Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Stateful Inspection

Also referred to as dynamic packet filtering, Stateful Inspection is a firewall technology that works at the network layer. Unlike static packet filtering, which examines a packet based on the information in its header, stateful inspection examines not just the header information but also the contents of the packet up through the application layer in order to determine more about the packet than just information about its source and destination.

Related Terms

Stateful Inspection