If there is truly a gray zone in the struggle between online good and evil, anonymous proxy servers live there.
Organizations typically use proxy servers to forward website, file and other requests to other servers. Anonymous proxy servers are meant to hide the identity of the requestor.
Some security experts say the latter is only necessary if someone wants to mask malicious activity, including Sunil James, senior product manager at Amazon Web Services and formerly director of vulnerability research at iDEFENSE.
"As a security person my natural first instinct is to ask why someone needs to be anonymous if they are doing something legitimate," he said. "I just don't see a viable use for anonymous proxy servers in corporate environments."
Others say certain kinds of security research and testing make them a necessity and that they are perfectly safe if used responsibly.
In an effort to reach a consensus on the issue, CSOonline polled several industry professionals by phone, e-mail and networking sites like LinkedIn.
Surprisingly, most respondents defended the use of anonymous proxy servers and offered a litany of legitimate-use examples. But everyone admits they can easily be used for malicious purposes and that organizations need to respond with the right security procedures.
"From a security perspective, hiding your true location behind a proxy definitely falls in the gray area of Web browsing," says Ed Ziots, a Rhode Island-based network engineer. "I use them to view questionable content from semi-trusted systems because I do not want the site to know the true origin of my communications when I am researching the latest exploits, exploit code, or new and up-and-coming trends in exploit research."
But he can imagine a more sinister scenario where the bad guy uses multiple anonymous proxies so victims can't determine where his attack sequences are coming from.
Spying (or blocking) competitors Anonymous proxy servers are often used to spy on competitors or block their efforts to do the same to another competitor, says Chris Kraft, VP of product management for web security for security vendor Sophos.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Discover the advantages of an open architecture multi-vendor network solution
Everything you need to know about email and web security (but were afraid to ask)
Refresh your AUP: Top tips to ensure your acceptable use policy is fit for purpose
Data grids and service-oriented architecture
Achieving the impossible: Unlimited application scalability
Delivering the Power of Choice with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Security Management
Protect your critical IT assets, achieve sustainable regulatory compliance, reduce IT administration costs and enable new business opportunities with our IT security solutions.
IT Security as a business enabler?
Download Whitepaper
|
Success Stories
Australian Unity minimises costs and maximises productivity with single sign-on for 1,400 users
Australian Unity needed to address its business and security risks including user management and application security management. The company chose an enterprise single sign-on (ESSO) solution and discovered increased employee productivity, reduced help desk costs and elevated data protection.
Download the full Success Story
BT saves more than £15 million and improves customer services with comprehensive Identity & Access Management
To enable future growth and ensure its services remain competitive, BT needed to build closer relationships with its customers and suppliers. Discover how the company is now performing over 36 million transactions a day with their improved Identity & Access Management Solution.
Download the full Success Story
Identity & Access Management
Simplify and Secure: Managing User Identities Throughout their Lifecycles
Organisations are constantly challenged to keep pace with ongoing changes to users and their roles, responsibilities and requirements. Discover how CA can help you create a unified approach for managing users identities, providing them with timely and appropriate access to applications and information.
Download Whitepaper
Simplify, Integrate and Safeguard Your Business with Secure Web Business Enablement
Modern organisations are required to aggressively expand the number and type of Web applications and services provided to customers, partners and employees. Discover how to automate, delegate and centralise your key processes and services including user administration, access policies, auditing and compliance by reading on.
Download Whitepaper
Simplify, Integrate and Secure: Providing Secure Access to Server-based Information and Resources Across Platforms
Distributed servers are a powerful asset in any company’s infrastructure. Over time, most organisations have acquired a variety of different platforms and are relying on them to house an increased amount of critical applications, processes and data. Read on to discover how you can achieve a consistently higher level of server access security across multiple platforms including virtual hosts and guest operating systems.
Download Whitepaper
