🛡️ Free practice test question from: Forward vs. Reverse proxy (Security+)

Reverse Proxy: Acts on behalf of internal servers. External clients connect to the reverse proxy, which then forwards the requests to the appropriate internal server. This provides benefits like load balancing, security (by hiding the internal server structure), SSL termination, and caching. The key is that it's protecting the internal servers and managing inbound traffic.

A) While caching and load balancing are common functions, they don't define the primary functional distinction. The core difference is the direction of traffic and which side of the network each proxy protects.

B) Authentication and anonymization are possible functions of proxies, but again, they are not the defining difference between forward and reverse proxies.

D) Encryption and decryption (SSL/TLS termination) are often handled by reverse proxies, but not exclusively. Forward proxies can also handle some encryption/decryption. This is a function, not the fundamental distinction.