What is the Disadvantage of a Proxy Server?
A proxy server acts as the middleman between the Internet and a network. While its advantages include hiding the network from the Internet and storing information in a method called caching, additional expenses and abuse of its uses put it in a disadvantage.
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Added Expense
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Having a proxy server is an additional expense and adds to the management and maintenance of the network. While the expense may be small for large corporations, it can set back a small and medium business by several thousand dollars for installation and upkeep.
Caching
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Proxy servers can cache previously accessed information--touted to be one of their advantages because it lessens network traffic going out to the Internet. For ordinary users, however, caching means there is a chance that the information displayed on the website you're accessing is not the latest. This is because when you access a website, the proxy server first checks whether it already has data regarding the website and feeds you what it has.
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Bypassing Restrictions
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Some proxy servers are set up to be open, which means they acts as a middle man between the Internet and any individual computer. If a network has restrictions about which websites are not allowed, a computer inside the network that knows an open proxy can use it to bypass those restrictions. This compromises the network, because malicious software can attack the computer through the open proxy and get inside the network.
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