What can be determined by analyzing logs of a traditional stateful firewall?

Analyzing logs from a traditional stateful firewall primarily allows for confirming the timing of network connections. Stateful firewalls maintain a table of active connections, keeping track of the state of these connections as they pass through the firewall. This means that the logs will include timestamps and details regarding when each connection was established, maintained, or terminated.

The logs provide insight into connection attempts, the protocols in use, and the source and destination IP addresses involved. By examining these logs, analysts can determine exactly when connections occurred, which is critical for activities such as troubleshooting network issues, assessing network performance, and investigating potential security incidents.

In contrast, auditing applications used on social networking sites, identifying malware variants, or determining user IDs for instant message exchanges typically requires more detailed application-layer analysis or context beyond what is provided in a stateful firewall's logs. Such tasks may involve deeper inspection of traffic or data from different sources, which a stateful firewall may not capture. This is why confirming the timing of network connections is the correct focus when analyzing stateful firewall logs, as it is directly aligned with the capabilities of this type of firewall.