A Web proxy allows you circumvent networking and security systems and browse the Internet without any content filtering, security or monitoring. Even the most sophisticated security systems have zero control once a Web user connects to the internet via a Web proxy – unless the security system can identify proxies and prevent access to them automatically.
Defining Proxies
A proxy server is a computer or program that acts as an intermediary for Web browsing. When a user connects to a proxy server, and the proxy then connects the user directly to the Internet, circumventing networking, security and acceptable use policies. The types of Web proxies that exist for bypassing or circumventing network security are:
TYPE
DESCRIPTION
Anonymous Proxies
Anonymous proxies are the most common type of Web proxy and therefore easiest to block. These are generally URL-based and offer an embedded feature that allows users to bypass the network through an interface on the website.
Circumventors
Circumventor software can be placed on a home (or any out-of-network) computer and it will return a URL that acts as a proxy and can be used to connect back to that computer for anonymous browsing. These URLS are dynamic and easily changed if ever discovered and blocked.
Tor Network
The Tor network is a network of virtual tunnels that creates an indirect connection to the Internet by having the desired connection to hop through all of the computers on the Tor network before reaching its final destination, therefore disguising the browsing session and circumventing filtering policies.
Browser Proxies
Browser proxies are a more complex version of anonymous proxies that provide the option of selecting different types of encoding to further hide the connection.
SSL Proxies
SSL (or encrypted) proxies form a secure connection (HTTPS) which can only be detected and stopped by recognizing the proxy connection before the three-way handshake is completed and the secure tunnel is formed.
Google Proxies Google Mobile
Google can be used as a proxy by either choosing the option to translate the website into another language, or show content as it would appear on a mobile device, both of which allow for unrestricted Web browsing that all appears to come from Google and therefore circumvents filtering policies.
Transparent Proxies
Transparent proxies work when a user changes his/her browser settings to search through a proxy. Thousands of free IP addresses are available online and can be easily added to any browser. These IP addresses are constantly changing and therefore very difficult to detect and stop as thousands of new IPs come out daily.
How does a Web Proxy Work?
With content filtering or similar techniques, a network administrator blocks a Website either by its IP, its name or part of its name. Web proxies have constantly changing IPs, and many use sophisticated technology that does not show an IP at all. When a user connects to a proxy, their destination on the Web is hidden, so the admin of the network will think everything is fine and the user is able to reach the website that is forbidden.
Techniques to Stop Web Proxies
There are two primary methods to preventing Web proxies from being accessed: by URL filtering or by deep packet inspection. However, there is a serious flaw with URL filtering as a mechanism to preventing Web proxies from being accessed. URL filtering is based on a database of known Web addresses to blacklist, and Web proxies are generally, by their appeal and very nature, not mainstream Web pages. This is why a DeepNines Secure Web Gateway solution for deep packet inspection and Proxy Blocker for preventing Web proxy unauthorized circumvention is required.
Web Proxies are a Circumvention Technology
Circumvention technologies are any tools, software, or methods used to bypass Internet filtering. These can range from complex computer programs to relatively simple manual steps, such as accessing a banned Website stored on a search engine’s cache, instead of trying to access it directly. There are numerous circumvention technologies that can be used under a variety of different circumstances by a wide range of potential users. No one technology fits all of the different potential users and the circumstances within which they find themselves.
Circumvention Providers
Circumvention providers install software on a computer in a non-filtered location and make connections to this computer available to those who access the Internet from a censored location. Circumvention providers can range from large commercial organizations offering circumvention services for a fee to individuals providing circumvention services for free.
Anonymizing Proxy Server
An anonymous proxy server provides complete invisibility of the user while Web surfing. There are different varieties of anonymizers. The server receives requests from the anonymizing proxy server, and thus does not receive information about the end user's address. However, the requests are not anonymous to the anonymizing proxy server, and so a degree of trust is present between that server and the user.
Anonymity Networks
Anonymity networks typically 'bounce' your Internet traffic around between various secure proxies in order to disguise where you are coming from and what you are trying to access. This can significantly reduce the speed at which you are able to load Websites and other Internet services.