A Proxy provides Privacy, But Only in Your Dreams
January 22, 2010 by admin
I’ve met many people, both in the real world and via my online socialising, that have been fooled by this misconception that a proxy server can provide you with some privacy. Although I say it is a mistake, there is some small element of truth, perhaps just enough to be dangerous.
For let’s remember what a proxy server is and then examine the real attacks on your privacy. A proxy server sits in between you and the web sites you visit, it does protect these web sites from detecting your location and IP address but only when they are configured correctly.
But now the real big problem with proxy servers, they do actually create another security issue when your surfing. Compare the proxy server with a helpful man you met on the street, this man has offered to take care of all your correspondence. He will pick up all your mail from the post office, and also deliver all your mail directly himself. In truth you are absolutely trusting this person implicitely with all your mail, which is exactly what you do with a proxy server.
The proxy contains every single request you make online, unless it’s logs are purged it contains a complete list of all your browsing. What is perhaps worse that all your usernames, account names and passwords also pass through this proxy.
Do you trust the administrator of the proxies you use online?
Of course most people who use free anonymous proxies, or the alleged secure elite proxies have no idea who is running them. It could be a spotty 13 year old linux geek, a Russian Identity Thief or a bored student playing with proxies. Whoever they are, you hand them control of all your browsing and online data.
It’s a sobering thought and one that is not tempered by the knowledge that the majority of our web browsing is conducted in clear text. No encryption, no secure transfer just lines of clear readable text flying across the ether. You see dear readers, HTTP the preferred protocol for using the world wide web uses plain text, it uses it for speed and security is simply not a consideration.
So I urge you to be wary of the promise of security that thousands of web sites offer via their web proxy. The pages of IP addresses of ‘elite proxies’ available for free should be viewed with utmost caution. A central goal to being secure online is to minimise the number of people with access to your data, using a proxy does precisely the opposite.
