Internet access has continued to improve, making it possible for people to do work for a single company from essentially anywhere in the world that has an internet connection. As accessing networks has become easier, many people are able to work from home or work while they are traveling. Being able to work remotely greatly improves a company’s efficiency, and it can benefit employees who may live far away from the corporate office. As useful as this is, working remotely can also create an increased security threat. In order to combat threats from hackers, businesses can use a proxy or reverse proxy server as data loss prevention solutions to protect the open network connection that is created from a remote computer and the company server.

What is a Proxy Server?

A proxy is essentially another server that stands between a company’s server and a network, such as the Internet. The proxy server retrieves ingoing and outgoing requests and tries to take care of them before sending them out to either the company server or the Internet. When working remotely, a common proxy used by businesses is a VPN, or virtual private network. The VPN creates a safe connection between your computer and your company’s server, allowing you to securely send and receive data from wherever you are in the world. The VPN encrypts everything that goes through this tunnel, protecting your information as well as your company’s. Proxies also hide your identity, making it look like you are working from the proxies IP address instead of whatever one you are really working from. This means that it looks like you are working from your company’s home location and not from your actual location.

What is a Reverse Proxy?

While a proxy server sends requests from a company’s server to the internet, a reverse proxy server takes requests that are coming from the Internet to the company’s server. A reverse proxy server prevents Internet users from accessing data on the company server by making it seem like they are accessing the client server, when in fact they are not. A reverse proxy service allows businesses to better handle traffic to their website and protect sensitive information from being stolen by hackers.

Using proxy servers is a great way for a business to ensure that it’s information is protected from outside users, and can help create a safe connection between authorized users on a remote server and the company’s server. In a time when cyber crime is at an all time high, protecting sensitive information is a top priority for businesses across the globe, and proxies are one way to do this.