How Proxy Server Plays a Major Role in Day to Day Life

Can you imagine a day without scrolling through your Instagram feed? Or using your laptop for some official work? 

The answer “No” automatically comes to mind. Living in this generation, we cannot imagine a life without the internet and the blessings of technology. But with increased advancement in technology comes the increased vulnerability of our internet. We’ve seen an increasing surge of cybercrimes like data theft in the past few years. The time has come when we should safeguard our internet use.

For this purpose, the use of proxies has been increasing in recent years. Mobile proxies, as well as proxy servers, are predominantly found in the tech-savvy world. What exactly are these proxies?

In layman’s language, proxies are nothing but gateways between our local network and the web servers we are connecting to. It can be defined as a filter and a firewall for our internet usage. Proxies are very much legal and they differ from VPNs (virtual private networks).  While you can use a VPN for gaming or streaming videos, many platforms block such tools to prevent unauthorized access to their content. 

Take the example of having a residential proxy, and how it uplifts the geographical barriers of any location. If your computer has a residential proxy, you can get access to any country’s searching information in real-time. Say you are sitting in India, and want to get access to a site that only gives access to the people of Australia. Now if you have a residential proxy server on your computer, you can easily overcome this barrier and surf the desired website. 

What Are Proxy Servers?

We have understood the definition of proxies, now we must discuss proxy servers. Why are proxy servers so commonly used these days? How are they used in ensuring a seamless internet surfing experience? 

These are common questions that might pop into our heads. Let’s answer them one by one. 

Just like mobile proxies on portable smartphones or tablets, proxy servers are a dedicated set of software that runs on a computer acting as an intermediary between the two entities. The proxy server can be set in the same computer we are using or on a different computer through which we are getting the information. 

The main motive of using a proxy server is to safeguard our internet usage by adding an additional level of security and increasing the functionality. 

Proxy servers are very much used by different businesses. Using proxy servers for web development will make the work much easier. 

How Does This Proxy Server Work? 

Not everyone knows about how proxies work on the internet. An average person who hears the question, “How do proxy work?” might freak out too. But it is not rocket science. 

When you are using your internet to surf the web, you are putting a search. When you are using a proxy server, this search request goes to the proxy server. The proxy server now looks for the data in its cache of previous searches. If the search request data is already present in the local cache data, the proxy server will directly send it to the user. 

But if the search request is not present in the local cache, then the proxy server will use its own IP address and request the data from the web. After getting the data from the web, it will send the requested data to the users. 

For this sending of data back and forth, proxy servers use two types of proxies – forward proxies and reverse proxies. Forward proxies work when we are sending a data request and that data request goes to the proxy server. Backward proxies work when the proxy server is sending us back the search results. 

The main role of the proxy is to mask the IP address of our system. When we are sending a web request to the proxy server, it encrypts our data and masks our IP address with one of its own. This ensures the security of our personal information and other data. 

Why Are We Using Proxy Servers?

Is the sole purpose of using a proxy server is to increase the security of our data? Or are there other roles too? Here are the different roles of the proxy server and why we should use them. 

1. Increase the Speed of Internet Surfing

Other than adding an additional layer of security to our internet connections, proxy servers are also used to increase the speed of network performance. Many proxy servers use compression tools to enhance network performance. 

Businesses and organizations use proxy servers to overcome their speed issues. The computers in an organization are connected to a proxy server. Hence, it will help them overcome any blockers giving them access to different network connections. 

2. Control Usage of Web 

No business wants a security breach for their employees. To ensure this, proxy servers are used to give employees access only to sites that are safe. Inappropriate and unauthorized access is prohibited on the company networks. 

If your company’s network is being accessed through proxy servers, network administrators will have the authority to give access to specific sites. Through this, one can also look after the internet usage and online activity of their employees. 

3. Diverting Traffic Load 

How annoying is it when you are trying to access a site and, due to heavy traffic, you cannot get access? Using a proxy server can save you from this hassle. 

Most of the data we’re requesting is store in cloud storage, can be accessed globally via different networks. Peering of data helps us to access these data over the internet through a variety of networks decreasing the load of the server. As a user, we can ask our ISP for access. The peering and diverting the traffic load for a server is done in the backend to provide users with a seamless surfing experience.

A proxy server serves as an access point for users, and this single web address can help decrease the traffic load.  

4. Performing Sensitive Tasks 

The main usage of proxy servers is to hide your identity in the internet world. This anonymity on the internet can be of great benefit to businesses and big organizations. The unknown identity of a person can prevent any hacking, data breaches, and data theft which can save crores for any organization. 

Any organization with any current research or any recent developments can easily hide its data with the use of proxy servers. Any potential hacking or spyware cannot detect your IP addresses as proxy servers will hide and mask them. 

Conclusion 

Living in the world of technology, the vulnerabilities of our data present online are more than ever. With the correct use and application of proxy servers, our internet surfing experience will be more effective and secure.