How does Cloudflare's integration with a VPS improve overall security?

Integrating Cloudflare with a VPS enhances security by providing a layered defense. While the VPS itself handles core server operations, Cloudflare sits in front, acting as a proxy. This means malicious traffic is filtered *before* it impacts the VPS's resources, reducing the load on the server and preventing potential compromise. It also offers features like Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect against common web vulnerabilities.