Stateful Packet Inspection Firewalls

This question asks if your firewall uses 'stateful packet inspection' technology, which means it's smart enough to understand and track ongoing connections, not just individual data packets. Think of it like a security guard who remembers everyone who entered the building and why, rather than just checking IDs at the door. This allows the firewall to detect and block sophisticated attacks that simple firewalls would miss.

SPI firewalls are the absolute minimum for enterprise-grade security. Using anything less is like protecting your business with a screen door. Without SPI, attackers can easily bypass your firewall using connection hijacking or spoofing attacks. Enterprise customers won't even consider vendors without SPI firewalls because it suggests dangerously outdated security. Having proper SPI firewalls is table stakes - it won't win you deals, but not having them will definitely lose them. They're also required for virtually every compliance framework.

Some companies use basic packet filtering firewalls or outdated equipment and incorrectly claim they have SPI capabilities. Another mistake is having SPI firewalls but configuring them in a way that bypasses stateful inspection for performance reasons, negating their security benefits. Cloud-native companies sometimes assume their cloud provider's basic security groups provide SPI when they may need additional configuration.