Irina Bodan
Member
A proxy server can be understood as an intermediary server separating the end-user clients from the destinations that they browse. Different servers can offer different levels of functionality, security and privacy. You can choose based on your own use case and needs. When you are using a proxy server, the traffic will flow through the proxy server on its way to the address you requested then come back through the same proxy server. Ultimately the proxy server can forward the received data to you. Now most of you may be coming up with the question why can’t my traffic just go straight from the website and back. Proxy servers actually act as a firewall and web filter in the name of data security and network performance. Also, the shared network connections and cache data they provide can speed up common requests, which is much more than forward web requests. Thus, a good proxy server can protect users and internal network from being attacked and provide a high level of privacy. Specifically, here are some common cases in which proxy server is applied:
- To take someone’s browsing action under control. For example, some organizations and parents may set up proxy servers to control and monitor how their employees or kids use the Internet. Once the proxy server is configured, the access to some specific site will be denied or all your web requests will be monitored and logged.
- To save bandwidth and improve speed. The function of caching allows the proxy server to save a copy of the website locally. For example, if you ask for www.xxx.com, the proxy server will check and see if it has the most recent copy of the site, and then send you to the saved copy instead of the new one. Though hundreds of thousands of users send the same request(www.xxx.com) to the proxy server, yet the proxy server only send one request to this web. Thus the bandwidth of the company/organization can be saved and the network performance can be improved.
- To protect privacy. Some proxy servers can change the IP address and other identifying information. With the hiding, the web won’t know who actually send the original request so your browsing privacy can be protected.
- To improve security. As your proxy server can encrypt your web requests, your transaction won’t be read. Also malware sites can also be prevented through proxy server. Many companies couple the proxy server with VPN(virtual private network) to let the remote users access the Internet through the companies’ proxy. Use VPN can make sure that their users have access the resources they need and provide secure connection to protect the companies’ data.
