Businesses proxy VPN detection to identify and block malicious agents that spoof their connection details. This helps prevent fraud, increase compliance and reduce risk.

Proxies and VPNs are used by individuals to secure their home network, or by businesses or organizations to monitor the activity of employees or customers using public Wi-Fi. They are also popular with file-sharing software (torrenting programs, Usenet programs and Soulseek) to circumvent copyright restrictions and download movies, music and other content. Fraudsters often rely on these types of technologies to hide their location and commit identity theft or fraudulent activities.

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A proxy server is a computer that translates a website’s IP address to another IP, usually in a different country. When a person accesses a website through a proxy, the browser sends a request to the proxy to translate the original request and then returns the translated response back to the user’s browser. A website can detect this by analyzing the header of the HTTP response, looking for information like Via:.

Many services offer a database of known VPN and proxy IP addresses, updated regularly. Checking the IP against this database can reveal whether it’s a proxy, VPN or is associated with a data center, hosting provider or other facility. Other methods of detecting VPNs and proxies include DNS leak checks and TCP fingerprinting.