Anonymous proxy

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This article is about computer software. For the company, see Anonymizer (company).

An anonymizer or anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable. It is a proxy server computer that acts as an intermediary and privacy shield between a client computer and the rest of the Internet. It accesses the Internet on the user's behalf, protecting personal information of the user by hiding the client computer's identifying information such as IP addresses.[1][2]

Reasons for using anonymizers include minimizing risk, prevention of identity theft, or protecting search histories from public disclosure. Some countries apply heavy censorship on the internet via geo-blocking.[3][4][5][6][7] Anonymizers can help to allow free access to all of the internet content, but they cannot help against persecution for accessing the anonymizer itself. As information itself about anonymizers may be banned in those countries, governments may create fake website to entrap users.[8] Anonymizers are also used to avoid targeted marketing and information and to get a more objective view of information.[9]

Anyonymizers can be classified into protocol-specific and protocol-independent proxies. In protocol-specific anonymizers, a connection is made by the user to the anonymizer, with commands to the anonymizer included inside typical messages. The anonymizer then makes a connection to the resource specified by the inbound command and relays the message with the command stripped out. Protocol-independent anonymizers are achieved by creating a network tunnel to an anonymizer via a protocol such as SOCKS, PPTP, or OpenVPN. For building a reliable anonymous system, anonymous proxy signatures are helpful.[10] These signatures can also be used in anonymous voting or other authentication processes that value anonymity.[10]

Examples of anonymizer websites include Anonymouse, Anonymiz.com, Anonymize, Anonymizer, IDZap, Ultimate Anonymity, The Cloak, GoTrusted and GhostSurf Platinum.[11] Websites such as GoTrusted.com and Anonymizer.com offer users internet access with anonymity via a virtual private network (VPN) that routes their online traffic through the companies' servers.[12] Examples of protocol-specific anonymizers include anonymous remailers, web proxies and bouncers for FTP and IRC, and anonymity integrated with RFID tags.[13]

Use of multiple relays

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Proxies can be daisy chained. Chaining anonymous proxies can make traffic analysis far more complex and costly by requiring the eavesdropper to be able to monitor different parts of the Internet.[1] An anonymizing remailer can use this concept by relaying a message to another remailer, and eventually to its destination.

Even stronger anonymity can be gained by using Tor, an onion router. Using Tor means that routing information and message content are encrypted in such a way as to prevent linking the origin and destination. Like all anonymity networks, Tor cannot end-to-end encrypt messages destined for the public internet;[14] it must be arranged between the sender and recipient. Tor's onion service protocol does, however, provide end-to-end encryption, along with the ability to anonymize servers, making them more censorship-resistant.

Another anonymity network is the Invisible Internet Project (I2P). Unlike Tor, I2P is an internal, dynamic and decentralized network where each node routes traffic for others and blends its own traffic in, such that one's own traffic is relayed by other peers through tunnels made up of various other peers. As all traffic always stays within the I2P network, a routing user's I2P can remain end-to-end encrypted and will never show on public websites' logs.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "How Anonymizers Work". The Living Internet. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  2. ^ Shirey, R. (August 2007). Internet Security Glossary, Version 2. doi:10.17487/RFC4949. RFC 4949.
  3. ^ (Reference from Censorship in Singapore#Internet) Au, Alex (November 23, 2006). "Mixing welfare and elitism in Singapore". Asia Times. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012.
  4. ^ (Reference from Censorship in Saudi Arabia#The Internet) Woollacott, Emma (January 6, 2011). "Saudi Arabia bans blogging without a licence". TG Daily. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011.
  5. ^ (Reference from Censorship in North Korea - where internet access itself is illegal) "List of the 13 Internet enemies". Reporters Without Borders. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2008.
  6. ^ (Reference from Internet censorship in Iran) "Internet Filtering in Iran in 2004-2005: A Country Study". OpenNet Initiative. 2006. Archived from the original on 2009-01-08. In these countries most anonymizer websites are banned
  7. ^ See references above i.e. Iran banned Tor
  8. ^ Rasch, Mark (May 9, 2008). "Click Crime". SecurityFocus. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008.
  9. ^ Ungerleider, Neal (20 May 2011). "Web Anonymizers And The Arab Spring". Fast Company.
  10. ^ a b Wei, Jiannan; Yang, Guomin; Mu, Yi; Liang, Kaitai (2015-09-28). "Anonymous Proxy Signature with Hierarchical Traceability: TABLE 1". The Computer Journal. 59 (4): 559–569. doi:10.1093/comjnl/bxv080. ISSN 0010-4620.
  11. ^ Rainer, R. Kelly; Turban, Efraim (9 January 2008). Introduction to Information Systems: Supporting and Transforming Business. John Wiley & Sons. p. 379. ISBN 9780470169001. Retrieved 20 December 2017 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Li, Bingdong; Erdin, Esra; Gunes, Mehmet Hadi; Bebis, George; Shipley, Todd (2013-07-01). "An overview of anonymity technology usage". Computer Communications. 36 (12): 1269–1283. doi:10.1016/j.comcom.2013.04.009. ISSN 0140-3664.
  13. ^ Mubarak, Mohd Faizal; Manan, Jamalul-lail Ab; Yahya, Saadiah (December 2011). Trusted anonymizer-based RFID system with integrity verification. 2011 7th International Conference on Information Assurance and Security (IAS). IEEE. pp. 98–103. doi:10.1109/isias.2011.6122802. ISBN 9781457721557. S2CID 16934219.
  14. ^ "The hack of the year - Security - Technology - theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  15. ^ "Welcome to the Invisible Internet". The Invisible Internet Project. December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Privacy-friendly law enforcement". Archived from the original on 2008-12-04.