What They Never Told You About Proxies

Hello Great Geeks on Cybrary.it!Today, I must write an OP3N contribution about a serious problem that makes me a little bit worried about what's going to happen in the future. Everyone here knows that we use services like Proxies, TOR or VPN's to secure our online activities from prying eyes. This year, I did some research about these services and found out that they are not as secure as most of us think in today's modern tech world.I thought that I should introduce you guys to some of the limitations of using a Proxy. I will write about other services after you guys give this article a good response. Let's get started....And, oh, one last thing: This info will be presented using some non-geeky vocabulary, so that everyone can understand it. I have a habit of making some mistakes in my articles so, please forgive me for any mistakes. 1. Proxy :-Q. What is a Proxy?Proxies are devices or servers that forward traffic between a client (like Your Web Browser) and a server (which provides services like a webpage, etc). Q. Why do we use a Proxy?It's used for many reasons. However, for a normal home user, it's used to access websites that are blocked by their ISP (Internet Service Provider) or to provide an extra layer of security. Q. How does it work (The magic)?As Proxy sits between a client and a server. It can make the server see what it wants him to see. An example: Let's say that you want to open a website (abc.com), but you can't because it's blocked by your ISP or some other reason. Someone suggests that you should use a Proxy. You setup your browser to use a Proxy and now, when you open the website, it opens without any kind of problem.So what's the secret magic behind this? When your web browser wants a webpage from the website instead of directly going to the website for the page, it asks the Proxy server to grab the webpage. The Proxy asks the Web Server for the web page you want and, when he gets the page, the Proxy returns the page back to you because you asked for it. The server thinks that it was someone else who got the page, but what he doesn't know, is that we just grabbed a page from him without him noticing.This is the most simplest form of a Proxy I can think of. Your ISP will be happy, too, that your never managed to open the website. Q. Where is the Problem?Proxies have some limitations, which are...

• By using some simple JavaScript code, any website can get your real IP (You can Google for the script).
• Your Proxy server can get blocked by your ISP.
• Someone might hack into the Proxy server, from which they can get all the information about you.
• You Proxy might keep logs, from which you can be traced.
• Sometimes, your computer might not use the Proxy for some stuff - like when you're using torrent to download something.

 Q. What are the defensive measures I can take?Here are few steps you can take to make yourself a little bit more secure:

• Use VPN instead of a Proxy. It's a lot more secure.
• Use Noscript browser extension to prevent from being tracked by JavaScript.
• Keep changing your Proxy servers. This will protect you from ISP blocking because an ISP can't block every single Proxy server out there.
• Use Proxies from well known companies; your chances of getting hacked by someone become low.
• Try to use Proxy services that don't keep logs.
• Don't use torrent on a Proxy because it's extremely insecure.

 Final Words :-This article was just about Proxies and, if you guys want articles about VPN and TOR, you should rate this one first. This helps me a lot to write new articles. You guys might have your own knowledge, opinions or comments about this article, which are highly appreciated and respected by me.You can always mail me at usmanaura47@gmail.com for support, to share comments or just to say hello. Good luck and have a happy day.