Comment by ronsor

Comment by ronsor a year ago

7 replies

Residential rotating proxy providers charge very high rates for data, on the order of $1 - $10 per GB. (These providers often do run their proxies through the cellular network, actually.)

SteveNuts a year ago

Is this something where end users can get paid for doing nothing other than proxying some traffic through their ISP?

  • r1ch a year ago

    The end user typically has their device compromised by using free apps where the developers were bribed $$$ to add the proxy "SDK". The botnet operator then rents out the bandwidth at exorbitant rates to anyone who will pay for it.

    Chrome extensions are also a huge source of this, they look for extensions with a large install base and then make an offer to buy it to turn all the users into proxies.

  • slt2021 a year ago

    end users install shady VPN apps/extensions to watch pirated content, and become part of residential proxy mesh/botnet

  • mrguyorama a year ago

    Sure, if you want a whole bunch of legitimately malicious traffic to be attributed to your internet account.

  • floam a year ago

    Yes. Google “honeygain”

  • ronsor a year ago

    That's probably where some of the proxies come from.

  • ipython a year ago

    If by “some” traffic you mean botnets, sneaker and ticket scalpers, scammers, content scrapers, credential stuffers … generally scummy stuff, sure.

    Based on this blog post I would not do any business with Skyvern, if they indeed do business with this underworld of bottom feeders.