Stateful inspection
Stateful inspection
(also stateful packet inspection, dynamic packet filtering)
Stateful inspection definition
A stateful inspection is a type of firewall technology frequently used in computing. Stateful firewalls use a stateful inspection to monitor all the active connections on the network and decide which network packets can go through the firewall and which cannot. Another type of firewall technology that is closely related to stateful inspection is stateless or packet filtering. And out of the two, stateful inspection is the more advanced option and allows you to block unwanted and suspicious network packets with 100% certainty. A stateful inspection uses predefined rules to decide which network packets can go through the firewall and which cannot.
See also: firewall, data packet
Loopback address benefits
- Knows what the state of a connection is, like active or inactive.
- Allows communication without having to open up a wide range of ports.
- Has the ability to prevent different types of DoS attacks.
- Has better logging features and capabilities than other types of inspections.
- A stateful inspection firewall can store and log critical aspects of network connections.
- Is suitable for both UDP and TCP protocols.
- Is more secure than a stateless inspection.
- Can log attack behavior and use the logged information to prevent similar attacks in the future.