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A computer that controls traffic between
a local area network and the wider internet. Many companies use proxy
server to regulate access to internet services such as the web, ftp
and telnet. When a computer on the lan makes a request for an
internet service the request passes through the proxy server, which then
decides how to deal with it. If the request is for a prohibited service, the
proxy server returns an error, If the service is allowed, it is either
passed on to the internet server as usual or in the case of web requests to
a local cache, from where previously downloaded pages can be more
quickly accessed. Proxy server give companies a fine degree of control over
their internet access policies. They can track every request from the
network, for example, including ip addresses and even keystrokes.
They are often used to prevent files from travelling in or out of a
corporate network, and most anonymiser services rely on the use of
proxy server. |
