Which type of firewall tracks active connections and filters traffic accordingly?

A stateful firewall is designed to track active connections and maintain the state of each session. This means that it not only examines the packet header information but also remembers the state of the connection, allowing it to make informed decisions about what traffic should be allowed or blocked based on the context of the session.

For example, when a connection is established, the stateful firewall will monitor the flow of packets and ensure that only packets belonging to that established connection are permitted through. This capability allows stateful firewalls to provide a higher level of security compared to stateless firewalls, which treat each packet in isolation without regard to its state in a connection.

Stateful firewalls also offer the flexibility to implement more complex rules that can take into account traffic flows, providing better protection against threats like IP spoofing or unauthorized access attempts. This makes stateful firewalls particularly effective in environments that require secure and reliable network communication.

Other types of firewalls, such as stateless firewalls, do not track connection states and consider each packet individually, while application firewalls specialize in evaluating the application layer activity rather than connection states. Network firewalls provide general protections for the overall network rather than focusing specifically on connection state management. Thus, the functionality of a state