly all have some kind of hybrid infrastructure. Barracuda allows them to add defense in depth both in AWS and in other clouds — as well as on premises. And our new AWS competency is one more outside validation of our capabilities in this regard.

Security remains the key concern organizations have about cloud transformation, and while native solutions address many of those organizations’ concerns, augmenting their cloud infrastructure with Barracuda Web Application Firewall or WAF-as-a-Service extends that protection and enables them to focus on their business needs versus security concerns.

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