Which of the following statements about dedicated hardware firewalls is true?

Dedicated hardware firewalls are primarily stateful devices, meaning they keep track of the state of active connections and make decisions based on the context of the traffic. However, the assertion that they are primarily stateless is incorrect. Stateless firewalls, in contrast, do not track the state of connections and make filtering decisions based solely on predefined rules, which is more typical of simpler appliances.

On the other hand, dedicated hardware firewalls do indeed handle both inbound and outbound traffic, implementing rules that can allow or block this traffic. Additionally, they generally filter traffic based on not just content, but also the state of connections, port numbers, and other parameters. Furthermore, dedicated firewalls are extensively used in enterprise environments to protect networks from various threats, confirming their significance in larger security infrastructures.

A correct statement regarding dedicated hardware firewalls would focus on their stateful nature and their critical role in comprehensive network security solutions.