Proxy sites sound great and promise to hide your identity, but there dangers with proxy servers, we discuss those below; but before we do that, you should look at your Digital Footprint right now, then come back and read this.
Proxy sites claim to cover your tracks when surfing the web, but did you know that a large majority actually are designed to snoop on your information? Here is how proxy sites are supposed to work: You visit the proxy, enter the website you would like to visit and do your business. Many people use a web proxy to get around their employer’s firewall, such as visiting a shopping or gaming site. Other people use proxy sites to protect their privacy while on the internet.
Proxy Site – Good and Bad!
All proxy servers have the ability to track everything you do, and most companies providing legitimate services will only reveal this information if required to do so by authorities; however, the bad guys track your activity for the purposes of gathering credit card numbers, passwords and other valuable information. In fact, many unscrupulous webmasters set up proxy sites for just this purpose!
Many of the proxy sites actually report your IP address along with the IP address they are allowing you to use – known as a transparent proxy. Use our spy ware removal section to see exactly what your proxy server is reporting.
Types of Proxy Servers
A good proxy site will use an anonymous server which come in two flavors; disguised and Elite servers. The Elite proxy site does not leave any information or clues that it is providing these services. The disguised proxy will not show who it is protecting, but it will let sites know that it is a proxy server.
What proxy site should you use? Use this simple rule – If you’re going to conduct business or give away personal information like credit card numbers and what to hide your identity, then use an elite proxy site.
If you’re just browsing around and not planning on buying anything, then the free proxy sites will work fine.
Proxy List
I’ll be providing a list of both fee based and free proxy sites soon. Until then, use caution when using the free services! You might be saving a monthly fee, but in the end, it could cost you far more than if you had paid for an elite proxy site.