Internet Proxies: What They Do

The Internet is a unique place to meet friends, make enemies, and do a variety of other things you might not want your mother knowing about. You may enjoy a game of 'hack the mule' or 'smack the open ports' and if you do then you probably already know what the proxy is. For the rest of us who hound the Internet in search of answers, the definition of a proxy is simple and follows below.

What is an Internet Proxy?

An internet proxy is a sort of handshaking service provided by local and internet based networks. When we access the Internet, we don't always want it known what we do there, and that's where the proxy comes in. A proxy takes literal network requests from the computer and performs them as if the computer where never involved, all while hiding the actual requestor's IP address. Any file download, Internet cache, or other information about your access to the Internet when using a proxy, is at some point mirrored on the proxy server.

Why use an Internet proxy?

Internet proxies provide a great deal of service to those who seek anonymity on the Internet. By hiding your IP address to the services you access; it will appear only that the proxy connected to their service and will not be linked back to you in any way. Hackers often use proxies of one kind or another to access confidential information without being traceable. This anonymity provides them with a certain measure of protection in the coming days, after hacking government secrets and bank accounts.

A proxy can also be used by an ISP to monitor the Internet access of its users, keeping a log of all incoming requests. You may also wish to use a 'local' proxy if you have multiple computers you want to be able to access the Internet, but only one that is registered with your ISP. While most routers today come with a Mac address clone function to provide just this type of service, not all of them do.

Businesses using Intranet networks often use a proxy of some kind to keep their Intranet structure a secret from the outside world who may wish to do them harm.

Why is my Internet proxy banned from XX webpage?

As mentioned earlier hackers tend to use multiple proxies to do their nefarious deed s on the Internet, protecting them from prosecution, with a measure of anonymity. They may further hinder attempts of tracking by using a 56k dialup connection stolen from the Internet. When a service is breached the typical response is a short ban, followed by an IP ban. Since every connection you make to the outside world is routed and addressed as the proxy's IP, an IP ban means everyone using that proxy will be refused service.

If you are on a school network, it's likely your connections are being pushed through a local proxy, and some webpages may be banned by the local proxy, or vice versa. The proxy may in fact be banned due to some unscrupulous activities of the other students.

Finding good Internet proxies that are free is becoming more and more of a task as the Internet continues to grow and hackers use them for things such as 'port scanning', 'security testing', and 'Virus downloads'.

Closing,

Internet proxies can be very helpful tools in the right hands and performing the right tasks. But they can also serve the deeds of the wicked. Due to the nature of the Internet proxy few of them remain and the ones that do are no longer free services.

Links to toys,

Internet proxy

IP proxy list