The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):

SOCKS

    A security package that allows a host behind a
   firewall to use finger, FTP, telnet, Gopher, and
   Mosaic to access resources outside the firewall while
   maintaining the security requirements.

   [The Security FAQ, Usenet newsgroups
   news:comp.security.misc, news:comp.security.unix,
   news:alt.security].

   (1995-01-31)