Why do people post public proxies?

Hayden Russell

Hayden Russell

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So I have never understood why someone would post a list of free proxies that anyone can use. I assume that these are probably part of a botnet because most residential proxies are quite costly and not something that someone would give away for free.

Even if they are part of a botnet, why would someone just give them away for free? Most proxy sites don't have ads or anything.

Just really curious...
 
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Mostly hackers that find vulnerable proxies over the internet by running scanners to find servers lisitining to the web proxies common ports (8080,3128,8000). Also
people who have a "free" proxy service will give it to one of the lists, then in a few hours the other lists will have got the ip too because they copy eachother. Don't trust the free name, most of them use your data for "research" and/or change the content of websites you visit (maliciously or just replacing ads with their own.).
 
MoneyMagnet2015 said:
Mostly hackers that find vulnerable proxies over the internet by running scanners to find servers lisitining to the web proxies common ports (8080,3128,8000). Also
people who have a "free" proxy service will give it to one of the lists, then in a few hours the other lists will have got the ip too because they copy eachother. Don't trust the free name, most of them use your data for "research" and/or change the content of websites you visit (maliciously or just replacing ads with their own.).
Click to expand...
Oh ok, people probably could use search engines like Shodan for this right? As far as using your data or maliciously changing the content, does anyone actually use these for normal web browsing? I thought everyone just used them for scrapebox or other similar softwares.
 
Open public proxies can be:

  • Honeypots
  • To analyze real-time traffic data for optimization, firewall development, etc
  • For malicious MitM purposes
  • For generous sharing purposes
  • Open for a short period of time, then closed with a promotional authentication message
  • Open by accident

It's best to configure your own proxy servers with a VPS / dedicated server or purchase from proxy providers in the BHW marketplace.
 
Last edited:
Hayden Russell said:
Oh ok, people probably could use search engines like Shodan for this right? As far as using your data or maliciously changing the content, does anyone actually use these for normal web browsing? I thought everyone just used them for scrapebox or other similar softwares.
Click to expand...
I never use public proxies for my web browsing, i use VPN for that. Quick scrapebox, gsa is what i use those proxies for.
 
proxygo said:
most people just use them for scrapers, other than that
i wouldnt trust them for much else.
Click to expand...
True.

William Parsons said:
Open public proxies can be:

  • Honeypots
  • To analyze real-time traffic data for optimization, firewall development, etc
  • For malicious MitM purposes
  • For generous sharing purposes
  • Open for a short period of time, then closed with a promotional authentication message
  • Open by accident

It's best to configure your own proxy servers with a VPS / dedicated server or purchase from proxy providers in the BHW marketplace.
Click to expand...

Yep.
Some are just generous. But, it is also possible that they are made ‘free’ because of any malicious intent. It's a risk you should be willing to take if you use it.
 
William Parsons said:
They're not strictly necessary, but sure I'll have one.
Click to expand...

here ya go always happy to oblige , a man of my word
ps i took 1 of the chocolate ones

fffffffffff.jpg
 
proxygo said:
here ya go always happy to oblige , a man of my word
ps i took 1 of the chocolate ones

fffffffffff.jpg
Click to expand...
In an effort to further derail this conversation (lol):
That cookie tray seems like it has a lot of wasted space in the packaging, I feel like it used to have more cookies in it but rather then shrink the size of the package they just took away cookies and added plastic...
 
proxygo said:
just check them with a HP check
Click to expand...
What's a HP check?
Just curious.
proxygo said:
here ya go always happy to oblige , a man of my word
ps i took 1 of the chocolate ones

fffffffffff.jpg
Click to expand...
loopline said:
In an effort to further derail this conversation (lol):
That cookie tray seems like it has a lot of wasted space in the packaging, I feel like it used to have more cookies in it but rather then shrink the size of the package they just took away cookies and added plastic...
Click to expand...
And he didn't even say thank you for the cookies... :anyway:
 
HP - honey pot checker - the cookies
where sadly all harmed after opening
 
Free proxies are rarely good for anything. Sure, you can try scraping with them, but they will likely be very slow, fail often or just get banned. What's more, you expose yourself to some threats, such as your data being collected, your browsing history (while the proxy is on). This information can be later sold to 3rd parties for various reasons. Also, never put any personal information or passwords, as there's a high risk they will get stolen.

If you have the money, buy proxies.
 
Whitewhistle said:
Free proxies are rarely good for anything. Sure, you can try scraping with them, but they will likely be very slow, fail often or just get banned. What's more, you expose yourself to some threats, such as your data being collected, your browsing history (while the proxy is on). This information can be later sold to 3rd parties for various reasons. Also, never put any personal information or passwords, as there's a high risk they will get stolen.

If you have the money, buy proxies.
Click to expand...
People wont use "free proxy" to check their bank account. They use it for spamming or scrapping info out of web, So these bunch of random data has no use for anyone to harvest.
 
A big portion of public proxies are compromised servers or user computers that have been infilitrated - usually with malware or spyware, and opened up as a public proxy.

There's a few reasons why they do this:

1) To create honeypots to steal facebook ids, credit cards and other details from people using these proxies.

2) To sell these proxies to people who need them for scraping, etc. But there are people scanning IPs and ports, and sometimes people end up finding these proxies and they make their way out into the open on to proxy forums.

3) To disguise their own nefarious activity - hackers will compromise a computer, turning it into a proxy. They then distribute the proxy out to the world - and use it themselves for illegal activities. Because the proxy is being used by other people - it obfuscates who was actually using it because multiple IPS are connecting to the proxy.
 
their use case is limited for IM purposes as they are unstable, most of them were supposed to be private but were configured or scripted incorrectly.
 
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