A stateful firewall is capable of tracking the state of active connections between devices on the network. It logs when devices are requesting data, sending data, or closing the connection.
With this context, a stateful firewall knows whether incoming data is part of an established, legitimate session or if it’s an unsolicited request that needs to be blocked. This allows the firewall to make decisions about which traffic to allow or deny based on the flow of the communication, rather than just matching packets to predefined rules.
This added intelligence gives businesses a more adaptive, dynamic defense against evolving threats and technical glitches. Now, let’s take a closer look at the key reasons why businesses benefit from using a stateful firewall.
1. Stateful firewalls provide critical data
Unlike stateless firewalls, which only inspect individual packets in isolation, stateful firewalls track the entire lifecycle of a connection — from initiation to termination. This enables them to understand the context of the communication, ensuring that only valid, ongoing sessions are allowed while blocking any unauthorized or anomalous requests.
With its ability to monitor traffic in real-time, a stateful firewall provides administrators with useful visibility into network performance. They can quickly detect technical glitches, dig into any suspicious patterns, block potential intrusions, and help prevent unauthorized access.
Stateful firewalls generate logs in real time that are stored for analysis. In the event of a security breach, these firewall logs become crucial for forensics and cybersecurity incident response. They provide a detailed record of what happened before, during, and after the attack, enabling security teams to trace the source of the breach, understand the attack, and take corrective actions.
2. Stateful firewalls support compliance
Many industries are highly regulated and monitored, and that means today’s businesses need to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and regulations.
While most business owners have good intentions, they can’t always stop breaches from happening. If you’re dealing with sensitive customer data or highly classified customer information, you simply don’t have room for accidents. That’s where a stateful firewall can come in handy.
Essentially, a stateful firewall will help businesses meet compliance requirements by guarding against unauthorized access to data, controlling network traffic, and blocking content that could potentially be malicious.
Depending on the type used, a stateful firewall can also protect against specific threats. For instance, a next-generation firewall can inspect traffic beyond the IP and TCP layers, helping it detect and stop persistent threats and other sophisticated attacks.
3. Stateful firewalls adapt to fit unique needs
The beauty of stateful firewalls is that they’re designed to differentiate between types of network traffic like HTTP, FTP, and SMTP. By examining the content of each packet, stateful firewalls can filter out malicious traffic and clear the way for legitimate traffic to pass through.
Not only does this improve security, but it also reduces network congestion and boosts your overall network performance.
Additionally, stateful firewalls can be configured to block out specific types of sites, such as social networking and peer-to-peer file-sharing sites. This can be good for quelling non-work activities on company networks and reducing the risks posed by shadow IT.
Similarly, a stateful firewall can protect against all kinds of different network security threats, from viruses and worms to trojans and spyware. They can even be configured to block traffic from specific, targeted IP addresses and certain geographic regions.
4. Stateful firewalls improve threat detection
Stateful firewalls analyze traffic patterns to identify potential threats. By maintaining context, they can detect anomalies like unauthorized access attempts, port scans, or deviations from expected behavior. This ability to track connection states allows businesses to respond proactively to suspicious activity.
If a company is using a VoIP phone system to make calls over the internet, for example, a stateful firewall can prevent VoIP toll fraud by identifying unauthorized attempts to establish a session. If a malicious actor tries to inject fraudulent calls by exploiting open ports, the firewall can block the traffic based on discrepancies in the session initiation process.
SEE: Learn how to future proof your VoIP phone system.
This is just one common example I’m using because millions of dollars each year are lost to toll fraud. The latest and greatest Next-Gen Firewall (NGFW) solutions have advanced intrusion detection and prevention tools designed to protect companies from the world’s worst threat actors.
5. Stateful firewalls support remote work environments
As remote work increasingly relies on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and other secure access methods, stateful firewalls are used to monitor and verify the integrity of these connections. They ensure that only authorized traffic enters the network, blocking unauthorized access attempts and preventing potential breaches.
For instance, when a remote employee connects via VPN, the stateful firewall tracks the session state, identifying legitimate traffic and rejecting suspicious packets that don’t align with the established connection. This helps protect sensitive data shared during remote collaboration and shields businesses from common threats like brute-force attacks or exploitation of misconfigured remote access ports.
By integrating with secure access solutions and providing reliable perimeter defense, stateful firewalls contribute to strong remote work security without complicating network management.
