A proxy server, residential IP threat intelligence referred to as an anonymizer, helps conceal the true identity of a website visitor and improve privacy. The process works by sending requests to websites on your behalf through a remote server that hides your device’s IP address and other identifying information. A proxy’s primary function is to make your online activities untraceable. However, even high-quality anonymous proxies can leave hints behind to reveal the user’s identity to destination servers. For example, some proxy software adds header fields such as X-Forwarded-For or Via to indicate that a request came through the proxy. Additionally, subtle characteristics such as mouse movement trajectories and click patterns, screen resolutions, and language settings can be used to identify proxy traffic.

Residential VPN Detection: Why It Matters for Fraud Prevention

If these identifiers are detected, security systems can trigger a “Anonymous Proxy Detected” error message. This is why it’s important for marketers to understand how to block anonymous proxy traffic in order to protect their website from malicious activity.

Whether it’s a bot or someone trying to sneak into your site for competitive analysis, you don’t want to see this traffic interrupting your conversion funnel. CHEQ’s platform evaluates traffic in real time to determine if it is legitimate or suspicious, helping you save valuable conversions and resources.

What are some of the reasons people use proxies? The most obvious benefit is to bypass internet censorship and circumvent geographic restrictions. However, proxy usage also has business and technical uses. For example, an anonymous proxy allows web scrapers to extract data in parallel from multiple sources without raising alerts or blocking the user’s IP addresses. This enables businesses and individuals to perform SEO analysis, analyze competitor sites, and test marketing campaigns without risking their own IP address or having their campaign performance skew due to invalid traffic.