Proxy / VPN / Tor Detection
Identify visitors using anonymizers to bypass restrictions or maintain privacy.
Fraud Prevention
Anonymizers are often used to hide origin and commit fraud. Use this tool to flag high-risk IP addresses early.
Geo-Compliance
Ensure users are truly in the regions they claim. Detect VPNs used to bypass geo-restrictions on your content.
Account Security
Identify if a login attempt is coming from a Tor exit node or a known proxy to enforce stricter authentication.
What is Proxy and VPN Detection?
Proxy and VPN detection is the process of identifying whether an IP address belongs to an anonymizing service, such as a commercial VPN provider, a Tor exit node, or a SOCKS/HTTP proxy. This technique is essential for preventing fraud, enforcing regional content restrictions, and identifying automated bot activity.
Understanding Anonymizers
In the world of online privacy and security, various tools allow users to mask their true identity. While many use these for legitimate privacy concerns, they are also a primary vehicle for automated scrapers, account takeovers, and fraudulent transactions.
Types of Anonymizers
- • VPN (Virtual Private Network): Encrypts and tunnels traffic through a secondary server.
- • Proxies (HTTP/SOCKS): Forwards requests on behalf of a client without full tunneling.
- • Tor (The Onion Router): Multi-layered encryption through several volunteer nodes.
- • Data Center IPs: Non-residential ranges often leased for commercial scraping or VPNs.
Why Detection Matters
- • Bot Mitigation: Prevent automated scraping and credential stuffing.
- • Content Licensing: Enforcement of regional rights for streaming or gaming.
- • Ad Fraud: Identifying non-human traffic in digital advertising campaigns.
- • DDoS Protection: Tor and proxies are common vectors for application-layer attacks.
Common Questions
Is every VPN automatically "High Risk"?
Not necessarily. Many people use VPNs for simple privacy on public WiFi. However, in transactional environments (e.g., payments), a VPN is statistically more likely to be associated with risk.
How accurate is Tor detection?
Highly accurate. The Tor project publishes a list of active exit nodes, which we query via DNS in real-time. If it's a current Tor exit node, our tool will find it.
What is the "Trust Score"?
It's a heuristic score from 0 to 100. Residential IPs with a verified ISP generally get 90+, while data center IPs get 40-50, and Tor exit nodes get 0.
Can a VPN hide from this tool?
While sophisticated private "obfuscated" VPNs can be harder to catch, commercial VPN providers use IP ranges belonging to data centers, which we identify via ASN analysis.