Which of the following types of firewalls increases the security of data packets by remembering the state of connection at the network and the session layers as they pass through the filter?
AnswerC
ExplanationA stateful packet filter firewall maintains context about active sessions, and uses that 'state information' to speed packet processing. It increases the security of data packets by remembering the state of connection at the network and the session layers as the packets pass through the filter.
Any existing network connection can be described by several properties, including source and destination IP address, UDP or TCP ports, and the current stage of the connection's lifetime (including session initiation, handshaking, data transfer, or completion connection). If a packet does not match an existing connection, it will be evaluated according to the ruleset for new connections.
If a packet matches an existing connection based on comparison with the firewall's state table, it will be allowed to pass without further processing. PF (Packet Filter, also written pf) is a BSD licensed
stateful packet filter, a central piece of software for firewalling. It is comparable to iptables, ipfw and
ipfilter. PF is developed on OpenBSD, but has been ported to many other operating systems.
Answer option A is incorrect. A stateless packet filter firewall separately analyses incoming packets
independently of the TCP connection or UDP data stream they belong to. It requires less memory,
and can be faster for simple filters that require less time to filter than to look up a session. It may
also be necessary for filtering stateless network protocols that have no concept of a session.
However, it cannot make more complex decisions based on what stage communications between
hosts have reached. It decides whether to allow a packet to traverse the firewall based on the
header of the packet, without regard to past traffic through the firewall.
Stateless IP filters are very inexpensive, and many are free. They are included with router
configuration software or are included with most Open Source operating systems.
Answer option B is incorrect. The PIX firewall is a Cisco product that performs VPN and firewall
functions. This product comes in different models according to the requirements. Cisco's PIX firewall
models such as PIX 501, 506 and 506E provide a firewall solution for small office environments. Cisco
PIX 515, 515E, 525, etc. are widely used in medium and large enterprises. These days Adaptive
Security Appliances (ASA) is used instead of PIX firewalls.
Answer option D is incorrect. A virtual firewall (VF) is a network firewall service or appliance running
entirely within a virtualized environment and which provides the usual packet filtering and
monitoring provided via a physical network firewall. The VF can be realized as a traditional software
firewall on a guest virtual machine already running, or it can be a purpose-built virtual security
appliance designed with virtual network security in mind, or it can be a virtual switch with additional
security capabilities, or it can be a managed kernel process running within the host hypervisor.