Web proxy fundamentals

Back in the 2000s, when the internet bubble burst and the World Wide Web (WWW) arose, many companies were adopting it to keep their business connected in a new era. As a young network administrator, I had the mission of keeping users working, even with many distractions popping up on their screens while they worked online. I was using just Linux-based gateways (iptables-based firewalls), and they were not enough to carry on. So, I searched online and found an HTTP forwarding proxy—an HTTP firewall that could handle HTTP(S) requests from users, cache website contents, and apply some control through access control lists (ACLs). It was the perfect tool for the job! The name of this tool? The Squid Web Proxy.

So, this is my personal history about web proxies. Since then, they have remained a fundamental tool in ensuring users' security and control online. But let's dive deep into web proxies and explore how they work and how we can use one on...