From the course: CompTIA Security+ (SY0-601) Cert Prep: 8 Network Security Design and Implementation

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Proxy servers

Proxy servers

- [Instructor] Proxy servers are specialized servers that browse websites on behalf of end-users. They serve as proxies, or intermediaries, that prevent users from directly connecting to websites. Now, normally when a user connects to a website, the user system is in direct contact with the server, sending information back and forth. In a proxy situation, the proxy server sits in the middle of the conversation. The user connects to the proxy server, and the proxy server connects to the web server. All traffic then passes through the proxy server, and this has three important security benefits. First, proxying provides anonymity. The web server never learns the network address of the actual user. The web server's logs only contain the address of the proxy server. Second, proxying provides performance benefits by caching. The proxy server can store copies of frequently requested pages and answer some user requests with those…

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