One way to reduce the risks associated with business Internet activities is to use a network proxy server. A proxy server can be considered as the guardian of your network. It sits between your internal and external network servers and works to filter and monitor incoming and outgoing traffic.
What do Proxy Servers Do?
Caching: Proxy servers can download and store local copies of any web pages that you frequently visit. This is known as caching. They also monitor the pages on an ongoing basis and automatically update the cached version when the live form of the page is modified, making the cached version always up to date. Cached versions of web pages can be accessed anytime without being online; and as such, caching is a valuable method of enhancing your Internet speed and reducing bandwidth usage.
Content Filtering: In some cases, you may wish to have more control over which websites your employees access on the internet. For example, you may be concerned about your staff spending time on social media when they should be engaged in company activities. In these cases, you can use a proxy server to determine the content users can access within your network. Other examples of content that may be filtered in this way are gaming websites and entertainment portals.
Monitoring: In addition to controlling browsed content, you may also wish to monitor your employees’ online behaviors; for example, the emails that are sent, the websites they connect to, and the chat messages they exchange. You can use a proxy server to track incoming and outgoing information on your network from a single location.
Privacy: Users within the local network can connect to an external web page via the proxy server as opposed to creating a direct connection. As such, any requests that are filtered through the proxy server appear to be coming from that server and not your internal network. This allows users within your network to connect anonymously to the Internet, which enhances your business security.
Every modern-age business should make full use of proxy servers to protect business assets and maximize productivity. If you’re interested in exploring the option of adding a proxy server to your network, call us and we will be happy to talk about it.
Does your business have a problem with wasted employee time due to unauthorized web surfing or down time due to viruses? We can help! Contact us…
