Website Security - Detect and Block Anonymous Proxy Users

Did you know that people who hit business sites using an anonymous proxy service are more likely to be attempting fraud?

An anonymous proxy service is a web site that allows users to go through their network to browse the internet so that their actual IP address is hidden.   Why would someone use an anonymous proxy service?  There are a few reasons.  Perhaps they are on a system that tracks their web usage and they want to avoid this tracking.  Or perhaps they are on a network that blocks certain sites and they want to get around that security.  I know that people in China can use proxy services to try to reach sites that are blocked by the government.  And yes, they can get in trouble for doing that if they care caught.  However, another not so innocent sounding use for an anonymous proxy service is committing fraud.

From the perspective of a company doing business on the net, it may be beneficial to block users who come to your site using an anonymous proxy service.   The quote below is from the ip2location.com web site.  Ip2location sells a product that detects and allows you to any IP address coming through to your site in this manner. 

Studies found that a large number of anonymous proxy users are generally responsible for online credit card fraud, forums and blogs spamming or defacing any visitor editable Web sites. More often than not they can be scammers, hackers or content thieves seeking only to prey on you and your legitimate Web site visitors.

They keep a proxy list of all these anonymous browsing services so that a site owner can block anonymous browsers.

FREE DEMO of Open Proxy Detection - look for the green check in the box below, it means that you are not using an anonymous proxy to read this blog.