Firewalls operate at different layers of the OSI model to protect networks.
1. Packet-Filtering Firewall:
Works at the Network Layer (Layer 3). It inspects IP addresses and port numbers but cannot "see" what is inside the data packets.
2. Circuit-Level Gateway:
Works at the Session Layer (Layer 5). It monitors TCP handshaking to determine if a session is legitimate but doesn't inspect application data.
3. Application Proxy Firewall (Application-Level Gateway):
This firewall operates at the Application Layer (Layer 7). It acts as an intermediary (proxy). Because it understands specific protocols like HTTP, FTP, and SMTP, it can inspect deep into the packet to filter based on:
• Specific URLs.
• HTTP headers (e.g., User-Agent).
• Specific commands within the protocol.
4. Conclusion:
Since URLs and HTTP headers are application-specific data, only an Application Proxy Firewall can perform this level of deep-packet inspection.