In simple terms this type of firewall looks to see if a session has been initiated on the network and if it has, it will allow traffic in and out related to that session. Based on this determination it will allow traffic to pass through that is related to that session. Instead it looks for the initiation messages of network protocol sessions to determine whether the sessions are legitimate.

While a stateless firewall will not take that into consideration that when it evaluates a new data packet.Ī circuit-level gateway doesn’t examine data packet headers to filter traffic. A stateful firewall will remember that your computer has been receiving data packets as part of this zoom call when it evaluates a new data packet. Stateful firewalls are considered much more secure.įor example say you’re on a zoom call with someone, for that connection to last data packets related to audio and video must be continuously sent between your two computers. While a stateful firewall can remember information about previous data packets that passed through and will consider that when looking at new data packets. A stateless firewall will look at each data packet individually and won’t look at the context, making them easier for hackers to bypass. Packet-filtering firewalls can come in two forms: stateful and stateless. If the information in the data packet satisfies a certain rule then it is allowed to pass through otherwise it is blocked and discarded. These rules can be based on IP addresses, packet type, destination port number or any other aspect found in a data packet header. Packet filtering firewalls filter data by comparing the header information of a data packet to a set of predefined rules.

What is a stateful firewall