In most cases, when we speak of a proxy server, we mean the most common proxy, the forward proxy. This type of proxy sits in front of the user, acting as an intermediary between the user and the web server they visit. This means that the user's request must pass through the forward proxy before reaching the web page. After retrieving data from the Internet, it is sent to a proxy server and redirected back to the requester. From the Internet server's point of view, the request is sent by the proxy server, not the user. Forward proxies can also cache information and use the information to process future requests.

Since a forward proxy can be seen as an access and control point, it can improve the security of private network users, regulate traffic, and keep users anonymous by hiding the original IP address.

Type of forward proxy

There are now various different types of forward proxies. The most common classification is by source. Therefore, there are two types of proxies - residential proxies and data center proxies.

• Residential agency. Such proxies are IP addresses provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) bound to a physical location.

   

• Data center proxy. Such proxies are not ISPs because these IP addresses come from secondary sources, such as data centers.

What is a forward proxy for?

Individual users or businesses use forward proxies for various reasons:

• Access restricted geographic locations. Forward proxy servers are handy when accessing geo-restricted content. When users browse the Internet, the content they can browse is usually determined by their geographic location. When using forward proxies, users can access a variety of content targeted to other countries. This feature is especially useful for companies that offer ad verification services, for example. These companies are free to monitor ad delivery regardless of their geographic location. For example, if you want to know if your ad can show in Brazil, you can use a Brazilian proxy; you can also use a German proxy to access German content.

• Ensure anonymity. A forward proxy server can be used as an extra layer of security by hiding the real IP address of a web server by using its own IP address. This is why forward proxy servers are used to ensure a higher level of anonymity and security.

• Web scraping. The most common use of proxies is web scraping. Companies often collect data to help improve marketing, pricing and other business strategies. Web scraping helps companies stay competitive in the market.

Forward proxies can also be used to control and monitor internet usage, create and manage social media accounts, and more.

How to choose a forward proxy

In many cases, forward proxies have had a bad reputation. They are known to be expensive and highly complex to configure and manage. They can add latency and create a poor user experience. Additionally, if a proxy suffers from downtime, it can bring about a significant disruption to business operations. However, this is because proxies, historically, have been deployed either as physical or virtual appliances.

Forward proxies are extremely beneficial for security when served in the cloud, where they have none of the drawbacks of their appliance-based counterparts. A cloud-based proxy architecture eliminates the expense of purchasing and maintaining appliances, and scales as needed to meet growing traffic demands. This ability to provide unprecedented scalability also solves the key challenge of inspecting encrypted traffic for threats and data leakage, which, as mentioned previously, is a highly compute-intensive endeavor. The right forward proxy enables:

• Consistent data (and threat) protection across all of your cloud data channels with a simple, single policy.

• Unified security as part of a SASE offering that supports the widest breadth of use cases related to CASB, secure web gateway, and ZTNA—for securing access to cloud apps, the web, and internal resources, respectively.

  
  

• IT ecosystem simplicity through a single-pass, cloud-based architecture that forgoes the use of appliances and provides the above without the need for complex configurations, such as proxy-chaining.

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