Proxies for Cybersecurity Management in Organizations: Why is it Needed?

A disadvantage that came with technological advancements in the 21st century is the issue of cybersecurity. New cybersecurity risks emerge every hour as cyber-terrorists constantly advance their attack methods.

Cybersecurity is the protection of computing systems and networking systems against unauthorized access or manipulation. A study carried out in 2018 revealed that two in 10 charities and four in ten businesses suffered from a cyberattack yearly.

These statistics portray the intensity of cyberattacks. With such numbers, there are several cybersecurity measures that organizations can put up to protect their information. A common cybersecurity mechanism is the use of proxies.

A proxy is an intermediary that can either be hardware or software. The proxy sits between a website server and the user. Organizations use proxies for network performance and cyber security issues. Personal individuals on the other hand, mostly use them for personal privacy concerns.

A significant advantage of using proxies for cybersecurity is the fact that they are not limited in terms of physical location. An organization can set up a proxy and deploy it anywhere, or even use a software proxy and deploy it using cloud computing.

The main thing about proxies is that they should be configured as per the organization’s needs or requirements.

We will go over the different advantages of employing proxies to increase cybersecurity in an organization.

1. Online Anonymity

The young people have a common phrase that says, “The Internet Never Forgets”. Unfortunately, very few people understand the impact and weight of this fact. Anything done on the internet is traceable. 

This is where proxies come in. Although internet activity is undisguisable, proxies provide a workaround. Proxies grant organizations the ability to get anonymous web traffic. Proxy servers give a different IP address while surfing the internet. This ensures that an organization’s internet activity cannot be traced back to its computers.

There are two basic types of IP address hiding services by proxies. These two types are:

1. Anonymous Proxies – These types of proxies conceal a device’s IP address. However, they do not hide the device’s use of a proxy.
2. Elite Proxies (High Anonymity) – These types of proxies conceal a user’s IP address and the fact that they are using a proxy server.

A good thing about the use of proxies for online anonymity is the fact that most service providers offer unlimited bandwidth. Even when using cheap proxies, you get unlimited internet bandwidth that will offer top-tier anonymity.

To ensure that you gain online anonymity without negatively impacting network performance, you should go for a high-speed proxy server.

2. High-Speed Internet Access

Once an intermediary device is introduced between the web server and the user, it is typical to hear complaints about poor internet speeds. Hindrances that can lead to slow internet are services such as VPNs, firewalls, etc. 

In some cases, even proxies lead to slow internet speeds. However, when set up well and using a proficient service provider, proxies can improve internet speeds. Internet speeds can be improved by choosing a service provider that provides a dedicated private proxy or well-managed data center proxies.

This happens when the internet users in the organization access the same website frequently. This increase in speed happens because the proxy server stores the website data like cache data. This, therefore, means that the data does not have to be downloaded every time the website is accessed.

3. Upholding Organization Security

As stated at the beginning of the article, cybersecurity is a vital concern for businesses and organizations in this era. Proxy servers offer additional security layers to ensure that cyber terrorists do not access the organization’s information system.

Proxy servers work as the seventh layer of the OSI model, which is the Application layer. The OSI model describes the architecture of a networking framework and all the security protocols implemented in all the layers.

Proxy servers work as buffers because they act as an intermediate between the user and web servers. They, therefore, add a layer of security between internet traffic and an organization’s corporate servers. 

Proxies prevent access to dangerous or malicious websites by disallowing the transmission of data that might be dangerous. All these functions of proxies work towards improving the security of an organization.

4. Internet Access Control

The internet can reduce a person’s productivity rate to zero. This is due to the vast websites that can distract an organization worker from their work. An employer can set up a proxy to block websites that might distract employees. Such websites are social media websites, e-commerce websites, online entertainment websites, etc. 

Proxy servers can also be used to block unsecured websites. This is done because accessing unsecured websites using corporate devices can compromise the security of the organization’s entire system. 

Another benefit of employing a proxy is that it will provide a complete report of all data that has been transmitted over the network. This can help analyze how the organization’s workforce is working and what they are doing during work hours. The detailed reports can also help identify any in-house cybercrime cases. 

5. Website Scraping

In this era, data is referred to as the new oil. This is due to the value of having data and information. Web scraping entails extracting data from various websites. Organizations can scrape data from customer reviews, product pricing, site SEO, etc. 

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Such data can be critically analyzed, to extract information that can offer vital insights and business intelligence for decision-making. However, websites restrict data scraping. They set data scraping limits to ensure users do not extract big or heavy data from the websites.

To counter the limits, organizations can use proxies to mask their identity, therefore, having unlimited scrapping capabilities. Organizations interested in using a proxy for scraping should purchase dedicated proxies with unlimited bandwidth.

Conclusion 

When choosing proxies, one should beware of cheap proxy servers and free proxy servers. These types of proxies do not offer complete anonymity while surfing. In some extreme cases, they end up being malicious by tracking and logging user data, injecting advertisements, etc.

When it comes to proxies, you should always avoid going for the cheapest option and instead opt for a proxy service provider that prioritizes security and provides all of the features you require.

Also Read: 4 Key Practices In Implementing Digital Transformation