• When a device positions itself in the middle of a connection and acts as a mediator.
• It is a proxy if the device in the middle can inspect the traffic packets. Without the ability to inspect, it would not be a proxy but a gateway.
• Proxies almost always operate at layer 7 of the OSI Model.

Proxy Services

• Dedicated Proxy / Forward Proxy
• Reverse Proxy
• Transparent Proxy

Dedicated Proxy / Forward Proxy

• Basically placing SafeDNS before accessing the internet. SafeDNS filters the webpages I visit.
• It is designed to filter outgoing requests.
• It happens when a client makes a request to a computer, and that computer carries out the request.
• For example, if my computer has very valuable information and I want to protect it from malware, I can block its internet access. So, to access the internet, I use a proxy so that my computer tells another computer that has a web filter to make the internet access. This way, the probability of receiving malware from the internet is unlikely.

Reverse Proxy

• Basically putting Cloudflare to receive my traffic, and Cloudflare decides which traffic visits my site and which does not.
• It is designed to filter incoming requests.
• Its main purpose or common use is to listen to an address and forward to a closed network.
• For example, the company Cloudflare has a robust network capable of withstanding several DDoS attacks; if companies use Cloudflare, they will have a way to filter the amount of traffic sent to their web server.