HTTP Proxy – Your Own HTTPS Proxy Server

Any semblance of privacy we used to have on the internet is long gone, anonymous proxy surfing is becoming more common as people realise just how much of their personal data exists online. Do you have to be a technical wizard to protect your privacy online, well if you want to do it for free it definitely helps?

What are the Issues in Surfing Securely

The main areas of concern are usually the following:

1)ISP Logs which contain your IP address and every web site you visit.

2) Web Server Logs – which record your IP address

3) HTTP Transport – unfortunately the majority of web traffic is in plain text so can be intercepted and read easily.

So whats the Solution and will it cost me?

You can protect yourself to varying extents by using paid or free technology. The easiest part to protect yourself against is the Web server logs, if you use anonymous proxy surfing your IP address will not be recorded in the web servers you visit. Setting up a proxy server manually is quite simple in IE you will find it in Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings – just input the address of the anonymous proxy and that’s it. The problem is finding a free proxy to use as the majority are hacked or misconfigured servers and are nearly always painfully slow.

You can also use an Open source program called TOR which is more secure than selecting a random anonymous proxy and hoping it’s not run by a Russian Hacking Club! TOR has the potential to be extremely secure but it is fairly difficult to set up and again can be extremely slow browsing using it unless you stick to text only sites.

To deal with the other points you’ll need to use some sort of encryption protocol, try looking at Stunnel which enables you to encrypt TCP connections inside SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Again it’s free but you’ll need to pretty technical to get it all working, it’s quite fun experimenting though if you have the inclination and time.

Anonymous proxy surfing has become increasingly popular as people using the internet on a daily basis become more and more aware of just how insecure their private information is. While it might sound as if being a computer specialist to safeguard your private information for free online sounds like the truth, in reality it’s something that anyone can do.

So what are the main points of concern to ensure you’re surfing securely?

If you want to securely surf the internet, there are a few things that you must be aware of:

1.Web Server Logs that record your IP address

2.ISP Logs that store the IP address of every website you visit

3.HTTP Transport – In most situations web traffic is transferred in a plain text format making it easy to collect and read

How can this be prevented and what are the costs involved? There are different levels of protection provided by either free or paid services.

The easiest thing to protect you from is the Web Server Logs. Anonymous proxy surfing makes sure that the IP recorded by the web servers is that of the proxy, not yours. Using IE (Internet Explorer) makes it very easy to setup use of a proxy server manually. Simply go to Tools –> Internet Options –> Connections –> LAN Settings and simply put in the IP address of the proxy. The difficulty with free proxies is that many of them are gotten through hacking or servers that are incorrectly configured and are unbelievably slow and unsecured.

There is a widely available open source program called TOR that provides you with more security then randomly choosing from a free proxy and hoping it’s not run by Russian Hacking Clubs! TOR has the ability to provide you with a very secure connection but it can be difficult to setup and the speeds are still terrible unless the sites you visit are in a text format only.

The other points of concern require the use of a encryption protocol to bypass. One in particular called Stunnel gives you the ability to encrypt your TCP connection inside the Secure Socket Layer, otherwise known as the SSL. While the program may be free, you need to be very technically minded to setup the program properly, but if you have the time and your just curious you can actually do some experimenting of your own with the program.

Are you trying to access a certain website but can’t because it’s blocked and are trying to determine if you can do it anonymously? Many aren’t aware that when you are traveling through websites you are actually leaving a little trail along the way. Hackers would be able to follow you around easily and see everything you visit if they are good at it. Now with the new advancements of the Internet though you can finally access those blocked websites and stop leaving a trail by being anonymous with the use of web proxy sites.

Now you are probably wondering what a web proxy site is exactly. A proxy site is known to allow you to travel around websites anonymously and finally be able to get into those sites that happen to have a content filter on them. You’ll now have the opportunity to go through many websites by using a web proxy site.

Currently there are several proxy sites available that are quite dependable. By going to one of these proxy sites you can now go through visiting all the sites you want by simply typing in the URL of the website you are trying to access. By simply typing in the address to the website your real IP address will no longer be tracked and you’ll have all your information protected meaning you are officially anonymously browsing through the Internet.

Don’t get me wrong this can be quite beneficial for some wanting to hide their information, but of course there are going to be various risks involved by surfing the Internet through a web proxy site. There are many proxy sites out there that are actually malicious sites that are going to record all the information you place in, such as logins and passwords, and then make use of them. This is one of the biggest risks using proxy sites for surfing around as it can be difficult knowing which ones are malicious and which ones are not.

There are many proxy sites out there that will take advantage of you taking all your personal and restricted information and sell it off to other websites making it quite risky to provide any information while using a web proxy site.

When you are selecting a web proxy site to utilize you should be very careful. Try sticking with web proxy sites that have an SSL tunnel or also a TLS tunnel. These are usually the most reliable proxy sites available as it prevents your information from being stolen. Also when selecting a proxy site make sure that it will actually support the protocol that you need, whether it’s FTP or HTTP.

For those wanting to get into blocked sites or become entirely anonymous while surfing the web you could make great use out of web proxy sites. Just ensure that when you are using a web proxy site that you are very careful with the information you distribute and the security measures that particular web proxy site has or you could find your personal and restricted information getting into the wrong hands quickly.