When users connect to a website or online service through a VPN or proxy server, their actual IP address is hidden. This can make it difficult for businesses to accurately identify their location and identity and may pose security risks or lead to customer fraud.

Many people use Proxy VPN detection and VPNs for legitimate reasons, such as to protect their privacy online or to access content that is blocked in their country of residence. However, malicious individuals often exploit these tools for malicious purposes such as fraud or hacking. Therefore, it is important for websites and services to be able to detect whether their visitors are using a VPN or proxy.

How Proxy and VPN Detection Protects Your Platform from Fraud

The key to detecting VPN or proxy usage is to look for a variety of signals and cues that are unique to these types of connections. For example, if a website detects that the timezone configured in a user’s web browser does not match the timezone associated with the underlying IP address, this can indicate that the connection is tunneled through a VPN or proxy. This technique is called “timezone interpolation” and can be performed with a simple JavaScript script executed in the client.

SEON’s advanced VPN/Proxy detection combines device fingerprinting and network analysis to effectively identify users that mask their IP addresses through obfuscation technologies, such as VPNs, residential proxies, mobile proxies, Tor and more. By identifying these connections in real-time, businesses can take appropriate action to mitigate risk and maintain the trust of their customers.