This article was contributed by Ellie Walker who works as a content writer for Bazoom.
There are many reasons to justify employing a proxy. The main reason, of course, is for security and privacy reasons. A proxy’s primary purpose is to mask your IP address from third-party trackers or malicious attacks. It protects the server’s data and acts as an intermediary, preventing a direct connection to outside sources.
Additionally, proxies from providers like Smartproxy can prevent DDoS attacks by filtering out requests that don’t follow certain company policies, endpoints, or patterns. This means a URL, or an HTTP can be denied, protecting the server from questionable content. A proxy can also increase the performance of web applications by retrieving only the cached content from requests or pages rather than retrieving it directly from the original server.
Now let’s explore why SOCKS5 proxies, HTTP, HTTPS (SSL/TCP), and FTP proxies exist and the real-world use cases where they’re employed.
Different Types of Proxies
Let’s take a look at a few of the different types of proxies, and what each one is best used for.
SOCKS5 Proxies
A SOCKS5 proxy offers you double encryption, although it doesn’t really have an impact on your anonymity. This proxy is not designed to handle requests below layer five. In fact, this proxy can handle all types of requests, including email, file transfers, and web browsing. The SOCKS5 proxy will establish a TCP connection with a server on TCP port 1080 and begin passing packets back and forth.
SOCKS5 proxies are great for bypassing geo-restrictions and can prevent users from accessing certain websites and content online. The proxy will assign another IP address to change your physical location.
HTTP
An HTTP proxy processes one-way requests to web pages through the means of HTTP protocols. Reverse proxies and intermediate proxies also fall into this category. This proxy’s main job is to ensure the transmission and sharing of content that could be potentially harmful.
They’ll prevent or reduce the risk of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. This type of attack is when a multitude of requests are sent at once to a web server, thereby overwhelming it and making it unresponsive. These types of attacks are particularly common where businesses rely heavily on their websites to generate income. A company can experience substantial financial and customer losses through these attacks.
HTTPS (TLS or SSL)
Finally, an HTTPS (TLS or SSL) proxy enables end-to-end encryption tools that ensure complete anonymous browsing. The HTTPS proxy is very similar to its HTTP counterpart in many ways.
However, this proxy will employ Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) tools to establish decryption and end-to-end encryption connections between the user and the server. HTTPS proxies have become the industry standard for most company websites offering online services, as these proxies provide a much higher degree of security and privacy.
FTP
A File Transfer Protocol (FTP) proxy allows a server administrator to manage and control connections based on source and destination addresses, including user authentications. They can be configured to limit the commands and access to specific file transfers. This is done based on user authentication or through the use of source addresses.
The Main Benefits of Proxies
Now that you know the purpose of proxy servers, let’s explore the benefits that these proxies offer in more detail.
Prevents Online Blocking
A proxy helps you to bypass blocks when a certain website has blacklisted your IP address. For example, a SOCKS5 proxy enables you to route your IP address through it. However, it can’t help you to bypass any firewalls in a way that a VPN can since most firewalls use DPI, known as deep packet inspection. Your traffic will therefore be blocked by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) before it can reach the website.
Reliable and Faster Connections
A SOCKS proxy uses a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) instead of the previously used TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). The UDP technology enables the SOCKS proxy to send data quickly and reliably across the internet. It also has the capability to cache the amount of data, thereby ensuring faster connection speeds.
Improved Performance With Fewer Errors
Most modern proxies don’t rewrite any packet headers, which could lead to the misrouting of data. This feature limits the number of errors that the proxy can encounter. Due to this, the proxy performs at a much better level. However, it can negatively impact the proxy’s security features since packet headers contain private information.
Employing a proxy that’ll protect your valuable and sensitive company information is imperative. Choose any of the above proxies that serve your needs and speak with a professional proxy service provider today and ensure your online security.
About the author
Ellie Walker works as a content writer for Bazoom.
