Proxy server

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Communication between two computers (shown in grey) connected through a third computer (shown in red)
acting as a proxy. Bob does not know to whom the information is going, which is why proxies can be used to
protect privacy.

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts
as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers.[1] A client
connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or
other resource available from a different server and the proxy server evaluates the request as a
way to simplify and control its complexity. Proxies were invented to add structure and
encapsulation to distributed systems.[2]Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to
content on the World Wide Web and providing anonymity.
Contents
[hide]

1Types
o

1.1Open proxies

1.2Reverse proxies

2Uses
2.1Monitoring and filtering

2.1.1Content-control software

2.1.2Filtering of encrypted data

2.1.3Bypassing filters and censorship

2.1.4Logging and eavesdropping

2.2Improving performance

2.3Translation

2.4Accessing services anonymously

2.4.1QA geotargeted advertising

2.5Security

2.5.1Cross-domain resources

3Implementations of proxies
o

3.1Web proxy servers

3.2SOCKS proxy

3.3Transparent proxy

3.3.1Purpose

3.3.2Issues

3.3.3Implementation methods

3.3.4Detection

3.4CGI proxy

3.5Suffix proxy

3.6Tor onion proxy software

3.7I2P anonymous proxy

3.8Proxy vs. NAT

3.9DNS proxy

4See also
o

4.1Overview and discussions

4.2Proxifiers

4.3Diverse topics

5References

6External links

Types[edit]
A proxy server may reside on the user's local computer, or at various points between the user's
computer and destination servers on the Internet.

A proxy server that passes requests and responses unmodified is usually called
a gateway or sometimes a tunneling proxy.

A forward proxy is an Internet-facing proxy used to retrieve from a wide range of sources
(in most cases anywhere on the Internet).

A reverse proxy is usually an internal-facing proxy used as a front-end to control and

protect access to a server on a private network. A reverse proxy commonly also performs
tasks such as load-balancing, authentication, decryption or caching.

Open proxies[edit]

An open proxy forwarding requests from and to anywhere on the Internet.

Main article: Open proxy

An open proxy is a forwarding proxy server that is accessible by any Internet user. Gordon
Lyon estimates there are "hundreds of thousands" of open proxies on the Internet.
[3]
An anonymous open proxy allows users to conceal their IP address while browsing the Web or
using other Internet services. There are varying degrees of anonymity however, as well as a
number of methods of 'tricking' the client into revealing itself regardless of the proxy being used.

Reverse proxies[edit]

A reverse proxy taking requests from the Internet and forwarding them to servers in an internal network.
Those making requests connect to the proxy and may not be aware of the internal network.

Main article: Reverse proxy

A reverse proxy (or surrogate) is a proxy server that appears to clients to be an ordinary server.
Requests are forwarded to one or more proxy servers which handle the request. The response
from the proxy server is returned as if it came directly from the original server, leaving the client
no knowledge of the origin servers.[4] Reverse proxies are installed in the neighborhood of one or
more web servers. All traffic coming from the Internet and with a destination of one of the
neighborhood's web servers goes through the proxy server. The use of "reverse" originates in its
counterpart "forward proxy" since the reverse proxy sits closer to the web server and serves only
a restricted set of websites. There are several reasons for installing reverse proxy servers:

Encryption / SSL acceleration: when secure web sites are created, the Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) encryption is often not done by the web server itself, but by a reverse proxy that
is equipped with SSL acceleration hardware. Furthermore, a host can provide a single "SSL

proxy" to provide SSL encryption for an arbitrary number of hosts; removing the need for a
separate SSL Server Certificate for each host, with the downside that all hosts behind the
SSL proxy have to share a common DNS name or IP address for SSL connections. This
problem can partly be overcome by using the SubjectAltName feature of X.509 certificates.

Load balancing: the reverse proxy can distribute the load to several web servers, each
web server serving its own application area. In such a case, the reverse proxy may need to
rewrite the URLs in each web page (translation from externally known URLs to the internal
locations).

Serve/cache static content: A reverse proxy can offload the web servers by caching static
content like pictures and other static graphical content.

Compression: the proxy server can optimize and compress the content to speed up the
load time.

Spoon feeding: reduces resource usage caused by slow clients on the web servers by
caching the content the web server sent and slowly "spoon feeding" it to the client. This
especially benefits dynamically generated pages.

Security: the proxy server is an additional layer of defense and can protect against some
OS and Web Server specific attacks. However, it does not provide any protection from
attacks against the web application or service itself, which is generally considered the larger
threat.

Extranet Publishing: a reverse proxy server facing the Internet can be used to
communicate to a firewall server internal to an organization, providing extranet access to
some functions while keeping the servers behind the firewalls. If used in this way, security
measures should be considered to protect the rest of your infrastructure in case this server is
compromised, as its web application is exposed to attack from the Internet.

Uses[edit]
Monitoring and filtering[edit]
Content-control software[edit]
Further information: Content-control software
A content-filtering web proxy server provides administrative control over the content that may be
relayed in one or both directions through the proxy. It is commonly used in both commercial and
non-commercial organizations (especially schools) to ensure that Internet usage conforms
to acceptable use policy.
A content filtering proxy will often support user authentication to control web access. It also
usually produces logs, either to give detailed information about the URLs accessed by specific
users, or to monitor bandwidth usage statistics. It may also communicate to daemon-based
and/or ICAP-based antivirus software to provide security against virus and other malware by
scanning incoming content in real time before it enters the network.
Many work places, schools and colleges restrict the web sites and online services that are
accessible and available in their buildings. Governments also censor undesirable content. This is
done either with a specialized proxy, called a content filter (both commercial and free products
are available), or by using a cache-extension protocol such as ICAP, that allows plug-in
extensions to an open caching architecture.
Ironically, websites commonly used by students to circumvent filters and access blocked content
often include a proxy, from which the user can then access the websites that the filter is trying to
block.

Requests may be filtered by several methods, such as a URL or DNS

blacklists blacklist, URL regex filtering, MIME filtering, or content keyword filtering. Some products
have been known to employ content analysis techniques to look for traits commonly used by
certain types of content providers.[citation needed] Blacklists are often provided and maintained by webfiltering companies, often grouped into categories (pornography, gambling, shopping, social
networks, etc.).
Assuming the requested URL is acceptable, the content is then fetched by the proxy. At this point
a dynamic filter may be applied on the return path. For example, JPEG files could be blocked
based on fleshtone matches, or language filters could dynamically detect unwanted language. If
the content is rejected then an HTTP fetch error may be returned to the requester.
Most web filtering companies use an internet-wide crawling robot that assesses the likelihood that
a content is a certain type. The resultant database is then corrected by manual labor based on
complaints or known flaws in the content-matching algorithms.
Some proxies scan outbound content, e.g., for data loss prevention; or scan content for malicious
software.
Filtering of encrypted data[edit]
Web filtering proxies are not able to peer inside secure sockets HTTP transactions, assuming the
chain-of-trust of SSL/TLS (Transport Layer Security) has not been tampered with.
The SSL/TLS chain-of-trust relies on trusted root certificate authorities. In a workplace setting
where the client is managed by the organization, trust might be granted to a root certificate whose
private key is known to the proxy. Consequently, a root certificate generated by the proxy is
installed into the browser CA list by IT staff.
In such situations, proxy analysis of the contents of a SSL/TLS transaction becomes possible.
The proxy is effectively operating a man-in-the-middle attack, allowed by the client's trust of a root
certificate the proxy owns.
Bypassing filters and censorship[edit]
If the destination server filters content based on the origin of the request, the use of a proxy can
circumvent this filter. For example, a server using IP-based geolocation to restrict its service to a
certain country can be accessed using a proxy located in that country to access the service.
Web proxies are the most common means of bypassing government censorship, although no
more than 3% of Internet users use any circumvention tools.[5]
In some cases users can circumvent proxies which filter using blacklists using services designed
to proxy information from a non-blacklisted location.[6]

Many schools block access to popular websites such as Facebook. Students can use proxy servers to
circumvent this security. However, by connecting to proxy servers, they might be opening themselves up to
danger by passing sensitive information such as personal photos and passwords through the proxy server.
Some content filters block proxy servers in order to keep users from using them to bypass the filter.

Logging and eavesdropping[edit]

Proxies can be installed in order to eavesdrop upon the data-flow between client machines and
the web. All content sent or accessed including passwords submitted and cookies used can
be captured and analyzed by the proxy operator. For this reason, passwords to online services
(such as webmail and banking) should always be exchanged over a cryptographically secured
connection, such as SSL. By chaining proxies which do not reveal data about the original
requester, it is possible to obfuscate activities from the eyes of the user's destination. However,
more traces will be left on the intermediate hops, which could be used or offered up to trace the
user's activities. If the policies and administrators of these other proxies are unknown, the user
may fall victim to a false sense of security just because those details are out of sight and mind. In
what is more of an inconvenience than a risk, proxy users may find themselves being blocked
from certain Web sites, as numerous forums and Web sites block IP addresses from proxies
known to have spammed or trolled the site. Proxy bouncing can be used to maintain privacy.

Improving performance[edit]
A caching proxy server accelerates service requests by retrieving content saved from a previous
request made by the same client or even other clients. Caching proxies keep local copies of
frequently requested resources, allowing large organizations to significantly reduce their
upstream bandwidth usage and costs, while significantly increasing performance. Most ISPs and
large businesses have a caching proxy. Caching proxies were the first kind of proxy server. Web
proxies are commonly used to cache web pages from a web server.[7] Poorly implemented
caching proxies can cause problems, such as an inability to use user authentication. [8]
A proxy that is designed to mitigate specific link related issues or degradations is a Performance
Enhancing Proxy (PEPs). These typically are used to improve TCP performance in the presence
of high round-trip times or high packet loss (such as wireless or mobile phone networks); or highly
asymmetric links featuring very different upload and download rates. PEPs can make more
efficient use of the network, for example by merging TCP ACKs (acknowledgements) or
compressing data sent at the application layer[9]
Another important use of the proxy server is to reduce the hardware cost. An organization may
have many systems on the same network or under control of a single server, prohibiting the
possibility of an individual connection to the Internet for each system. In such a case, the
individual systems can be connected to one proxy server, and the proxy server connected to the
main server.

Translation[edit]
A translation proxy is a proxy server that is used to localize a website experience for different
markets. Traffic from global audiences is routed through the translation proxy to the source
website. As visitors browse the proxied site, requests go back to the source site where pages are
rendered. Original language content in the response is replaced by translated content as it
passes back through the proxy. The translations used in a translation proxy can be either
machine translation, human translation, or a combination of machine and human translation.
Different translation proxy implementations have different capabilities. Some allow further
customization of the source site for local audiences such as excluding source content or
substituting source content with original local content.

Accessing services anonymously[edit]

Main article: Anonymizer
An anonymous proxy server (sometimes called a web proxy) generally attempts to anonymize
web surfing. There are different varieties of anonymizers. The destination server (the server that
ultimately satisfies the web request) receives requests from the anonymizing proxy server, and
thus does not receive information about the end user's address. The requests are not anonymous
to the anonymizing proxy server, however, and so a degree of trust is present between the proxy
server and the user. Many proxy servers are funded through a continued advertising link to the
user.
Access control: Some proxy servers implement a logon requirement. In large organizations,
authorized users must log on to gain access to the web. The organization can thereby track

usage to individuals. Some anonymizing proxy servers may forward data packets with header
lines such as HTTP_VIA, HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR, or HTTP_FORWARDED, which may
reveal the IP address of the client. Other anonymizing proxy servers, known as elite or highanonymity proxies, make it appear that the proxy server is the client. A website could still suspect
a proxy is being used if the client sends packets which include a cookie from a previous visit that
did not use the high-anonymity proxy server. Clearing cookies, and possibly the cache, would
solve this problem.
QA geotargeted advertising[edit]
Advertisers use proxy servers for validating, checking and quality assurance of geotargeted ads.
A geotargeting ad server checks the request source IP address and uses a geo-IP database to
determine the geographic source of requests.[10] Using a proxy server that is physically located
inside a specific country or a city gives advertisers the ability to test geotargeted ads.

Security[edit]
A proxy can keep the internal network structure of a company secret by using network address
translation, which can help the security of the internal network.[11] This makes requests from
machines and users on the local network anonymous. Proxies can also be combined
with firewalls.
An incorrectly configured proxy can provide access to a network otherwise isolated from the
Internet.[3]
Cross-domain resources[edit]
Proxies allow web sites to make web requests to externally hosted resources (e.g. images, music
files, etc.) when cross-domain restrictions prohibit the web site from linking directly to the outside
domains. Proxies also allow the browser to make web requests to externally hosted content on
behalf of a website when cross-domain restrictions (in place to protect websites from the likes of
data theft) prohibit the browser from directly accessing the outside domains.

Implementations of proxies[edit]
Web proxy servers[edit]
Web proxies forward HTTP requests. Some web proxies allow the HTTP CONNECT to set up
forwarding of arbitrary data through the connection; normally this is only allowed to port 443 to
allow forwarding of HTTPS traffic.
Examples of web proxy servers include Apache (with mod_proxy or Traffic
Server), HAProxy, IIS configured as proxy (e.g., with Application Request
Routing), Nginx, Privoxy, Squid, Varnish (reverse proxy
only), WinGate, Ziproxy, Tinyproxy, RabbIT4 and Polipo.

SOCKS proxy[edit]
SOCKS also forwards arbitrary data after a connection phase, and is similar to HTTP CONNECT
in web proxies.

Transparent proxy[edit]
Also known as an intercepting proxy, inline proxy, or forced proxy, a transparent proxy
intercepts normal communication at the network layer without requiring any special client
configuration. Clients need not be aware of the existence of the proxy. A transparent proxy is
normally located between the client and the Internet, with the proxy performing some of the
functions of a gateway or router.[12]
RFC 2616 (Hypertext Transfer ProtocolHTTP/1.1) offers standard definitions:
"A 'transparent proxy' is a proxy that does not modify the request or response beyond
what is required for proxy authentication and identification".

"A 'non-transparent proxy' is a proxy that modifies the request or response in order to
provide some added service to the user agent, such as group annotation services, media
type transformation, protocol reduction, or anonymity filtering".
TCP Intercept is a traffic filtering security feature that protects TCP servers from
TCP SYN flood attacks, which are a type of denial-of-service attack. TCP Intercept is
available for IP traffic only.
In 2009 a security flaw in the way that transparent proxies operate was published by
Robert Auger,[13] and the Computer Emergency Response Team issued an advisory listing
dozens of affected transparent and intercepting proxy servers.[14]
Purpose[edit]
Intercepting proxies are commonly used in businesses to enforce acceptable use policy,
and to ease administrative overheads, since no client browser configuration is required.
This second reason however is mitigated by features such as Active Directory group
policy, or DHCP and automatic proxy detection.
Intercepting proxies are also commonly used by ISPs in some countries to save
upstream bandwidth and improve customer response times by caching. This is more
common in countries where bandwidth is more limited (e.g. island nations) or must be
paid for.
Issues[edit]
The diversion / interception of a TCP connection creates several issues. Firstly the
original destination IP and port must somehow be communicated to the proxy. This is not
always possible (e.g., where the gateway and proxy reside on different hosts). There is a
class of cross site attacks that depend on certain behaviour of intercepting proxies that
do not check or have access to information about the original (intercepted) destination.
This problem may be resolved by using an integrated packet-level and application level
appliance or software which is then able to communicate this information between the
packet handler and the proxy.
Intercepting also creates problems for HTTP authentication, especially connectionoriented authentication such as NTLM, since the client browser believes it is talking to a
server rather than a proxy. This can cause problems where an intercepting proxy requires
authentication, then the user connects to a site which also requires authentication.
Finally intercepting connections can cause problems for HTTP caches, since some
requests and responses become uncacheable by a shared cache.
Implementation methods[edit]
In integrated firewall / proxy servers where the router/firewall is on the same host as the
proxy, communicating original destination information can be done by any method, for
example Microsoft TMG or WinGate.
Interception can also be performed using Cisco's WCCP (Web Cache Control Protocol).
This proprietary protocol resides on the router and is configured from the cache, allowing
the cache to determine what ports and traffic is sent to it via transparent redirection from
the router. This redirection can occur in one of two ways: GRE Tunneling (OSI Layer 3) or
MAC rewrites (OSI Layer 2).
Once traffic reaches the proxy machine itself interception is commonly performed with
NAT (Network Address Translation). Such setups are invisible to the client browser, but
leave the proxy visible to the web server and other devices on the internet side of the
proxy. Recent Linux and some BSD releases provide TPROXY (transparent proxy) which
performs IP-level (OSI Layer 3) transparent interception and spoofing of outbound traffic,
hiding the proxy IP address from other network devices.
Detection[edit]

There are several methods that can often be used to detect the presence of an
intercepting proxy server:

By comparing the client's external IP address to the address seen by an external web
server, or sometimes by examining the HTTP headers received by a server. A
number of sites have been created to address this issue, by reporting the user's IP
address as seen by the site back to the user in a web page. Google also returns the
IP address as seen by the page if the user searches for "IP".

By comparing the result of online IP checkers when accessed using https vs http, as
most intercepting proxies do not intercept SSL. If there is suspicion of SSL being
intercepted, one can examine the certificate associated with any secure web site, the
root certificate should indicate whether it was issued for the purpose of intercepting.

By comparing the sequence of network hops reported by a tool such

as traceroute for a proxied protocol such as http (port 80) with that for a non proxied
protocol such as SMTP (port 25).[15]

By attempting to make a connection to an IP address at which there is known to be

no server. The proxy will accept the connection and then attempt to proxy it on.
When the proxy finds no server to accept the connection it may return an error
message or simply close the connection to the client. This difference in behaviour is
simple to detect. For example, most web browsers will generate a browser created
error page in the case where they cannot connect to an HTTP server but will return a
different error in the case where the connection is accepted and then closed. [16]

By serving the end-user specially programmed Adobe Flash SWF applications or

Sun Java applets that send HTTP calls back to their server.

CGI proxy[edit]
A CGI web proxy accepts target URLs using a Web form in the user's browser window,
processes the request, and returns the results to the user's browser. Consequently, it can
be used on a device or network that does not allow "true" proxy settings to be changed.
The first recorded CGI proxy was developed by American computer scientist Richard
Windmann on June 6, 1999.[17]
The majority of CGI proxies are powered either by Glype or PHProxy, both written in
the PHP language. As of April 2016, Glype has received almost a million downloads,
[18]
whilst PHProxy still receives hundreds of downloads per week.[19] Despite waning in
popularity [20] due to VPNs and other privacy methods, there are still several thousand
CGI proxies online.[21]
Some CGI proxies were set up for purposes such as making websites more accessible to
disabled people, but have since been shut down due to excessive traffic, usually caused
by a third party advertising the service as a means to bypass local filtering. Since many
of these users don't care about the collateral damage they are causing, it became
necessary for organizations to hide their proxies, disclosing the URLs only to those who
take the trouble to contact the organization and demonstrate a genuine need. [citation needed]

Suffix proxy[edit]
A suffix proxy allows a user to access web content by appending the name of the proxy
server to the URL of the requested content (e.g. "en.wikipedia.org.SuffixProxy.com").
Suffix proxy servers are easier to use than regular proxy servers but they do not offer
high levels of anonymity and their primary use is for bypassing web filters. However, this
is rarely used due to more advanced web filters.

Tor onion proxy software[edit]

Main article: Tor (anonymity network)

The Vidalia Tor-network map.

Tor (short for The Onion Router) is a system intended to enable online anonymity.[22] Tor
client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in
order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network
surveillance or traffic analysis. Using Tor makes it more difficult to trace Internet activity,
including "visits to Web sites, online posts, instant messages and other communication
forms", back to the user.[22] It is intended to protect users' personal freedom, privacy, and
ability to conduct confidential business by keeping their internet activities from being
monitored.
"Onion routing" refers to the layered nature of the encryption service: The original data
are encrypted and re-encrypted multiple times, then sent through successive Tor relays,
each one of which decrypts a "layer" of encryption before passing the data on to the next
relay and ultimately the destination. This reduces the possibility of the original data being
unscrambled or understood in transit.[23]
The Tor client is free software, and there are no additional charges to use the network.

I2P anonymous proxy[edit]

Main article: I2P
The I2P anonymous network ('I2P') is a proxy network aiming at online anonymity. It
implements garlic routing, which is an enhancement of Tor's onion routing. I2P is fully
distributed and works by encrypting all communications in various layers and relaying
them through a network of routers run by volunteers in various locations. By keeping the
source of the information hidden, I2P offers censorship resistance. The goals of I2P are
to protect users' personal freedom, privacy, and ability to conduct confidential business.
Each user of I2P runs an I2P router on their computer (node). The I2P router takes care
of finding other peers and building anonymizing tunnels through them. I2P provides
proxies for all protocols (HTTP, IRC, SOCKS, ...).
The software is free and open-source, and the network is free of charge to use.

Proxy vs. NAT[edit]

Most of the time 'proxy' refers to a layer-7 application on the OSI reference model.
However, another way of proxying is through layer-3 and is known as Network Address
Translation (NAT). The difference between these two proxy technologies is the layer in
which they operate, and the procedure to configuring the proxy clients and proxy servers.
In client configuration of layer-3 proxy (NAT), configuring the gateway is sufficient.
However, for client configuration of a layer-7 proxy, the destination of the packets that the
client generates must always be the proxy server (layer-7), then the proxy server reads
each packet and finds out the true destination.
Because NAT operates at layer-3, it is less resource-intensive than the layer-7 proxy, but
also less flexible. As we compare these two technologies, we might encounter a
terminology known as 'transparent firewall'. Transparent firewall means that the layer-3
proxy uses the layer-7 proxy advantages without the knowledge of the client. The client
presumes that the gateway is a NAT in layer-3, and it does not have any idea about the

inside of the packet, but through this method the layer-3 packets are sent to the layer-7
proxy for investigation.