How does Cloudflare technically block malicious traffic from reaching my origin server?

Cloudflare operates as a reverse proxy, meaning all incoming traffic to your website first passes through its global network. It inspects this traffic in real-time using a multi-layered approach. This includes analyzing IP reputation, behavioral patterns, HTTP request headers, and payload content. Cloudflare employs a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to detect common attack signatures, machine learning for anomaly detection and bot identification, and extensive DDoS mitigation strategies to absorb and filter large volumes of malicious traffic, ensuring only legitimate requests reach your origin server.