When it comes to anonymous surfing, there are three main categories of anonymous web proxy technologies:
- Web-based anonymous proxy
- Protocol dependent proxies
- VPN tunneling
The detailed description of all these technologies is illustrated below:-
Web-Based Anonymous Proxy: This is an internet based service that allows you to browse the web through a proxy server with enhanced security features. Web-based anonymous proxies are used only for web-browsing. The working procedure for this anonymous technology is described as below:
1. Navigate to the proxy web page
2. Type in the URL you wish to visit in their address box
3. Then click on the ‘Go' button
Your URL request is then redirected through their proxy server using its IP address to retrieve the information. There are some limitations however, as the main drawback of this technology is that the proxy doesn't allow you to view all sites, more specifically the secure sites (like SSL). It prevents you from viewing sites for banking and shopping purposes. Further, these web-based redirectors can halt the working of cookies or other significant features that are must for browsing websites. This technology thus allows you to surf the Internet with enhanced security and privacy features, as all the non-secure content can be automatically blocked. Anyways, the technology is not meant for dynamic users of the Internet.
Protocol Dependent Proxies: installing proxy-severs is another significant way to carry out an Anonymous surfing. There are in fact, a wide range of proxies that are used to carry out varying activities. For instance, you can use web proxy for browsing, for sending e-mail you can use a re-mailer and many more. However, the use of protocol dependent proxies is quite common these days. The various protocols -dependent proxies include web proxy, socks proxy and SSH tunneling. The main drawback of using this technology is that they are entirely protocol dependent, so the software installed on your computer should have enough proxy support.
A web proxy is quite easy to use, just set your browser settings in the IP address bar. It thus helps hide your real IP and allows you to carry out the anonymous surfing. Using these proxies doesn't ensure that no hacker proxy or government operated proxies have been installed. Moreover, it doesn't support data encryption policy, so there are all possibilities that your data may get cryptic to some extent.
VPN Tunneling: The acronym VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network'. It is one of the best solutions that, assists in anonymous surfing. This web technology is widely used by financial institutions, government agencies and other large co-operations to provide security and privacy features to their data. Besides anonymous surfing, these protocols also help you to make an effective utilization of the Internet. This technology does support data encryption policy.
All these technologies are protocol dependent and using them requires high bandwidth features and expensive network equipments like routers. The bottom line is that it does provide high security features while surfing on the internet.
