Proxy Server

Proxy server refers to a server that acts as an intermediary between the

request made by clients, and a particular server for some services or requests
for some resources. There are different types of proxy servers available that
are put into use according to the purpose of a request made by the clients to
the servers. The basic purpose of Proxy servers is to protect the direct
connection of Internet clients and internet resources. The proxy server also
prevents the identification of the client’s IP address when the client makes any
request is made to any other servers.
 Internet Client and Internet resources: For internet clients, Proxy
servers also act as a shield for an internal network against the request
coming from a client to access the data stored on the server. It makes
the original IP address of the node remains hidden while accessing
data from that server.
 Protects true host identity: In this method, outgoing traffic appears
to come from the proxy server rather than internet navigation. It must
be configured to the specific application such as HTTPs or FTP. For
example, organizations can use a proxy to observe the traffic of its
employees to get the work efficiently done. It can also be used to keep
a check on any kind of highly confidential data leakage. Some can also
use it to increase their websites rank.

Need Of Private Proxy:

1. Defeat Hackers: To protect organizations data from malicious use,

passwords are used and different architects are setup, but still, there
may be a possibility that this information can be hacked in case the IP
address is accessible easily. To prevent such kind of misuse of Data
Proxy servers are set up to prevent tracking of original IP addresses
instead data is shown to come from a different IP address.
2. Filtering of Content: By caching the content of the websites, Proxy
helps in fast access to the data that has been accessed very often.
3. Examine Packet headers and Payloads: Payloads and packet headers
of the requests made by the user nodes in the internal server to
access to social websites can be easily tracked and restricted.
4. To control internet usage of employees and children: In this, the
Proxy server is used to control and monitor how their employees or
kids use the internet. Organizations use it, to deny access to a specific
 website and instead redirecting you with a nice note asking you to
refrain from looking at said sites on the company network.
5. Bandwidth savings and improved speeds: Proxy helps organizations
to get better overall network performance with a good proxy server.
6. Privacy Benefits: Proxy servers are used to browse the internet more
privately. It will change the IP address and identify the information
the web request contains.
7. Security: Proxy server is used to encrypt your web requests to keep
prying eyes from reading your transactions as it provides top-level
security.

Types Of Proxy Server

1. Reverse Proxy Server: The job of a reverse proxy server to listen to

the request made by the client and redirect to the particular web
server which is present on different servers.
Example – Listen for TCP port 80 website connections which are
normally placed in a demilitarized zone (DMZ) zone for publicly
accessible services but it also protects the true identity of the host.
Moreover, it is transparent to external users as external users will not
be able to identify the actual number of internal servers. So, it is the
prime duty of reverse proxy to redirect the flow depending upon the
configurations of internal servers. The request that is made to pass
through the private network protected by firewalls will need a proxy
server that is not abiding by any of the local policies. Such types of
requests from the clients are completed using reverse proxy servers.
This is also used to restrict the access of the clients to the confidential
data residing on the particular servers.
2. Web Proxy Server: Web Proxy forwards the HTTP requests, only URL
is passed instead of a path. The request is sent to particular the proxy
server responds. Examples, Apache, HAP Proxy.
3. Anonymous Proxy Server: This type of proxy server does not make an
original IP address instead these servers are detectable still provides
rational anonymity to the client device.
4. Highly Anonymity Proxy: This proxy server does not allow the original
IP address and it as a proxy server to be detected.
5. Transparent Proxy: This type of proxy server is unable to provide any
anonymity to the client, instead, the original IP address can be easily
detected using this proxy. But it is put into use to act as a cache for
the websites. A transparent proxy when combined with gateway
 results in a proxy server where the connection requests are sent by
the client, then IP are redirected. Redirection will occur without the
client IP address configuration. HTTP headers present on the server-
side can easily detect its redirection.
6. CGI Proxy: CGI proxy server developed to make the websites more
accessible. It accepts the requests to target URLs using a web form
and after processing its result will be returned to the web browser. It
is less popular due to some privacy policies like VPNs but it still
receives a lot of requests also. Its usage got reduced due to excessive
traffic that can be caused to the website after passing the local
filtration and thus leads to damage to the organization.
7. Suffix Proxy: Suffix proxy server basically appends the name of the
proxy to the URL. This type of proxy doesn’t preserve any higher level
of anonymity. It is used for bypassing the web filters. It is easy to use
and can be easily implemented but is used less due to the greater
number of web filter present in it.
8. Distorting Proxy: Proxy servers are preferred to generate an incorrect
original IP address of clients once being detected as a proxy server. To
maintain the confidentiality of the Client IP address HTTP headers are
used.
9. Tor Onion Proxy: This server aims at online anonymity to the user’s
personal information. It is used to route the traffic through various
networks present worldwide to arise difficulty in tracking the users’
address and prevent the attack of any anonymous activities. It makes
it difficult for any person who is trying to track the original address. In
this type of routing, the information is encrypted in a multi-fold’s
layer. At the destination, each layer is decrypted one by one to
prevent the information to scramble and receive original content. This
software is open-source and free of cost to use.
10. 12P Anonymous Proxy: It uses encryption to hide all the
communications at various levels. This encrypted data is then relayed
through various network routers present at different locations and
thus I2P is a fully distributed proxy. This software is free of cost and
open source to use, It also resists the censorship.
11. DNS Proxy: DNS proxy take requests in the form of DNS queries
and forward them to the Domain server where it can also be cached,
moreover flow of request can also be redirected.
How Does the Proxy Server Operates?

Every computer has its unique IP address which it uses to communicate with
another node. Similarly, the proxy server has its IP address that your computer
knows. When a web request is sent, your request goes to the proxy server first.
The Proxy sends a request on your behalf to the internet and then collect the
data and make it available to you. A proxy can change your IP address So, the
webserver will be unable to fetch your location in the world. It protects data
from getting hacked too. Moreover, it can block some web pages also.

Disadvantages of Proxy Server

1. Proxy Server Risks: Free installation does not invest much in backend
hardware or encryption. It will result in performance issues and
potential data security issues. If you install a “free” proxy server, treat
very carefully, some of those might steal your credit card numbers.
2. Browsing history log: The proxy server stores your original IP address
and web request information is possibly unencrypted form and saved
locally. Always check if your proxy server logs and saves that data –
and what kind of retention or law enforcement cooperation policies
they follow while saving data.
3. No encryption: No encryption means you are sending your requests
as plain text. Anyone will be able to pull usernames and passwords
and account information easily. Keep a check that proxy provides full
encryption whenever you use it.