Everything You Need To Know About proxy server in 2024

Is any website blocked in your school, college or office? If yes then you can open it very easily through proxy.

Although we do not suggest you to do this, but today we will definitely tell you what is proxy server? Of what use is it? How many types are there?

Along with this, we will also tell you what are the advantages and disadvantages of using it.

What is Proxy Server?

You must have heard the name of proxy voting, in which if a person is not present at the time of election, then he can cast his vote by any other member of his family.

We can do the same to visit any website on the Internet.

We can see the website on our computer system, but the system that connects to the server of the website is something else which is called proxy server.

We can access a website through a proxy server without accessing it directly from our computer. Here the proxy server acts as a medium or representative between the user and the server of the website.

When you send a request, it reaches the website through the proxy server and any kind of response or content from the website reaches your computer through the proxy server.

Now the question must be coming in your mind that if this is the work of proxy then why do we use it? Why can’t we access the website directly from our computer?

Actually, the work of proxy is not only this, apart from this, it provides many more features related to security and network performance, which you will read about below.

How Proxy Server works?

As you know that all the computers connected to the Internet have their own unique IP address which tells the identification of those computers and only through this IP address the Internet comes to know which computer is at which location so that the correct data can be sent. Can be accessed to the right computer.

Proxy server is also a type of computer and it also has a unique IP address. When you need a resource (such as a website or file), your computer first sends a request (http, https, ftp) to the proxy server.

As soon as the proxy server receives the request, it sends the same request for you to the destination server where the resource (website or file) store resides.

There is no direct communication between your computer and the server, so the server does not know your IP, due to which the identity of your system is hidden.

Use of Proxy Server

Proxy is mostly used to hide your IP address for security reason, apart from this it is also used to access any blocked website.

Let us now know in detail what is the work of proxy server and why it is used:

• To increase internet speed: Network performance can be increased by installing a good proxy server in an organization. Proxy server stores any website or file in its cache memory, so whenever you want to see that website, it can reach you directly from the local storage of the proxy server, that is, there will be no need to send request to the server of the website. This will save time and bandwidth.
• To hide IP address: If you access a website directly from your computer, your IP address reaches the server where that website is hosted, which collects some other personal information about you apart from your location. Can go But you can hide your IP and other identiy with the help of proxy.
• For monitoring: You can monitor internet usage by your employee by installing a proxy server in your office, apart from this, parents can find out which websites their children visit by installing it in their home.
• To access the blocked website: You must have seen that there are some restrictions in your school, college, or office computer, due to which you are not able to see some things on the Internet, apart from the geographical location or country according to the company or Many websites are also banned by the government, proxy can be used to bypass all these security restrictions and filters.
• To increase the security of the system: For any organization, there is always a danger of getting its server hacked and data loss. In this case proxy provides some benefit to a great extent. You can encrypt the communication happening with the client and server by configuring your proxy server so that no third party can read it. You can also block malicious websites. Proxy server adds an extra security layer between your server and outside traffic. Hackers can access your proxy server but they will face difficulty in reaching your actual server where all the data is stored. Although it is not possible that your system will be completely protected from hacking by installing proxy server and changing IP, but you can increase security to some extent with proxy.

Types of Proxy Server

1. Forward Proxy: It forwards the client’s request to the target server so that communication can take place between the two. Here the client specifies to the proxy server which resource he needs and the proxy sends this request to the target server where that resource is available.

2. Open Proxy: Open proxy is also a type of forwarding proxy that is publicly available so that any internet user can hide their IP and do anonymous browsing. Below are some types of open proxy:

1. Anonymous Proxy: It simply hides the IP of the client so that the target server does not know the origin of the client. But by this the target server gets the identiy of the proxy.
2. Distorting Proxy: It tells the website its identity but passes false IP address to the client.
3. High Anonymity Proxy: This type of proxy is very difficult to track because it neither gives its identity to the website nor passes the IP of the client and keeps changing IP frequently. This is the most secure way to hide your identity on the Internet, an example of this is the TOR network.

3. Reverse Proxy: This is the opposite of all the above proxies, here the client does not know that he is communicating with the proxy, he feels that he is directly contecting with the actual server, while all the requests and responses are from the proxy. Taxes pass. It is used by big companies like Google etc. to improve the security of their servers, reduce load, and increase speed.

Risks of Proxy Server

By using proxy, you can hide your identity and roam on the internet and take many benefits.

But keep in mind that the proxy server you are using can have all your information, so you may have to face many types of threats by using it.

Whether your connection is secure or not depends on how your proxy server is configured and who is monitoring it. We have tried to explain below what are the disadvantages that can be caused by its use:

• Danger of data theft: If you are giving your data to a website, then this data will pass through the proxy server between your device and the server of the website, this data can also contain your sensitive information like username and password. In such a situation, if you choose a wrong proxy, then you can understand how much damage you can cause.
• Risk of Spam and Virus Attack: It can happen that when you join a proxy server, many ads appear on your screen, many times these proxy servers can also try to install spam and viraus programs in your system to earn money. Huh.
• Identity Theft: You can visit any website on the internet by hiding your identity, if in other words, you are using someone else’s IP address instead of your system’s IP. But that proxy knows about your IP and other identity. Just as you are using someone else’s IP, in the same way, if your identity is used for any illegal activity on the Internet, then it can cause you a lot of trouble.

How to use Proxy Server?

Let us now know that if you have to connect your system with proxy server, then what needs to be done for this.

You can use a proxy server for anonymous browsing in the following two easy ways:

1. By using web based proxy:

This is the easiest way, in this you have to use a proxy website.

For this, first search in Google by writing “Best free online proxy”, you will find many such websites which provide proxy facility for free. This is a very easy way to use a proxy website where only you have to enter the address of the website you want to visit in a textbox. For example you can see a screenshot below:

2. By using a web browser:

In this method you use your browser, but here you need to know about its IP address and port number to connect to any proxy server, for this you can search in Google.

After getting the IP and port, you go to the setting of your browser and configure the proxy setting in the following way.

How to use proxy in Google Chrome?

1. First you go to settings
2. Click on “Advanced”
3. Scroll down and go to the section called “System”
4. Click on “Open proxy settings”
5. Press the button of “LAN Settings”
6. Enable the checkbox of “Use a proxy server for your LAN”
7. In Address, enter the IP address of the proxy and the port number in the port box.
8. Save and apply
9. Now you can do anonymous browsing in Google Chrome

How to use proxy in Firefox?

1. Go to Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac)
2. Click on “Advanced”
3. Go to the “Network” tab
4. Go to the “Connection” section and click on “Settings”
5. Select “Manual Proxy Configuration”
6. Now enter the address and port number of the proxy
7. Enable “Use this proxy server for all server protocols”
8. save setting

Conclusion – Proxy

As you read above, proxy server has many advantages but it also has some disadvantages, but it is not that all proxies have all the advantages or disadvantages given above, it depends on its configuration and administrator.

Before using any proxy server, you should have all its information, you should know whether it can be trusted or not.

We advise you to be careful while using any public proxy and do not provide your sensitive information like username, password, credit card details etc.

We hope you have liked this information about Proxy server. For more such information, keep visiting our website Pakainfo. You can also put your thoughts or suggestions in the comment box below.