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I was looking at this question: How can you be caught using Private VPN when there's no logs about who you are? and everyone who read it and responded seemed to be taking for granted that every single proxy mentioned was a website. It seems to me that even programs that connect you to proxy servers don't route all of your traffic, just the traffic that runs through your browser. I have never seen an attack executed using the browser, but of the 8,000 people who looked at this I am the only one who commented on this, so I would assume I am missing something. What is it?

Aka, why would these proxies help obscure your identity while you hack when they only work in conjunction with a browser, not whatever tool you are using to attack the website?

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KnightOfNi
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  • Looking at your questions, they seem to be being closed because they are too broad:- there are too many possible answers. If you can be more specific in your questions, you'll likely get a better response. – Rory Alsop Dec 18 '13 at 12:12
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    @RoryAlsop I know, but I am having trouble wording them specifically because I don't know much about them - which is why I ask them in the first place. I will try to improve. – KnightOfNi Dec 18 '13 at 15:50

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A proxy server is a machine that is relaying traffic on your behalf. You can't "download a proxy", you are (probably) downloading an application that connects to a proxy server. When you use a website offering a proxy web-app, it too is relaying traffic.

The question you linked to does not appear to assume that use of webapp-proxies - in fact the word "proxy" only appears once on that page.

A VPN is not a proxy server! A proxy server relays traffic on your behalf. A VPN creates a secure connection to a VPN concentrator, and from that point on your traffic will enter and exit the gateway of the destination network.

Does that help? (I don't understand the part of your question concerning "attacks through the browser").

I suppose you could download a Virtual Machine configured to act as a proxy, but I'm sure this is not what the question is asking :)

scuzzy-delta
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  • Yeah, thanks. That was a syntactic error rather than a lack of understanding on my part. Did you read the question (and all of its answers) I linked to? That should give you a rather clear understanding of what I am talking about. I will edit the question as well. – KnightOfNi Dec 17 '13 at 22:43
  • You make a very good point though, which is that these are being called VPN's when a majority appear to be proxies. – KnightOfNi Dec 17 '13 at 22:50
  • @user2945577 The other question does talk about VPN's not proxies. A VPN does route all the traffic. – Christian Dec 17 '13 at 23:00
  • @Christian I just looked a few up, and although it says VPNs several are proxies. Thanks though, you and scuzzy really helped me figure out what was wrong. – KnightOfNi Dec 17 '13 at 23:03
  • @Christian One-hop VPNs are proxies, in a generic sense. There is a VPN (tun or tap) connection to the server. It's encrypted and, if so configured, routes all traffic. But it looks like a proxy: your packets go to a server at a.b.c.d, and the server strips encapsulation and forwards them to the destination. – mirimir Dec 18 '13 at 02:03
  • @mirimir - the problem with saying that "One-hop VPNs are proxies": it may confuse someone when they try to understand more advanced proxy concepts, like reverse web proxies, caching proxies, and transparent proxies. – scuzzy-delta Dec 18 '13 at 15:22
  • @mirimir Thanks. I knew I was missing something, and I suppose it was just the rather nebulous definition of proxy I have gotten used to. Knowing that they are the same in function but vary in form really helps me to to "get my head around" this. – KnightOfNi Dec 18 '13 at 15:52