The purpose of using application firewalls in cybersecurity is to monitor and filter incoming and outgoing traffic to protect applications from malicious activities. Unlike traditional firewalls, which focus on blocking unauthorized access, application firewalls prioritize the security of specific applications by analyzing the content of the data packets. They help guard against threats such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other application-layer attacks. Implementing application firewalls enhances an organization's overall security posture by ensuring targeted protection of critical applications.