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What is an “open” proxy?

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What is an “open” proxy?

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Open proxies are proxies that have been accidentally, or purposefully, misconfigured to allow anyone to route internet traffic through them without proper safeguards. They serve as often-anonymous intermediaries, masking the original request endpoint from the target server. Open proxies are constantly abused for all manner of fraudulent activities: ddos attacks, spam, phishing attacks, brute-force cracking, etc. “Drone” machines are similar to open proxies, but may not be open or usable by the public at large. Instead, they are closed to all but a small group of individuals who have the necessary control priveleges. Drones are often created when a virus, spyware, or backdoor rootkit infects a target machine, and thereby allows external command and control. Large groups of open proxies and drones together form botnets. Both are identifiable by their fraudulent behavior, a sort of fraud fingerprint.

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