Webupon

Ever been to a website only to be told that your IP address “has been logged for security purposes”? Do they know your ISP, country and city of residence and the colour of your dog’s eyes? Probably! They can use this to get into your personal accounts! You can “mask” your IP address by using an anonymised proxy server, or more simply, a proxy server. You use a proxy server to route the pages you go to through the proxy server, giving a website the impression that you reside in wherever the proxy server is (most likely the USA).

My IP address is 124.***.***.* (I don’t want you to know the colour of my dog’s eyes!) but using Ninja Proxy (a proxy server), I got the website What is My IP Address? to say I lived in Chicago, Illinois and that my IP was 67.*** (and so on).

But there is a danger. Say you were accessing PayPal. You type your email address and password into the log in form. You hit “Log In”. You are sending your email address and password to the proxy server, who will in turn send the information to PayPal for you. PayPal will log in and the proxy server will display the web page.

The proxy server now has you email address and password to PayPal. Since PayPal deals with money, it is extremely dangerous to be sharing your information with proxy servers.

In conclusion, it is safe to use proxy servers on most occasions, if you are simply trying to access a web page. But never, ever transmit personal information through a proxy server. It might be the most expensive decision you’ll ever make.