What is a reverse proxy and what security functions can it provide?

A server in front of your backends that acts as a single entry point — letting you centralize WAF, TLS, auth, and rate limiting before traffic reaches the apps.

* One reverse proxy is the single choke point where inbound defences concentrate before traffic ever reaches the apps. *

A server that sits between clients and backends, acting as a single entry point to the internal network.

Security functions:

• WAF — Inspects HTTP traffic for SQL injection, XSS, etc.
• TLS termination — Handles HTTPS even if backends use plain HTTP internally
• Authentication/SSO — Centralizes login before requests reach applications
• Rate limiting — Prevents DoS by throttling excessive requests
• Request filtering — Blocks malicious payloads before they reach vulnerable apps

Why it matters: Creates defense in depth — even if an application has vulnerabilities, the proxy provides an additional security layer in front of it.

Common tools: Nginx, HAProxy, Cloudflare, AWS ALB, Traefik.

Go deeper:

• Wikipedia — Reverse proxy — how a reverse proxy fronts backend servers and what it centralizes.