What is the purpose of the NAT masquerade rule in RouterOS?

• A. It blocks inbound traffic.
• B. It creates a static IP on an interface.
• C. It defines a firewall rule for filtering.
• D. It enables internet sharing by translating internal addresses to the WAN's address.

Answer: (D)

Masquerade is a form of source NAT. When devices on your private network send traffic to the internet, the router rewrites the source IP to its own WAN (public) IP and keeps track of the connection. This makes all outgoing traffic appear as if it comes from a single public address, allowing many internal devices to share internet access. The replies return to the router, which then rewrites them back to the original internal hosts. This behavior is specifically about enabling internet sharing, not blocking traffic, assigning static IPs, or creating firewall rules.