CISSP Practice Exam 2026 – Complete Prep Guide

The role of an application-layer proxy is primarily to filter, monitor, and control web traffic. This kind of proxy server operates at the application layer of the OSI model, which allows it to understand the protocols and data formats used in web traffic, such as HTTP and FTP. By doing so, it can intercept and manage requests and responses between clients and servers.

Application-layer proxies can provide various functions such as content filtering, logging user activity, implementing security policies, and caching responses to improve performance. They can analyze the data being transferred, check for malware, and enforce authentication controls, thus enhancing both security and efficiency for web transactions.

The other options relate to different networking components and functions that do not accurately describe the capabilities of an application-layer proxy. For instance, connecting devices at the data link layer pertains to the functionalities of switches and bridges, establishing physical connections relates to layer 1 devices, and encrypting messages is typically the role of security protocols rather than a proxy server.