Both firewall and thee proxy are resided between the local system and the internet to provide security against the network threats.
1. Firewall:
A firewall is an application or the hardware device that protects the local system from unauthorized people and also monitoring the external network security threats like spoofing and routing attacks.
2. Proxy:
Same as the firewall, the proxy is the gateway between the local network and the external internet. But it creates a barrier between the local network and the internet to avoid direct communication between the client and the server.
The major difference between the firewall and the proxy server:
| Firewall | Proxy |
|---|---|
| Firewall blocks the connection if it is not the authorized one. | Otherwise the proxy establishes the connection even it is not the authorized one. |
| Always monitors and filters the IP packets for the security of the system. Because the direct connection is established between the client and the server | As the proxy server is the one who contacts the server, so the user identity credentials are not revealed. |
| The firewall only protects the local network by blocking the unsolicited incoming traffic | While proxy server serves both side and provide the private and anonymous internet access. |
| It involves in network and the transport layer data. | Otherwise, the proxy involves the application layer data, because it uses the cache and cookies to check the security credentials of the server. |