A modern business website is often much more than a collection of pages.<\/p>\n
It may have customer accounts, login systems, APIs, forms, dashboards, databases and integrations with other platforms.<\/p>\n
At that point, you’re no longer protecting just a website.<\/p>\n
You’re protecting a web application<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That distinction matters because applications can expose a much larger attack surface than a simple informational website.<\/p>\n Attackers can target login endpoints, APIs, forms and application functionality rather than simply trying to take the homepage offline.<\/p>\n This is where Cloudflare can become an important part of a business’s security architecture.<\/p>\n A web application is essentially software that users interact with through a browser.<\/p>\n An online banking platform is a web application.<\/p>\n An ecommerce store is a web application.<\/p>\n A customer portal is a web application.<\/p>\n A booking system is a web application.<\/p>\n Even some sophisticated WordPress websites contain application-like functionality.<\/p>\n Unlike a simple static website, these systems actively process requests and often interact with databases or other services.<\/p>\n That creates additional security considerations.<\/p>\n Hosting provides the infrastructure required to run an application.<\/p>\n But your hosting server doesn’t necessarily know whether every incoming request is legitimate.<\/p>\n Imagine an application receiving thousands of requests.<\/p>\n Some may come from genuine customers.<\/p>\n Others could be automated scanners testing for vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n Others might be attempting to exploit application weaknesses.<\/p>\n Others could simply be overwhelming the system with requests.<\/p>\n The server sees traffic.<\/p>\n A security layer needs to determine what that traffic means.<\/p>\n This is where Cloudflare’s position at the edge becomes useful.<\/p>\n Instead of allowing every visitor to communicate directly with the origin server, Cloudflare can sit between the user and the application.<\/p>\n The visitor connects to Cloudflare.<\/p>\n Cloudflare processes the request.<\/p>\n Appropriate traffic can then be passed toward the origin.<\/p>\n This architecture provides an opportunity to inspect and control traffic before it reaches the application itself.<\/p>\n For a business, that can create an additional security boundary.<\/p>\n It also means certain attacks can potentially be handled before they consume resources on the origin server.<\/p>\n The WAF is one of the most important concepts when discussing application security.<\/p>\n A Web Application Firewall<\/strong> examines incoming web traffic and applies security rules to identify potentially malicious requests.<\/p>\n This can help protect applications against common classes of web attacks.<\/p>\n For example, an attacker might send specially crafted requests designed to manipulate how an application processes data.<\/p>\n A WAF can identify patterns associated with known attack techniques and take action according to its rules.<\/p>\n That doesn’t mean every attack will automatically be stopped.<\/p>\n Security is never that simple.<\/p>\n But it gives the application another defensive layer.<\/p>\n Tremhost has also published a dedicated explanation of what a WAF is and why businesses need one<\/a>.<\/p>\n Application security isn’t only about malicious requests.<\/p>\n Availability matters too.<\/p>\n A DDoS attack can send enormous amounts of traffic toward an application in an attempt to overwhelm it.<\/p>\n For a business application, the consequences can be serious.<\/p>\n Customers may be unable to log in.<\/p>\n Orders may fail.<\/p>\n Employees may lose access to systems.<\/p>\n APIs may become unavailable.<\/p>\n Cloudflare’s global network can help mitigate DDoS attacks before they reach the origin infrastructure.<\/p>\n That provides an important layer of resilience.<\/p>\n APIs are increasingly important to modern businesses.<\/p>\n A mobile application may communicate with a backend through an API.<\/p>\n An ecommerce website may communicate with payment or inventory systems through APIs.<\/p>\n A business application may connect different internal services through APIs.<\/p>\n That means API security deserves attention.<\/p>\n Cloudflare can form part of an API security strategy, but businesses should not assume that putting an API behind Cloudflare automatically makes it secure.<\/p>\n Authentication, authorisation, input validation and application-level security still need to be handled by the application itself.<\/p>\n Cloudflare is a layer around the application.<\/p>\n It isn’t the application.<\/p>\n This is one of the most important distinctions businesses need to understand.<\/p>\n Suppose your application contains a serious programming vulnerability.<\/p>\n Putting Cloudflare in front of it does not magically repair the code.<\/p>\n Cloudflare can potentially identify and filter certain malicious requests targeting that vulnerability.<\/p>\n But the underlying vulnerability still exists.<\/p>\n The correct long-term solution is to fix the application.<\/p>\n This is why businesses should think about Cloudflare as defence in depth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n You want protection at multiple levels rather than relying on one technology to solve everything.<\/p>\n Security isn’t the only reason to place an application behind Cloudflare.<\/p>\n Performance can matter just as much.<\/p>\n A global application may have users connecting from many different countries.<\/p>\n Cloudflare’s edge network can deliver eligible cached content closer to users.<\/p>\n This can reduce the work required from the origin for content that doesn’t need to be generated dynamically every time.<\/p>\n But applications need careful configuration.<\/p>\n You don’t want to cache personalised information or dynamic responses incorrectly.<\/p>\n A professional implementation therefore needs to understand which parts of the application can safely be cached and which must always reach the origin.<\/p>\n For a relatively straightforward business application, Cloudflare Pro may provide a useful security and performance layer.<\/p>\n But the right level depends on the application.<\/p>\n A small customer portal with limited traffic is very different from a financial platform serving thousands of users.<\/p>\n A basic business application may have modest security requirements.<\/p>\n A high-value application handling sensitive information may require more advanced controls, monitoring and incident response.<\/p>\n The important thing is to assess the application’s actual risk.<\/p>\n Don’t buy a security package simply because it has a bigger number attached to it.<\/p>\n Buy according to what you’re protecting.<\/p>\n There are several situations where an organisation may need to go beyond a basic Cloudflare Pro-based setup.<\/p>\n The application may handle highly sensitive information.<\/p>\n It may process significant financial transactions.<\/p>\n It may be critical to daily operations.<\/p>\n It may have a large attack surface.<\/p>\n It may experience sophisticated attacks.<\/p>\n Or the organisation may simply lack the internal security expertise needed to manage the environment.<\/p>\n In those situations, the business may need a broader managed cybersecurity strategy.<\/p>\n Tremhost’s Managed Cyber Security<\/a> offering goes beyond the Cloudflare layer with capabilities including vulnerability scanning, malware removal, incident response and managed security.<\/p>\n For organisations with more demanding protection requirements, Armor Shield<\/a> provides another level of protection.<\/p>\n Application developers are already responsible for a lot.<\/p>\n They have to maintain the code.<\/p>\n Fix bugs.<\/p>\n Deploy updates.<\/p>\n Manage databases.<\/p>\n Monitor performance.<\/p>\n Build new functionality.<\/p>\n They don’t necessarily want to become network-security specialists as well.<\/p>\n A managed Cloudflare provider can help separate those responsibilities.<\/p>\n The development team focuses on the application.<\/p>\n The technology provider manages the edge security layer.<\/p>\n The business gets expertise on both sides.<\/p>\n That can be particularly valuable for smaller SaaS companies that don’t yet have dedicated security engineering teams.<\/p>\n Software-as-a-Service companies are particularly interesting here.<\/p>\n A SaaS platform may have hundreds or thousands of customers depending on the application.<\/p>\n The website isn’t simply a marketing asset.<\/p>\n It is the product.<\/p>\n If the application goes down, customers cannot use the service.<\/p>\n That makes availability a core business requirement.<\/p>\n DDoS mitigation, traffic filtering, WAF protection and global edge infrastructure can therefore become important components of the platform’s architecture.<\/p>\n But SaaS companies should also consider authentication security, secure coding practices, vulnerability management, logging, backups and incident response.<\/p>\n Again, Cloudflare is a layer rather than the entire security strategy.<\/p>\n Tremhost currently provides a Cloudflare Pro-based service for $9\/month<\/strong>, or $90\/year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For businesses operating web applications, this can provide an accessible entry point into Cloudflare’s security and performance capabilities.<\/p>\n The important distinction is that Tremhost isn’t presenting Cloudflare as a replacement for application security.<\/p>\n The goal is to add Cloudflare as part of the broader architecture.<\/p>\n Tremhost provides the technology relationship, engineering support and a pathway to more advanced cybersecurity services as the business grows.<\/p>\nWhat Is a Web Application?<\/h2>\n
Why Web Applications Need More Than Hosting<\/h2>\n
How Cloudflare Sits Between Users and the Application<\/h2>\n
Cloudflare Pro and the Web Application Firewall<\/h2>\n
DDoS Protection for Web Applications<\/h2>\n
What About APIs?<\/h2>\n
Cloudflare Doesn’t Fix Vulnerable Code<\/h2>\n
Cloudflare Pro and Application Performance<\/h2>\n
When Is Cloudflare Pro Enough?<\/h2>\n
When Should You Consider More Advanced Security?<\/h2>\n
Why Managed Cloudflare Can Help Application Owners<\/h2>\n
Cloudflare Pro for SaaS Businesses<\/h2>\n
Cloudflare Pro Through Tremhost<\/h2>\n