Evading residential proxy networks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has published a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness of residential proxies, the risks they pose, and steps the public can take to safeguard their devices from becoming part of a residential proxy network.

Cyber threat actors use residential proxies to facilitate illicit activities, while obfuscating their true identities and locations by routing internet traffic through home and small business internet networks. Residential proxies obtain residential IP addresses from devices in two ways: The owner of the device provides consent, or the owner of the device does not provide consent and is unaware their IP address is being used.

The PSA includes a number of precautions that individuals and businesses can take to protect themselves.