Residential Proxies Are a National Security Threat

anabis 23 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

It's an anti-consumer evil practice, but if it is a national threat that's on the nation's security infra.

	▲	DANmode 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Does this take include, or exclude, DDOS?

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jayturley 35 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

First heard about this through this podcast. https://darknetdiaries.com/transcript/172/

	▲	macintux 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		That’s a scary read.

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yellow_lead 24 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No they aren't.

> Actual data and identity loss of American citizens.

> Malware that can record video and audio from infected devices.

> Infrastructure for foreign covert influence campaigns.

> Botnets used in hacking and DoS attacks

These things have existed for 20+ years. Bad but not exactly a national security threat.

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basilikum 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Mirai took out the internet in large parts of the US. The situation hasn't exactly improved since then.

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cute_boi 22 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Yea, but with AI we also have seen unprecedented amount of hackings etc.. using these residential proxies. Now even normal plebs can do so much harm.

	▲	himata4113 17 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		So it's okay for organized crime to do it, but not normal plebs? The former is obviously a lot more harmful and in reality this is just a wakeup call to get their shit together. People were dismissive of security far too long. I think it's actually good that AI instills some fear into people causing it to take a lot more seriously than they have previously done so.

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advisedwang 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Relevant Darknet Diaries episode: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/172/

The interviewee seems pretty inept yet still managed to uncover something really interesting and nefarious.

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mindslight 4 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[delayed]

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Shank 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Citation needed? I'm not a fan of residential proxies but these are pretty wild claims that aren't substantiated. Calling them a "national security threat" implies it is a threat to e.g., the continued existence of the United States. Is it really that? All of the activities described are already violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

> At the very least, major American ISPs (Comcast, AT&T) should detect clearly suspicious activity coming from customer IPs and warn them to scan their computers, check their TV apps, and find whatever is turning their internet into a proxy.

What are we saying? Really, what are we saying? We should turn domestic ISPs into domestic surveillance apparatuses to "detect clearly suspicious activity"? What is "clearly suspicious activity"? Section 230 is still law.

	▲	cute_boi 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The router could also be a good place to display live TCP usage and last 30 days usage and other network activity. There should also be a service that can identify whether specific IP addresses belong to botnets or other malicious infrastructure. If there are any abnormal activity mobile app can notify the user. Governments could even purchase residential proxies themselves and check whether they're being used for malicious activity. It isn't that difficult, but I guess governments just aren't that interested.