A proxy acts as a middleman between a source and destination system. The firewall proxy software acts on behalf of the communicating entities, requiring that the host and destinations connect through it (the proxy). The internal network device connects to the proxy, as set in the host’s Internet connection configuration, which accepts packets destined for the outside network and establishes a connection to the packets’ destination. The destination system communicates with the proxy, which passes the packets back to the requesting host. This indirect communication shields the internal host from the outside network.