Jasmine Birtles
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How Small Businesses Can Deploy Proxy Servers to Avoid Becoming Victims of Fraud
Moneymagpie Team
23rd May 2024
Globally, small businesses face stiff competition from Fortune 500 companies in the market because their source of funds is usually meager; in the daily processes of small businesses, they often encounter numerous challenges, including the ever-present threat of fraud. As the world races to adopt digital transformation initiatives, fraudsters can capitalize on measures to integrate new apps and technology to devise new tactics that enable them to exploit vulnerabilities in small business operations that may lack financial resources to implement the world’s best cybersecurity practices.
It’s disheartening to know that some 60% of small businesses that experience a cyberattack close down within six months after all the funds and human resources they have put in to start the business. However, it’s good news to know that small businesses can leverage proxy servers as a vital tool to bolster their cybersecurity defenses, mitigate the risk of falling victim to fraud, and secure their privacy, finances, and sensitive information.
This article explores how your small business can leverage proxy servers to avoid going into extinction due to fraudulent activities from cyber criminals.
- What are proxy servers?
- Enhancing anonymity
- Deploying proxy servers for cascading
- Geo-locational obfuscation
- Filtering access
- Caching
- Conclusion
What are proxy servers?
Proxy servers act as intermediaries between a user’s device and the internet; they allow employees to access the web from their home when working remotely or in the office while hiding their location, IP address, and identity. A small business can utilize a proxy server to route all its outgoing web traffic through this intermediary server.
Proxy servers don’t encrypt data like VPNs do, but the setup offers several vital benefits to prevent fraud and combat cybercrimes by small businesses. Some ways proxy servers can help small businesses to avoid falling victim to fraud include the following:
Enhancing anonymity
The primary function of proxy servers is to provide small businesses with a layer of anonymity and security. By masking the business’s original internet protocol (IP) address from the internet service provider (ISP), proxy servers make it difficult for fraudsters to trace and target the organization directly.
The ISP, hacker, or third party with access to the small business’s IP address can monitor their online activities; the added mode of protection induced by proxy servers can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and other fraudulent activities.
Deploying proxy servers for cascading
Cascading or multi-hopping involves routing a small business’s internet traffic through multiple servers before arriving at the recipient’s final destination. The essence of deploying several proxy servers for cascading is to elevate anonymity to unprecedented levels.
By routing your internet traffic through multiple proxy servers in different locations, you create a complex web that enhances privacy and makes tracking your browsing history by hackers, ISPs, or a third party nearly impossible.
Geo-locational obfuscation
Proxy servers enable geo-locational obfuscation, an innovational breakthrough in evading geographical restrictions. By masking your location, this technology allows small businesses to access region-restricted content effortlessly and securely.
Proxy servers incorporating geo-locational obfuscation empower users with unparalleled access to a globalized internet. Geo-locational obfuscation is a critical feature for proxy servers for small businesses with employees operating from multiple locations or engaging in international transactions.
By deploying proxy servers, they can securely access localized information and services without exposing their network to potential fraud risks associated with unsecured connections.
Filtering access
In addition to enhancing security, proxy servers offer small businesses the ability to monitor and filter web traffic. This feature is instrumental in combating fraud, as it allows organizations to implement stringent controls over the websites and content that employees can access.
For example, the management of a small business might use a proxy to specify – “no connections allowed” – to a given website or platform during office hours to avoid employees’ distractions and enhance productivity.
With a proxy server, a small business can specify certain websites employees can’t access via the workplace router, which is better for managerial controls. Apart from business settings, proxies are sometimes used in schools for filtering access, often to prevent school-time access to social media and ensure absolute concentration.
Filtering out potentially malicious websites and scrutinizing incoming data ensures that proxy servers can enhance proactive defense and combat phishing scams, malware intrusion, and other fraudulent online activities.
Caching
Caching means storing frequently visited web page files onto a proxy server; it enables quick loading and eliminates the time you need to wait for the files to download from the target server whenever your browser requests. Incidentally, VPNs can’t perform this function, and employees using proxy servers experience increased speeds when they access familiar websites; the only drawback to this system is the necessity to refresh the cache regularly or miss out on any fresh content or updates since your last visit to a particular website.
Furthermore, proxy servers eliminate unnecessary expenses and facilitate improved performance and bandwidth management for small businesses. Caching frequently accessed web content and optimizing network traffic ensures that proxy servers can enhance internet speeds, reduce bandwidth usage, and save costs.
This seamless network performance boosts operational efficiency and minimizes the chances of fraudsters exploiting network vulnerabilities in times of high traffic or congestion.
Conclusion
It’s noteworthy to understand that while proxy servers offer valuable benefits for small businesses, they are not infallible; you can complement the service with other robust cybersecurity measures to ensure the world’s best standards. The management teams should implement comprehensive security protocols, including end-to-encryption, multi-authentication mechanisms, and regular security audits, to fortify their defenses and mitigate fraud.
Small businesses can maximally leverage proxy servers as a strategic component of fraud prevention initiatives. By harnessing caching, filtering access, anonymity, cascading, and geo-locational obfuscation capabilities of proxy servers, you can fortify your cybersecurity posture and minimize the risk of falling victim to fraudulent activities as the threat landscape evolves in this digital era.
Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.
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