What is a significant disadvantage of application-level gateway firewalls?

Application-level gateway firewalls, also known as proxy firewalls, serve as intermediaries between users and the applications they wish to access. These firewalls operate at the application layer, meaning they can examine and filter data traffic based on the specific application protocols in use. While they offer deep inspection and a higher level of security by monitoring the entire data exchange process, this functionality can come at a cost.

The significant disadvantage tied to application-level gateway firewalls is that they are resource-intensive. Because they analyze the data packets in detail and handle requests and responses on behalf of users, they can consume considerable processing power and memory. As a result, this resource consumption can lead to slower performance during peak usage, making them less efficient compared to other types of firewalls that may operate at lower network layers with less intensive analysis.

This performance slowdown can affect user experience, particularly in environments with heavy traffic or where real-time data processing is critical. Therefore, while application-level gateway firewalls offer enhanced security through thorough packet inspection, their resource demands can hinder their performance, especially in high-load situations.