Case Study: Waseda University achieves stable, attack‑resilient, maintenance‑free web services with Cloudflare WAF

Waseda University realized stable web service even during cyberattacks with maintenance-free and cost effective Cloudflare WAF service

Waseda University, pursuing its WASEDA VISION 150, needed consistently reliable, high-performing websites to handle growing peak traffic from events like admissions and open-campus days. Its on-premise infrastructure was vulnerable to random DDoS attacks, slowdowns, difficult server sizing, high maintenance overhead and disaster risks, prompting a move toward cloud/managed services to reduce cost and operational burden.

Waseda adopted Cloudflare (with partner GlobalDots) for CDN, WAF, DDoS and bot mitigation, using built-in simulation and easy-to-manage policies to avoid false positives. The service deployed quickly with no initial cost, cut server loads roughly in half, eliminated user complaints during peak events, simplified operations and enabled expansion to additional sites (including the LMS), with further resilience planned via Cloudflare DNS Firewall.

Waseda University

Hitoshi Kusunoki

Project Leader, IT Strategies Division