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Are free web proxies safe?
Some are and some are not. A free web proxy runs every page you open through a server someone else controls, and a badly run one adds its own ads or leaves the connection to you unencrypted. 3 checks on this page help you tell which kind you are using, ours included.
The site you need is blocked, so you paste the link into the first free proxy that loads, and it opens. Whoever runs that proxy can read each page on the way and change it before it reaches you.
What can a free web proxy see?
Everything you open through it. A web proxy fetches the site on its own server, rewrites the page so that its links come back through the proxy, and then sends it to you. To rewrite a page the proxy has to read it, so the pages you open, the searches you run and the forms you fill in are all readable on that server, whether the site itself uses HTTPS or not, because the encryption ends at the proxy and starts again on the way to you. That holds for every web proxy. TrickyBird is one of them.
HTTPS still matters, for a different reason: it encrypts the connection between your browser and the proxy, which is the part of the trip your network carries.
Every web proxy can see your traffic. Judge one by what it does with it.
What do badly run proxies do?
In 2015, security researcher Christian Haschek tested 443 free proxy servers he had found through Google, and of the 199 that were online, 157 would not carry HTTPS at all while 33 changed the pages they sent back, some of them to add ads. Those numbers describe 2015, not today’s lists. The problems they point to are the ones to look for now.
- Added ads: the proxy adds its own ads, pop‑ups or scripts to the page on the way back. They look like part of the site, and a script added this way can read what you type on that page.
- No encryption: the proxy serves its pages over plain HTTP, so anyone on your network can read what you send through it.
- Logging: the proxy keeps a record of where you go, with no time limit, and nobody outside can see that record. Only its written policy says what it keeps.
How to check a web proxy yourself
3 checks, each on the proxy you are using right now. None of them needs developer tools. For TrickyBird, the proof page has more technical tests of its own.
- Secure connection: click the icon at the left end of the address bar (a padlock, or 2 small sliders in Chrome). Your browser should say the connection is secure. If it says “Not secure”, anything you type on that proxy travels unencrypted.
- Added ads: open a site you know well and look for ads, pop‑ups or download prompts it does not normally show, or for a jump to a page you did not ask for. Any of these points to the proxy.
- Written policy: look for a page that says what the proxy logs and for how long, with a number. If you cannot find one, treat the proxy as if it keeps everything.
What do the checks show on TrickyBird?
The address bar shows one of our own addresses instead of the site’s, and sometimes it is only numbers. The connection to it is HTTPS, so your browser reports it as secure.
TrickyBird does not secretly inject ads or trackers into the pages you open through it. It adds a small toolbar that shows which site you are on, and any ad on the page comes from that site itself.
TrickyBird keeps a small access log, with a shortened form of your IP address, the hostname of the site you connected to, and basic response details, kept for at most 48 hours. The log does not record the specific pages you open. The security page lists what the log holds and how the proxy keeps the cookies of the sites you open.
In short
Every web proxy can read what you open through it, so judge one by what it adds to the page and what it keeps. 3 checks on any proxy, ours included, show whether your browser marks the connection secure, whether the proxy adds ads or pop‑ups, and what it says it keeps.
Questions
- Can a free proxy steal my passwords?
- It can read them. A web proxy handles what you type on its own server, and a badly run one can keep it, or serve its pages unencrypted so others on your network can read it too. Before you type anything, look for the secure‑connection mark in the address bar and a written log policy with a number, and keep bank and card details for a connection you trust.
- Is a web proxy safer than a free VPN?
- Neither is safer in general. A free VPN carries the traffic of your whole device through a company’s servers, while a web proxy carries one site in one tab. Either one sees where your traffic goes, and a free service is paid for somehow. Ask both the same question: what do you keep, and for how long? Our web proxy vs VPN guide covers the rest.
- How do I know if a proxy is logging me?
- You cannot see a server’s logs from outside, so go by what the proxy commits to in writing. A proxy worth using names what it records and how long it keeps it. TrickyBird’s access log holds a shortened form of your IP address, the hostname of the site you connected to, and basic response details, kept for at most 48 hours.
- Are proxy servers safe?
- It depends on who runs them. A proxy server you enter in your browser or device settings, often an address and port from a free public list, carries everything that uses those settings, and its operator can log where all of it goes. Use one only when you know who runs it and what it keeps. A web proxy such as TrickyBird handles one site in one tab.
Keep reading
More on how a web proxy works:
- What is a web proxy?, how one fetches and rewrites a page.
- Can my ISP see a web proxy?, what your network still sees.
- What is a DNS or WebRTC leak?, 2 channels worth testing on their own.
- Open a site from the homepage and run the 3 checks on it.