diff --git a/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator.go b/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator.go
index 667bc1ce..8ee9b789 100644
--- a/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator.go
+++ b/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/go-oidc/v3/oidc"
-	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -14,7 +13,6 @@ const (
 )
 
 var (
-	ErrNoAccessToken         = errors.New("no access token provided in request")
 	cloudflareAccessCertsURL = "https://%s.cloudflareaccess.com"
 )
 
@@ -39,28 +37,43 @@ func NewJWTValidator(teamName string, certsURL string, audTags []string) *JWTVal
 	verifier := oidc.NewVerifier(certsURL, keySet, config)
 	return &JWTValidator{
 		IDTokenVerifier: verifier,
+		audTags:         audTags,
 	}
 }
 
-func (v *JWTValidator) Handle(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) error {
+func (v *JWTValidator) Name() string {
+	return "AccessJWTValidator"
+}
+
+func (v *JWTValidator) Handle(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) (*HandleResult, error) {
 	accessJWT := r.Header.Get(headerKeyAccessJWTAssertion)
 	if accessJWT == "" {
-		return ErrNoAccessToken
+		// log the exact error message here. the message is specific to the handler implementation logic, we don't gain anything
+		// in passing it upstream. and each handler impl know what logging level to use for each.
+		return &HandleResult{
+			ShouldFilterRequest: true,
+			StatusCode:          http.StatusForbidden,
+			Reason:              "no access token in request",
+		}, nil
 	}
 
 	token, err := v.IDTokenVerifier.Verify(ctx, accessJWT)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("Invalid token: %w", err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// We want atleast one audTag to match
+	// We want at least one audTag to match
 	for _, jwtAudTag := range token.Audience {
 		for _, acceptedAudTag := range v.audTags {
 			if acceptedAudTag == jwtAudTag {
-				return nil
+				return &HandleResult{ShouldFilterRequest: false}, nil
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	return fmt.Errorf("Invalid token: %w", err)
+	return &HandleResult{
+		ShouldFilterRequest: true,
+		StatusCode:          http.StatusForbidden,
+		Reason:              fmt.Sprintf("Invalid token in jwt: %v", token.Audience),
+	}, nil
 }
diff --git a/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator_test.go b/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index c12f6011..00000000
--- a/ingress/middleware/jwtvalidator_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-package middleware
-
-import "testing"
-
-func TestJWTValidatorHandle(t *testing.T) {
-}
diff --git a/ingress/middleware/middleware.go b/ingress/middleware/middleware.go
index 7888dc31..c3b02612 100644
--- a/ingress/middleware/middleware.go
+++ b/ingress/middleware/middleware.go
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 )
 
-type Handler interface {
-	Handle(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) error
+type HandleResult struct {
+	// Tells that the request didn't passed the handler and should be filtered
+	ShouldFilterRequest bool
+	// The status code to return in case ShouldFilterRequest is true.
+	StatusCode int
+	Reason     string
+}
+
+type Handler interface {
+	Name() string
+	Handle(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) (result *HandleResult, err error)
 }
diff --git a/ingress/middleware/verifier.go b/ingress/middleware/verifier.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 7888dc31..00000000
--- a/ingress/middleware/verifier.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-package middleware
-
-import (
-	"context"
-	"net/http"
-)
-
-type Handler interface {
-	Handle(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) error
-}
diff --git a/proxy/proxy.go b/proxy/proxy.go
index 6fe4efa4..c769e19e 100644
--- a/proxy/proxy.go
+++ b/proxy/proxy.go
@@ -60,6 +60,21 @@ func NewOriginProxy(
 	return proxy
 }
 
+func (p *Proxy) applyIngressMiddleware(rule *ingress.Rule, r *http.Request, w connection.ResponseWriter) (error, bool) {
+	for _, handler := range rule.Handlers {
+		result, err := handler.Handle(r.Context(), r)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("error while processing middleware handler %s", handler.Name())), false
+		}
+
+		if result.ShouldFilterRequest {
+			w.WriteRespHeaders(result.StatusCode, nil)
+			return fmt.Errorf("request filtered by middleware handler (%s) due to: %s", handler.Name(), result.Reason), true
+		}
+	}
+	return nil, true
+}
+
 // ProxyHTTP further depends on ingress rules to establish a connection with the origin service. This may be
 // a simple roundtrip or a tcp/websocket dial depending on ingres rule setup.
 func (p *Proxy) ProxyHTTP(
@@ -86,6 +101,13 @@ func (p *Proxy) ProxyHTTP(
 	p.logRequest(req, logFields)
 	ruleSpan.SetAttributes(attribute.Int("rule-num", ruleNum))
 	ruleSpan.End()
+	if err, applied := p.applyIngressMiddleware(rule, req, w); err != nil {
+		if applied {
+			p.log.Error().Msg(err.Error())
+			return nil
+		}
+		return err
+	}
 
 	switch originProxy := rule.Service.(type) {
 	case ingress.HTTPOriginProxy: