Making the Proxy Work in Your Environment

One of the major concerns about implementing proxies to secure web access is the need to tie into an existing infrastructure without creating an added layer of authentication for the end-user and any additional work for the IT administrator.

Many of us still think of proxies as a clunky network security tool. One that we place on the edge of the network, then setup the firewall to prevent access to the internet for all hosts except the proxy. The final step is then setting up all our user's workstations to point to the proxy in order to get users access to the world wide web.

Luckily for IT administrators, the world of proxies has evolved and with it the ease of implementation and integration with existing networks. Unlike the time when all users had to explicitly point their browsers at a proxy, today proxies can be deployed inline to capture all web traffic automatically, or even out of path, using WCCP (Web Cache Communications Protocol) to redirect the web traffic to the proxy.

Even the authentication issue has simplified with the introduction of Single-Sign On mechanisms available for many proxies. Advanced proxies offer integration with a number of well-known authentication databases including LDAP, Active Directory, NTLM, Kerberos, Radius, TACACS and others. Single-Sign On can be integrated with a web portal page or the existing Microsoft sign on mechanism in any organization.

Today, there's really no excuse for any IT administrator to forgo implementing web security in their network. Proxies have evolved to become the right solution for any organizations concerns around web access.