F5 ASM (Application Security Manager)
Course Summary
F5 ASM (Application Security Manager) is an advanced, hands-on training program designed to equip network security professionals, DevSecOps engineers, and system administrators with the knowledge and skills to deploy, configure, and manage web application firewalls using the F5 BIG-IP ASM module.
This course offers in-depth coverage of application-layer security, threat protection, and secure application delivery using F5’s market-leading WAF (Web Application Firewall) technology. Whether you’re aiming to protect enterprise-grade applications or meet compliance requirements such as PCI-DSS, this course empowers you with the expertise to secure your applications in real-time.
Why Learn F5 ASM?
As cyber threats grow increasingly complex, traditional firewalls are no longer enough. F5 ASM provides powerful protection at the application layer, defending against OWASP Top 10 threats, bots, Layer 7 DDoS attacks, zero-day vulnerabilities, and more.
Learning F5 ASM gives you the ability to:
Mitigate real-world application-layer attacks
Enforce compliance and data protection policies
Secure web applications with minimal impact on performance
Manage WAF policies in dynamic, multi-application environments
Enhance the security posture of enterprise applications
Who This Course Is For
Security Engineers and Analysts managing enterprise firewalls and WAFs
Network and System Administrators looking to expand into application-layer security
DevSecOps Engineers integrating security into CI/CD pipelines
Web Application Architects responsible for secure deployments
IT Professionals preparing for F5 certification (F5-CTS: ASM)
Organizations deploying F5 BIG-IP platforms for web security
What You Will Learn
Introduction to F5 ASM:
Overview of the BIG-IP platform and modules
Positioning ASM in the network infrastructure
Core Features:
Policy creation and tuning
Automatic and manual policy building
Attack signature enforcement
Positive and negative security models
Threat Protection:
Defending against OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities
Cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, CSRF, and more
IP intelligence, geolocation-based blocking
Traffic Handling:
Understanding request/response inspection
Enforcing HTTP protocol compliance
Configuring cookie and parameter protection
Advanced Security Configurations:
Layer 7 DDoS mitigation strategies
Brute force and bot protection
Web scraping and anomaly detection
Logging and Reporting:
Event logging and alerting setup
Interpreting violation logs
Integration with SIEM tools
Deployment Strategies:
Inline, reverse proxy, and transparent modes
Policy lifecycle and best practices
Application templates and rapid deployment techniques
Hands-On Learning
This course combines theoretical concepts with lab-based simulations. Learners will work with real-world scenarios involving traffic inspection, attack prevention, and WAF tuning. You’ll practice:
Creating and managing ASM security policies
Analyzing attack signatures
Mitigating live application vulnerabilities
Using traffic learning for accurate policy tuning
Configuring logging and alerting mechanisms
Course Benefits
Comprehensive: Learn the full scope of ASM capabilities
Real-world focused: Practice with enterprise-grade use cases
Certification-ready: Aligns with F5 Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) – ASM exam
Security-centric: Enhance your knowledge of application security
Hands-on: Build and test real WAF rules and policies
Career & Certification Advantage
Professionals with F5 ASM expertise are in high demand due to the increasing focus on secure application delivery. This course prepares you for roles such as:
Application Security Engineer
Network Security Analyst
DevSecOps Engineer
F5 Engineer or Consultant
It also provides a strong foundation for pursuing the F5 Certified Technology Specialist – ASM certification.
Conclusion
The F5 ASM (Application Security Manager) course is your complete guide to mastering web application firewall configuration and management. By combining advanced protection techniques with hands-on lab experience, this course ensures you’re equipped to defend modern web applications from evolving security threats.
If you’re serious about application-layer security and working in an environment that leverages F5 BIG-IP, this course is essential to boost your skills, your resume, and your organization’s defense posture.
F5 ASM (Application Security Manager) Syllabus
Modules
Describe the role of the BIG-IP system as a full proxy device in an application delivery network
Provision the Application Security Manager
Define a web application firewall
Describe how ASM protects a web application by securing file types, URLs, and parameters
Deploy ASM using the Rapid Deployment template (and other templates) and define the security checks included in each
Define learn, alarm, and block settings as they pertain to configuring ASM
Define attack signatures and explain why attack signature staging is important
Deploy Threat Campaigns to secure against CVE threats
Contrast positive and negative security policy implementation and explain benefits of each
Configure security processing at the parameter level of a web application
Deploy ASM using the Automatic Policy Builder
Tune a policy manually or allow automatic policy building
Integrate third party application vulnerability scanner output into a security policy
Configure login enforcement for flow control
Mitigate credential stuffing
Configure protection against brute force attacks
Deploy Advanced Bot Defense against web scrapers, all known bots, and other automated agents
Deploy DataSafe to secure client-side data
Topics Covered
Provisioning ASM
Resource provisioning for ASM
Traffic processing with BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)
Web application concepts
Mitigating the OWASP Top 10 and other vulnerabilities
Security policy deployment
Security policy tuning
Deploying Attack Signatures and Threat Campaigns
Positive security building
Securing cookies and other headers
Reporting and logging
Advanced parameter handling
Using Automatic Policy Builder
Integrating with web vulnerability scanners
Login enforcement for flow control
Brute force and credential stuffing mitigation
Session tracking for client reconnaissance
Using Parent and Child policies
Layer 7 DoS protection
Transaction Per Second-based DoS protection
Layer 7 Behavioral DoS Protection
Configuring Advanced Bot Defense
Web Scraping and other Microservice Protection
Working with Bot Signatures
Using DataSafe to Secure the client side of the Document Object Model
