As people focus on their privacy online more and more, proxy services have started to gain ground as a way for people to protect their information and to be able to surf online anonymously or to access content that they might not be able to otherwise, for various reasons.
What Is A Proxy Service?
In layman’s terms, as the name of it suggests, it’s an intermediary between you and the internet. The proxy server will filter requests in order to make sure that there are no dangers when surfing the internet. When you type in the link to a website that you want to access, the request gets sent to the proxy server, which then sends it to where the website is hosted. The website is returned to the proxy server, which then sends it back to you.
Proxy vs VPN – Main Difference
Both proxy and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) aim to keep you anonymous when you’re online by simply hiding your IP address, but there are certain differences in the way they approach things. Proxy services secure the web browser or torrent client, while a VPN is able to secure 100% of your internet access by replacing your local ISP routing for all your applications. Given that privacy is something that is valued online, there are many affordable VPNs available.
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What Are The Main Reasons To Use A Proxy Server?
The concept of a proxy server offers a large number of advantages, from bypassing censorship to improving speed. When it comes to corporate networks, proxies can be used in order to control the way internet is being used by employees. Many companies ban certain websites in order to restrict employees from accessing them during their working hours – sites such as social networks. Companies can also use proxy services in order to maintain a detailed log of internet activity, thus being able to identify if any employee is acting in an inappropriate or illegal manner online.
Improving Security
Of course, the main purpose for proxies is to increase security, something that is really valuable for companies, as data breaches can be costly, whether we’re talking about losing money or a damaged public image. Proxy servers are able to reduce the chance of a data breach by adding a layer of security between the company’s servers and outside traffic. While top hackers can be pretty advanced in their area, having a proxy IP will make the company less vulnerable.
Security is not only important for companies but for individuals as well. Whenever a sensitive task is being carried out, things will be more secure if a proxy is added to the mix. From reporters to whistleblowers, having an added layer of protection is important in order to protect all parties involved.
Improving Speed While Saving Bandwidth
Many companies opt to use proxy servers as a way to save bandwidth. This gets accomplished due to the fact that proxy servers are able to compress cache files, traffic, and web pages, and in some cases eliminate ads from a website before they reach someone’s computer. When an employee access a website, that website gets stored in the proxy server.
When someone else tries to access the same page, the server checks whether or not the website has changed since the last access. In case it hasn’t, then the local copy gets forwarded to the employee without having to redownload the whole page that is being accessed. As a result, given that most employees would access the same popular sites (such as news sites or Wikipedia), bandwidth is being saved. In addition, given that pages don’t have to be downloaded again and the local copy is being used instead, the loading time is faster.
Accessing Censored Content
This ranks high among reasons to use a proxy server. Certain countries, such as Iran or China, are censoring access to many services and websites. Using a proxy service can be used to bypass that censorship and gain access to certain websites. Moreover, certain services are not available in some countries. For example, some streaming services might work only for users in the United States, which means that those from outside the country will have to use a US-based proxy server in order to gain access.
