Securing Web Applications at Scale with Google Cloud Armor
In the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, protecting public-facing web applications is no longer optional—it’s essential. Google Cloud Armor provides enterprise-grade DDoS protection and application-layer defense for services deployed on GCP. This blog will guide you through deploying Cloud Armor to safeguard your apps using custom security policies and preconfigured WAF rules.
Step-by-Step Implementation:
Step 1: Enable Cloud Armor API
Activate the required API to start defining security policies.
gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
Step 2: Define a Security Policy
Create a policy to allow only specific traffic or block malicious IPs.
gcloud compute security-policies create my-security-policy \
–description “Block traffic from known bad IPs”
Step 3: Add Rules (WAF or IP-based)
Block specific IPs or use Google’s preconfigured WAF rules.
gcloud compute security-policies rules create 1000 \
–security-policy my-security-policy \
–src-ip-ranges “1.2.3.4” \
–action deny-403 \
–description “Block known attacker”
Step 4: Associate Policy with Backend Service
gcloud compute backend-services update my-backend-service \
–security-policy my-security-policy \
–global
Benefits:
- Real-time protection from DDoS and OWASP Top 10 threats
- Geo-based traffic filtering
- Integration with logging and monitoring tools
Conclusion:
Google Cloud Armor empowers teams to implement robust security at the edge—ensuring performance isn’t sacrificed for protection. Whether you’re defending a high-traffic site or a critical business app, Cloud Armor scales with your needs.