The proxy & privacy glossary

A VPN safety feature that instantly blocks all internet traffic if the encrypted tunnel drops, so your real IP and activity are never exposed even for a second.

A proxy that routes traffic through real 4G/5G cellular connections. The hardest proxy type to block, because carriers share one IP across many real users.

Operating several accounts on one platform from one operation — the practice antidetect browsers and proxies exist to make invisible.

A VPN provider's promise not to record what you do through its servers — ideally proven by independent audits and real-world legal tests, not just marketing.

VPN servers that disguise VPN traffic as ordinary HTTPS browsing — built for networks and countries that detect and block standard VPN connections.

The veteran open-source VPN protocol — slower than modern rivals but battle-tested for two decades and uniquely good at slipping past restrictive firewalls.

Building organic browsing history, cookies, and behavioral credibility on a fresh browser profile before using it for real work — so it doesn't look born yesterday.

The three-tier classification of how much a proxy reveals: transparent (shows your IP), anonymous (admits being a proxy), and elite (reveals nothing).

The collection of IP addresses a proxy provider can route your traffic through — its size, diversity, and cleanliness largely determine the service's quality.

A cap on how many requests a client may make per time window — the traffic rule whose 429 errors shape how all scraping and API work is paced.

A proxy that routes your traffic through a real home internet connection, making requests look like they come from an ordinary person rather than a server.

A server that sits in front of websites and handles incoming traffic for them — the mirror image of the forward proxies used for scraping and privacy.

The plain-text file at a site's root that tells crawlers which paths they may visit — a voluntary standard that separates polite bots from rude ones.

A proxy setup that automatically assigns a different IP from a pool for every request or at set intervals, spreading traffic across many identities.

A proxy IP used by multiple customers at once — the cheapest way to get proxy access, at the cost of sharing the IP's fate with strangers.

A protocol-agnostic proxy standard that forwards any TCP or UDP traffic — not just web requests — with optional authentication and no payload rewriting.

A VPN feature that lets you choose which apps or sites go through the encrypted tunnel and which use your normal connection directly.

A rotating-proxy mode that pins one exit IP to your connection for a set period — long enough to log in, fill a cart, or finish a multi-step task.

A contiguous block of IP addresses under one administrator — and the unit websites often ban, which is why proxy IPs from one subnet share one fate.

Identifying the software behind a connection from how it performs its TLS handshake — the technique (JA3, JA4) that catches scrapers before a page even loads.

A proxy that intercepts traffic without changing how requests look to you — and without hiding your IP, which it openly forwards to the destination.

The string your browser sends identifying itself — browser, version, and operating system — and the first, least-trusted layer of every fingerprint.

The set of rules a VPN uses to build its encrypted tunnel — the choice that determines your connection's speed, security, and ability to evade blocks.

A bot that systematically browses the web by following links, discovering and indexing pages — the discovery engine behind search engines and large-scale scraping.