A proxy site is simply an ordinary website that sits in between your computer and the Internet. It works by handling all data on your behalf, thus giving you a greater degree of privacy and security while you surf online. With the proxy sitting in the middle you have minimal threats from hackers, viruses, trojans etc. It also means that when you browse the Internet, you are safe because things like you IP address, geographical location etc are safe. When you browse the Internet, websites that you visit record various pieces of information and uses it for god knows what. Surfing behind a proxy eliminates this problem.

Proxies have been around for years and years now, probably as long as the Internet its self. To find a proxy simply type the phrase proxy site into a search engine. Thousands of results will be displayed and you can pick any one in the list. If you enter the website you shall be able to find out more about what a proxy is and how they work. If you choose to use a proxy please make sure that it reputable. By that I mean make sure that it is reasonably well known by others and if it is one that they use regularly and can recommend. Check forums, newsgroups etc and you will be able to get a general idea.

Another problem is location. If you choose to use a proxy be careful that it is not being hosted in places like Nigeria, Iran, or North Korea. It is up to you but I would not recommend using sites that are being hosted in these countries. If you do, you could open a whole can of worms. Places like Panama are a good option. Panama has really tight privacy and secrecy laws in place that prevent data being released to any person or authority without a court order from a Panamanian judge. This means that what you do via your proxy site should remain private and will not fall into the wrong hands.

Proxy websites are often thought to be used solely for illegal or immoral activities. This is not the case. People may want to remain private for lots of different reasons. Internet banking is a good example here. Would you like valuable data to fall into the wrong hands under these circumstances? Of course not. This is why taking measures like, firewalls, antivirus software, and proxy sites are necessary to maximise your protection on all fronts.

If you can stretch to it and have some spare cash then invest in a product that offers encryption as one of its features. There are lots of products that offer this. It allows all data transmitted to be jumbled up so that no third party, who may hack the signal, can make sense of it. All they will see is gibberish as opposed to the actual data.

I hope this article has been useful and that you can use it to get a general idea of what a proxy is and how they work. I hope you can find a good, reliable proxy and can put it to good use. Do not be scared to ask around on forums and newsgroups if you unsure about the reliability of a particular proxy site.

Part and parcel of network security, be it in a corporation LAN or school university, is the installation of a firewall or web content filter. However as any user will attest to, this can hamper the flow of work, as it restricts access to websites that actually have bearing on their activity.

Proxy Servers

One can go to the administrator and have the web content filter removed temporarily, but to have to go through this procedure over and over will be tedious. A far more convenient method is to use proxies on proxy servers.

Proxy servers, or websites, allow a user to overcome the website blockade. The process itself is not difficult to comprehend: what goes on is that once you are on a proxy server or site, you enter the address or URL of the blocked site. The site will be displayed in a separate window, and you will be able to access it as you would any normal web page.

Not only do you overcome the web content filter, but your IP address is hidden so that the website you are visiting will not be able to tell who is visiting it. The reason is that it is the proxy server’s IP that will be displayed, and not your computer’s.

Advantages of Using Proxy Servers

Aside from circumventing content filter applications, the proxy server has other benefits, one of them is that because the page being accessed does not directly interact with your computer or the network, there is less danger of having the security breached.

Another advantage is that by accessing the web page from a proxy server, the pages are cached on the proxy site. This is important because it makes retrieval of the page much quicker; instead of reloading a page, which can take time if the network or Internet is busy, the file is loaded from the cache instead.

Proxy Lists

This is very convenient for Web users, but unfortunately, due to its popularity, proxy servers can be difficult to access at times, and there will be some webmasters who will try to block proxy servers. The way to go around this is by going to a proxy list site.

There are several proxy list sites available, but the good ones should be regularly maintained; that is, the contents are updated on a consistent basis. In addition, the contents of the proxy list should also include proxy software, links to other sites, and other vital information.

Setting up a DMZ

As has been shown, there will be times when using proxy servers will be necessary. If you have a firewall, there is no need to disable it just so you can use a proxy. Instead, you can configure the firewall so that there will be a DMZ (demilitarized zone). This term is used to refer to that section of the network system that is not covered by the firewall.

There are several ways that you can configure a DMZ on a network. One of the easiest is to select one of the computers and use it as a go between a firewall and the Internet. It usually entails using a directory on the computer as a DMZ. Check the firewall manual for instructions. Once this is setup, you can use a proxy server, and access all websites, while keeping up your security.