A proxy is a computer server that routes internet requests to and from a user, hiding their IP address. VPNs are software-based solutions that encrypt a connection, protecting a user’s privacy. Both proxies and VPNs can be used by fraudsters to perform high risk activities such as fake registrations, account takeover attacks, fraudulent clicks or payments, scraping content, geo location bypassing, and other hacking tactics. By identifying users who are connecting via proxies and VPNs, businesses can apply extra verification to ensure they are legitimate customers or apply other risk-based controls.

Proxies and Proxy & VPN detection service anti-bot protections on websites, making web automation difficult to identify. By implementing Proxy & VPN detection service as a front-line layer of online fraud prevention and threat detection, organizations can increase security, decrease manual review times, reduce false positives and improve user experience.

Proxy & VPN Detection Service: Protect Your Platform from Risky Connections

Detection methods include IP-based detection (blacklists), request fingerprinting (analyzing multiple aspects of HTTP traffic such as headers and protocols), and TLS/SSL handshake analysis that recognizes patterns that can indicate the presence of a proxy or VPN. Advanced systems also use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to inspect data at a granular level, looking beyond headers and examining other characteristics such as encrypted traffic or tunneling protocol signatures. In addition, some systems use machine learning to analyze vast amounts of data to determine the most common patterns associated with proxies and VPNs to evolve their models over time. This enables them to better detect new types of proxies and VPNs and respond more quickly when suspicious activity is detected.

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