Infographic: Illicit Proxy Market in Canada in 2021

How malicious actors use proxies in their operations:

  1. Malicious actors route their traffic and hide their identity through proxies: the internet abounds in offers, many listed on professional-looking websites with careful marketing to look legitimate. 
  2. Criminals leverage proxy anonymity to bypass server security systems and to prevent getting flagged as high-risk attack sources.
  3. Most proxy providers advertise their services on the criminal underground, and even offer special deals and promotional codes

Proxy Profiles

Proxies can be 

  • misconfigured servers that can be easily abused
  • purchased from legitimate telecom companies
  • hacked systems whose bandwidth is abused without owners’ consent
  • configured through bulk data plans

Data centers are the cheapest option. The premium for residential versus data center proxies varies between 47% and 67%, depending on the level of activity. The price for mobile proxies is 3 to 8 times higher than that of data centers -> exceptionally expensive.

How Is the Offer in Canada?

Here’s where the Canadian proxy market stands:

  • Mixed portfolio of international proxies
  • No specific offer for Canadian proxies, making it hard to impersonate a Canadian account
  • No rotating proxies for sale
  • Limited supply of Canadian mobile proxies
  • No free trials
  • No cryptocurrency payments 
  • Only Russian WebMoney or credit cards accepted 
  • Providers request personal information, emails, phone numbers or list of targeted websites

Misleading ads: proxy providers do not provide new IP addresses, as claimed

  • Same address reused 12 times
  • 50% of IPs seen more than once
  • 28% of IPs provided by 2 providers
  • They are renting out computers infected with malware and IoT devices from botnet operators.
  • 8% of IPs were botnets
  • Most IPs had a low fraud score

Geographical distribution across Canada

Proxies can come from dozens of ISPs, and from any city in the country. With a fraud score below 10, the chances for them to be automatically flagged by security systems are slim.

Share This Article

Flare

Related Content