Signal Sciences

Signal Sciences was a pioneering next-generation WAF/RASP solution known for its developer-friendly approach.

It was acquired by Fastly in 2020 and is now integrated into Fastly’s Next-Gen WAF product.

What was Signal Sciences?

Signal Sciences offered a hybrid WAF/RASP solution that combined network-level protection with application-layer visibility.

The product was known for:

• Easy deployment through lightweight agents
• Low false positive rates
• DevOps-friendly operations
• Real-time attack visibility

Acquisition by Fastly

In August 2020, Fastly acquired Signal Sciences for $775 million.

The acquisition combined Fastly’s edge cloud platform with Signal Sciences’ application security capabilities.

Current Status

Signal Sciences technology is now available as part of Fastly Next-Gen WAF.

Existing Signal Sciences customers have been migrated to the Fastly platform.

Key Features (Historical)

Agent-Based Architecture

Signal Sciences used lightweight agents deployed alongside applications:

• Minimal performance impact
• Language-agnostic protection
• Container and serverless support

SmartParse Technology

Signal Sciences’ SmartParse analyzed requests in context:

• Understood application logic
• Reduced false positives significantly
• Detected zero-day attacks

Power Rules

Customizable rules for specific protection:

• Business logic protection
• Custom attack signatures
• Rate limiting and blocking

Migration to Fastly

Organizations using Signal Sciences should consider:

• Fastly Next-Gen WAF - Direct successor product
• Integration with Fastly CDN and edge computing
• Enhanced API protection capabilities

Fastly Next-Gen WAF

The successor product offers:

Alternatives

For organizations evaluating options similar to Signal Sciences:

• Fastly Next-Gen WAF - Official successor
• Cloudflare WAF - Edge-based protection
• AWS WAF - Cloud-native option
• Contrast Protect - RASP-focused alternative