ANONIMIZER - PROXY SERVER - TOP

[Father]

Anonymous Internet: anonymizers, proxy servers, Tor - programs and services that ensure anonymous stay on the Internet

In the recent past, anonymous Internet was only the lot of hackers, IT specialists, web programmers and other computer fraternity. Ordinary netizens to a greater extent did not care about this topic at all. But times have changed: with the growth of network and software technologies, the number of problems and dangers that lie in wait for ordinary people during their "walks" online has increased. The ability to "disguise" in the network has acquired the status of a reasonable necessity.

What is hidden under the concept of anonymous Internet
Simply put, it is the ability to be "invisible" on the network to other users, websites, online services and, most importantly, attackers.

Ensuring anonymity on the Internet includes the following tasks:

• hiding the IP address of the node (replacing it with another address);
• preventing traffic tracking / monitoring;
• restricting access to technical data of the PC (OS, browsers, applets and applications);
• protection / encryption of user's network connections.

Why is anonymous internet useful?
There are a lot of motivations to travel in the "incognito" network. Here are just a few of them:

• increasing the level of security (for example, many types of hacker attacks are powerless if the user's IP address is unknown);
• gaining access to blocked resources - sites, forums, social networks, services (when blocking is carried out on a specific IP network / IP address or geographic location of a network node);
• maintaining the confidentiality of personal information, behavior on sites, etc.

Let's consider the basic means of "camouflage" in the network - simple and more complex.

Anonymizing sites
Specialized web resources that act as an intermediary (third party) between the user and the server in order to hide the IP address. They are very easy to use: they do not require installation of additional applications in the OS, creating settings, etc.

The algorithm of their action looks like this:

1. The user opens an anonymizing site in the browser.
2. In the address bar on the resource page, he enters the full domain name of the site he wants to visit incognito or to which he wants to get access (for example: namesites.com).
3. Presses "Enter" and immediately finds himself where he needs to be - in Facebook, Vkontakte, on the forum, video hosting, etc. In this case, the browser displays not the true address of the open page, but the redirecting link of the anonymizer (sometimes it has an encrypted form - after "http //" is followed by a combination of symbols and letters).

All the worries of masking IP are taken over by the anonymizing site. All that is required from the visitor is to enter the data - the website address. And that's all. The script on the server sends requests on its own behalf and, accordingly, under its IP address. For example: if the user lives in Russia, and the anonymizer server is located in Germany, then the site system will also regard the visitor as a resident of this country. Thus, the true data of the site is hidden, the blocking and restrictions on geographic location are removed (prohibitions on viewing video content, downloading trial keys for software, etc.)

Tips for choosing an anonymizer site
The number of online services that hide the IP is growing exponentially every day. Finding a safe and effective resource among all this abundance is not an easy task. Especially for beginners who are learning the first basics of the network.

What you need to pay attention to first of all when choosing an anonymizer site:

1. Inquire about the reputation of the service (whether it can be trusted or not): read reviews of other users on specialized forums, read information about its developers, find out if the site is included in the lists of "black" anonymizers. If a web resource has been consistently delivering anonymous Internet to its visitors for 2-3 years, then you can safely use it. Newly made "creations" from unknown creators are best avoided. Some of them are phishing - they steal user passwords and logins (enter them into their database at the time of authorization). It was found that using a fake anonymizer, hackers can steal up to 2-3 thousand accounts from various sites in a short period of time.
2. To view or establish empirically the technical characteristics of the resource - the speed of the Internet connection, the page load time. If their parameters are small, it makes sense to pay attention to another anonymizer. It is painful to wait for 2-3 minutes near the monitor to load the desired page, nowadays, it is an exorbitant luxury.
3. Rate the convenience of the interface. If, for example, you need an anonymizer site exclusively for visiting the social network "Vkontakte", it makes sense to use a specialized solution, on the page of which there is a ready-made button "go to Vkontakte". It's more convenient and faster - no need to burden yourself with typing an address every time.

Disadvantages of anonymizing sites
Along with the availability and lack of any requirements regarding user skills, anonymizers have inherent flaws in terms of user comfort and safety. The most critical are the following:

1. There is little or no support for interactive elements on web pages written in JavaScript, Flash and Java software platforms. In other words, online games, computing services, audio and video hosting, opened through an anonymizing site, may not work correctly.
2. Relative privacy of personal information. As a rule, these online services hide only the user's IP, and information about the browser, OS and technical data of the PC remains available.
3. In order to get to the site anonymously, you need to launch the anonymizer every time, enter the address. This causes some inconvenience.

Proxy server
Proxy-server is a special proxy service that fulfills user requests on its behalf to other web servers. When a user sends requests through a proxy-server, Internet resources “do not see” the true data about his PC - IP-address (including geographic location), browser version, operating system.

Proxy-server surpasses the anonymizing site in terms of the level of anonymity on the network, user convenience and technical capabilities. Despite the fact that both of these tools are based on almost the same technology, with the exception of some nuances and network mechanisms.

Free proxies are slow and difficult to work with comfortably on the Internet, they often stop working quickly. We use high-speed proxies for $ 0.3. This amount can be reduced by another 5% if you enter the code SmDz1NlozX (additional discount code) at the time of payment. There is also a service for checking your anonymity after connecting.

The main functions of a proxy server (except for hiding personal information):

1. Bypassing bans and restrictions on access to sites, in case of blocking on a specific IP network, geographic location, or actions of the provider's censor filters.
2. Protection / control of computers on the local network from requests from the Internet. PCs communicate with web servers exclusively through proxies, and therefore remain invisible.
3. Setting traffic quotas, setting bandwidth, introducing filters for content on the channel from the internal (local) network to the external.
4. Caching / compressing data received from the Internet. In the case of multiple user requests to a specific web page, the proxy server saves it in a compressed, more compact form on its disk. And then, on subsequent requests, it issues a cached copy of it. Thus, the client's Internet traffic is saved, the process of obtaining the necessary information is accelerated.

Hybrid Anonymous Network - Tor
Tor (short for The Onion Router) is a huge proxy server system designed to create anonymous network connections that are protected from eavesdropping and eavesdropping. The use of this service is carried out through the free Tor Browser Bundle browser (available on the official website of the system).

Possibilities of the Tor anonymous network

• providing access to blocked sites;
• hiding information about visited web resources (visit history);
• protection from provider sanctions, analytical services, spy modules (sniffers), scripts that collect data about visitors;
• reliable encryption of transmitted data;
• masking the real geographic location of the client's site (country / city).

The principle of operation of the Tor network
The user launches the Tor browser (client program of the system) on his PC. Which, in turn, connects to the proxy servers of the system via an Internet connection. Data packets from the client to the web server and back are transmitted within the system using onion routing.

The Tor browser downloads from the main server of the network a list of working proxy servers - intermediate nodes (so-called "nodes"). Using the random generation method, selects several nodes (at least three). And then he builds a network "tunnel" through them - a channel-chain:
client -> node 1 -> node2 -> node 3 -> web server (or other client).

In this scheme: Tor browser - entrance to the "tunnel", node 3 (or the last proxy-server in the chain) - exit from the "tunnel". Each intermediate node knows only the neighboring network participants, i.e. their addresses. In other words, the internal nodes “do not know” either the client or the addressee.

The system was nicknamed "onion" due to the use of a multilayer encryption method. The data sent by the client is subjected to multiple encoding. In the course of their transfer through the "tunnel", each intermediate node (node) removes exclusively its own "layer" of encryption (as if splitting off the peel from the onion, inside which the information is stored). Then it sends the data packet to the next node. As a result: on the final server of the chain, the last "layer" is removed - the decrypted data is sent to the addressee.

The connection chain and ciphers are constantly changing at a given time interval (on average, after 10 minutes). Nodes - the intermediary servers used - are localized around the globe. Therefore, it is almost impossible to hack Tor, to trace the connections of its network "tunnel".

Tor network vulnerabilities and how to fix them
Despite the use of a powerful data encryption algorithm, dynamic change of IP and chain participants, multi-level routing, Tor cannot be clearly called a network with one hundred percent anonymity. Unfortunately, it also has gaps and weaknesses. The most dangerous are the following:

Open outlet node.
In fact, the last node of the chain after the final stage of decryption of data, before sending it to the addressee, can freely intercept, view and perform any software modifications on them. Reducing the risk of data leakage, as well as partially eliminating this vulnerability, is possible only with the help of additional encryption of information on the client's side, immediately before sending it to the addressee through the network.

Immunity to blocking mechanisms.
The lion's share of Tor nodes are in the public domain. Owners of web resources, network operators who want to protect themselves from anonymous users, collect the IP addresses of the nodes, and then enter them into blocking filters. As a result, the client of the network cannot "get around" the denial of access to the resource. Such radical filtering can be overcome by using the so-called Top-bridges - special proxy servers of the system, whose addresses are secret from online publics.

The lack of control (partial or complete) of the Tor over the network connections of third-party applications.
Tor Browser is a modified version of Firefox browser (it is based on FF code, shell and interface). Due to this feature, some scripts and plugins of the client application ignore the proxy settings and make network requests "directly", opening the real IP of the client. To ensure complete anonymity, they must be disabled.

Thor's inactivity in case of incorrect use.
Ignoring the preparatory settings of the Tor browser can lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of its protection, or even its absence in the process of anonymous Internet. Therefore, after launching the application, it is imperative to check its effectiveness: is the real IP, PC data closed? How often does the IP, the configuration of the network "tunnel" change?

Summing up the review of ways to hide user's personal data on the Internet, it is worth noting that there is no ideal solution that meets absolute confidentiality among them. However, the use of means and methods of network anonymization, in one form or another, significantly increases the level of information security online. Moreover, it reduces the attempts of intruders to attack a PC to "no", removes all kinds of restrictions on access to web resources.

https://sfztn.com/security/anonimayzer-proxy-server-tor