How to make proxy security a priority

The proxy industry plays a crucial role in today's internet ecosystem, providing anonymity and security for users and businesses who want to conduct market research, travel fare aggregation, ad verification, or monitor price changes and threats online. However, the proxy industry has its own vulnerabilities. It is important for both proxy service providers and users to be aware of the potential risks and take steps to prevent them.

Malicious actors are one of the main challenges for the proxy industry. Proxies can be used for legitimate purposes, such as bypassing internet censorship or accessing geo-restricted content. However, they can also be used for nefarious activities, such as committing cybercrimes or facilitating online harassment.

The 2019 Cybersecurity Ventures report outlined an alarming future, wherein by 2021, the projected cybercrime will produce a greater transfer of economic wealth than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined, costing the world $6 trillion annually. To combat this trend, industry players and proxy users must rise to the challenge and invest in cybersecurity, which is predicted to exceed $1.75 trillion by 2025.

Proxy service providers need to have robust policies and procedures in place to prevent the misuse of their services and to cooperate with law enforcement when necessary. By choosing reputable service providers and using proxies responsibly, users also play a role in protecting themselves from cybercrimes.

Preventing Ill-intentioned Proxy Usage

Proxy providers work diligently to safeguard their services from illegal usage. A proxy server acts as a gateway between the user and the site they are trying to access. It means that all data passing through the proxy is first routed through the provider's servers.

After onboarding their customers, companies like Oxylabs  use robust automated monitoring and alerting processes to detect if the customer is using the organization’s proxies for a legitimate use case. It is important to note that management is not observing the content of the traffic - there are other reliable ways to detect possible abuses.

A trustworthy proxy provider should implement the following security practices:

●    Strong authentication measures that help prevent unaccredited access to proxies.

●     Educating users about ethical proxy usage and potential consequences of proxy misuse.

●     Robust policies and procedures that establish clear policies and procedures for using proxies in accordance with the law.

●     Cooperating with law enforcement in cases of illegal or malicious proxy usage.

Creating a Risk Management Team to Reduce Hazards

According to some sources, approximately 26% of internet users utilize proxies. Thus, the proxy industry is a critical part of the Internet infrastructure, handling billions of daily requests. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to identify the source of cybercrime. Moreover, legitimate users might sometimes be mislabeled as criminals.

Vast proxy infrastructure is an attractive target for bad actors who seek to exploit its vulnerabilities for their own gain. Therefore, proxy providers must find a way to differentiate malicious actors from ordinary users, limiting cyber risks and safeguarding legitimate consumers. One method of doing so is incorporating risk management into the company’s operations by creating risk management and compliance teams.

The risk management team is responsible for assessing and managing internal and external risks. The team takes care of the following processes:

●     Payment risks: monitoring fraudulent payments, trial system abuses, and contract-breaking chargebacks as well as managing customers who fail to make payments for provided services.

●     Compliance risks: client onboarding, KYC, and monitoring for ethical and legal use of proxy solutions.

●     Business continuity: creating fail-safes, drafting plans for continued operations during crises, and managing unprecedented events.

●     Process audit: auditing all departments such as HR, IT, Finance, etc. Taking inventory of all processes, outlining the potential risks, and proposing solutions.

●     Employee awareness: spending considerable time ensuring that employees know business risks and either work internally to resolve them or escalate them to risk management teams. The team is also conducting regular training for new and existing employees.

Another way to reduce risk is to prevent the abuse of services. This can include implementing strict control on who can access the servers and what they can do with them. Additionally, many providers now offer rate limiting and IP blocking features to help control misuse.

It is also very probable that more organizations will start outsourcing their cybersecurity to better manage risks and free up resources for more pressing issues. In fact, according to a survey of 500 technology leaders, 83% want to transition to outsourced IT support services, enabling their in-house staff to dedicate more time and resources to company-specific concerns.

Whatever decision, in-house or outsourced risk management approach, compliance and cybersecurity teams companies choose, taking these measures can help to ensure that their proxies are not used for nefarious purposes. In turn, this helps to protect the industry and its users from potential legal or reputational damage.

Conclusion

The proxy industry is an important part of the modern internet, providing anonymity and security for users who want to protect their privacy. However, it can be vulnerable to abuse by malicious actors who may use proxies for illegal or harmful purposes.

To combat this, it is important for proxy service providers to have solid policies and procedures in place, cooperate with law enforcement when necessary, and educate users about responsible proxy usage. Individual proxy users and businesses can also help protect the industry by choosing reputable service providers and using the services responsibly. That said, it is important for both industry players and users to take steps to safeguard against proxy vulnerabilities and prevent their abuse.