Zachary

A layer 7 firewall is designed to protect the computer networks from unauthorized access, while a layer 3 or 4 firewall is designed to protect the computer from external threats.

Layer 7 firewalls focus on the application layer of the network stack, meaning they are mainly concerned with the data that flows between users and servers. This makes layer 7 firewalls less efficient at blocking attacks that come from the network layer (layer 3 and 4 firewalls) or from the bottom of the stack (application layer proxies).

Layer 3 and 4 firewalls work by blocking traffic that is not authorized by the network administrator. This can protect the computer from attacks that come from the network layer, as well as from attacks that come from the lower layers of the network stack.

Layer 7 firewalls are more efficient at protecting the computer from attacks that come from the network layer, but they are less efficient at protecting the computer from attacks that come from the lower layers of the network stack.