Proxy server
![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.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Proxy_concept_en.svg0507.png")
![An open proxy forwarding requests from and to anywhere on the Internet.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Open_proxy_h2g2bob.svg0507.png")
![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.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Reverse_proxy_h2g2bob.svg0507.png")
![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](/Images/godic/202501/14/CPT-Proxy.svg0507.png")
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. 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. Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web and providing anonymity.