# How do IP proxies work with a WordPress website?

- Link: https://www.limitloginattempts.com/blogs/cyber-security/do-i-block-attacking-ips-and-how-proxies-work/
- Published: 2021-04-01T20:25:00+00:00
- Author: Greg Fisher

A typical WordPress site usually runs on either an Apache or Nginx server, regardless
of whether it’s hosted on shared, VPS, or cloud hosting. The underlying technology
behind your WordPress site remains nearly the same across these platforms.

## Understanding HTTP Proxy

When visitors access your site, they either connect directly or go through a web
proxy service, such as [CloudFlare](http://cloudflare.com), which is widely used
for improving website performance and security.

### Here’s a simplified explanation of how it works:

When you open a website in your browser, your request is either sent directly to
the web server or routed through a proxy. The proxy acts as an intermediary, forwarding
traffic between the user and the server.

However, if the proxy isn’t configured correctly, the web server may see all traffic
as coming from the same IP address. This can lead to issues with security and performance,
as the server can’t distinguish between individual visitors.

For instance, this is one reason why the Limit Login Attempts Reloaded Plugin may
encounter difficulties in accurately tracking and managing traffic from different
users. Proper configuration of the proxy is essential to ensure that the server 
receives accurate information about each visitor.

![](https://images.ctfassets.net/slt3lc6tev37/4idE1j6rXHZnTdt7yq1wEr/8ca34ba2c3b48fc18efed41c50203c8e/
hc-import-200170916_mod_cloudflare.png)

## Conclusion

Our Limit Login Attempts Reloaded [premium app](https://www.limitloginattempts.com/plans/)
is intelligent enough to determine if your web server is not properly configured
to work with a proxy server, which is why we recommend upgrading to avoid these 
issues.

Free users can add custom configurations via the [Trust IP Origins](https://docs.limitloginattempts.com/plugin-settings/advanced-settings/trusted-ip-origins)
field within the plugin, but this requires advanced technical support. We recommend
notifying your web hosting provider as soon as possible so to fix that issue.