Protection of privacy and security on the Internet has received plenty of press in the last several years. As a result, an increasing number of small businesses are equipping computers and networks with firewalls, anti-virus suites, anti-spyware programs and rootkit detectors. But there is a weapon in the privacy-protection and security arsenal that most big companies can’t do without but few small businesses actually have: proxy servers.
Whenever you are online, you IP address is visible to anyone who is nosy enough and has the right tools. Besides, every web site you visit, every online post you make, and even many cookies you allow capture not only your IP address but other information such as your browser, your machine name and your user name as well. A bad guy in possession of all this information can attack to your computer and compromise your data. Firewalls and anti-virus suites are installed with the precise intention of protecting you against such attacks. The problem with this scheme of defense, however, is that it doesn’t do anything to prevent the attacks; it merely acts as a shield against them.
Proxy servers, commonly called proxies, offer a whole different approach towards protection of privacy. They act as relays between your computer and the locations on the Internet that you visit. When you point your browser at a web site through a proxy server, your browser does not contact the web site directly. Instead, it sends the request to the proxy server to fetch that web page. The proxy server, in turn, sends the request to the web site, fetches the web page, and sends it over to your browser.
As far as the web site’s records go, you never visited the site. There is no record of your IP address, or any other information in the web site’s logs. The logs show the IP address of the proxy server that really visited the site and its details rather than yours. In a way, proxy servers make you invisible on the Internet.
Enterprise class proxy servers need dedicated hardware and software. Naturally, they are not exactly cheap. Besides they also need a considerable level of technical expertise to install, configure, monitor, and maintain.
The good news, however, is that there are many totally free proxy servers on the Internet and a few reasonably priced subscription services as well. To find free proxy servers, just type in "free proxy servers" in Google and you will get a whole lot of links to pages such as the one at http://www.free-proxy-servers.com/free_proxies.php.
To use a proxy server, you must configure your browser. The procedure is different for each browser. Here are the steps for Internet Explorer:
- Select a free proxy server from your list and then go to Internet Explorer’s Tools/Internet Options Menu.
- Select the "Connections" tab and click on the "LAN settings" button.
- Check the box that says "Use a proxy server for your LAN". Then enter the IP address and port number of the proxy server of your choice from your list.
- Click the "Advanced" button and check the box that says "Use the same proxy server for all protocols.
- If you don’t want to use the proxy server to go to specific sites, such as your bank, enter the addresses of those sites in the Exceptions box. Click OK to return to the LAN settings dialog.
- Check the box that says "Bypass proxy server for local addresses".
- Click OK twice to get rid of the Options dialog.
- Restart your browser.
While free proxies are generally good, there are two problems with them.
- Because the servers are free, they are often overloaded or even down, which may lock you out from accessing the Internet
- You don’t really know whether the proxy server is being run by bad guys under disguise
For business use, therefore, a paid subscription to a proxy service is often the better choice. Thee subscription services work essentially in the same way as the free servers, except for the downtime and the suspense about their ownership. Another advantage of paid services is that you don’t have to configure your browser manually. The installation programs automatically configure it for you.
Here are links to some proxy service providers:
- http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/ghostsurf/ghostsurf_standard.php
- http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/products/anonymous_surfing/
- http://www.proxyway.com
I like the first one in the list, GhostSurf. I have been using it for four years and I am extremely happy with it.
Protecting yourself from threats from the Internet requires several layers of security. In small-business computing environments, hardware firewalls, NAT translation, software firewalls, and anti-everything software are common. They are the digital equivalent of locking your office to protect it from intruders. Proxy servers can add another dimension to your security scheme my making you invisible on the Internet; they are the digital equivalent of hiding your entire office from possible intruders.
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Thank you for the article. I just want to add that there are web proxies too. These special websites allow you to serf the web through the proxy without changing browser’s configuration. All you have to do is to enter your destination website’s url and hit enter. The only problem with web proxies is that they are not fully support java script,
One good thing about web proxies, using them you never forget that you actually use an unsafe proxy. It saves you from situations when you accidentally enter for example your bank account though proxy found in the Internet.
A good list of web proxies can be found on http://www.publicproxyservers.com