Without proper measures put in place, any business that has a website, works with a web-based application, or carries out any operations on the internet is at risk of a network security breach. And many companies have fallen victim to this criminality. 

Any unauthorized user who accesses your network could steal data and install viruses in your system. For instance, accessing the internet directly leaves your business vulnerable to cookie theft. This is where a cybercriminal copies login information from the cookies stored in your device and uses it to access these sites. 

One easy way to prevent hackers from getting into your network system is by using a private proxy, also known as a dedicated proxy. 

In order to understand private proxies, we need to define a proxy, which is not a new term in the business world. 

A proxy is a server that stands between a computer connected to the internet and the web. It prevents direct interaction between the device and the webserver. Any web request made by the device goes to the proxy server first, and the response from the web server follows the same route. 

Proxies come with a pseudo IP address attached to a specific location, which helps in hiding the device's authentic details.

So What Makes A Private Proxy Better?

A dedicated proxy is when only one user has exclusive control over a proxy and its IP address at any given time. The proxy's IP address is exclusively used by this one client.  

Shared proxies, on the other hand, lack exclusivity. A number of users are issued with proxies, which they share and split the overall cost. When one user misuses the proxy, it affects everyone else. You could easily get banned from websites due to the fault of other users. 

A shared proxy also compromises your network's safety, you never know which websites the other users are visiting and the risk involved.

Shared proxies are unreliable. When the sharing users access the internet at once, it slows down the connection.

Types of Private Proxies

A private proxy can come in two types - data center proxies and residential proxies. 

Data center proxies are artificially created in data centers. They provide a high-speed connection and have no reliance on your ISP or internet connection. 

Residential proxies are the most reliable proxies in the market. Normally, they are issued by internet service providers. They come with a real IP address attached to a specific physical location, which gives the impression of an authentic user. 

Use Cases of Private Proxies

Private proxies come in handy when collecting valuable data from the web. This is because most web administrators do not allow data extraction from their sites. By using a proxy, you can extract data from your target websites without having your IP address blocked. 

1) Market Research

Understanding the market is any brand's weapon against the competition. Web scraping involves automatically extracting data from the web, such as customer reviews, competitors' moves, market trends, and customer's needs. Using this information, you can make better decisions and develop strategies to keep you competitive and your customers happy.

2) Price Scraping

Like web scraping, prime scraping also involves data extraction from the internet. But in this case, you scrape data related to pricing. It helps you set competitive prices that keep your customers loyal. You can also attract price-sensitive customers without devaluing your products.  

3) Travel Aggregators

Travel aggregators collect data from travel and hotel websites such as prices, availability of services, and discounts. They then add this valuable information to their website for their visitors to see and make better decisions when travelling. If this is your business, private proxies make it easy to extract data from your sources without raising suspicion. 

4) SEO Monitoring

Optimizing your website for search engines makes your brand visible on the internet, attracts traffic to your site and increases your conversion rate. An essential part of SEO is keywords. These are search terms that your target market uses to find industry-related information in the web. To find the right words, you need to extract data from your SEO competitors' websites. 

Key Takeaway

Accessing the web without masking your real identity exposes your business to network attacks and limits the benefits you can derive from the endless data resources on the web.

Using a free or public proxy may provide anonymous browsing, but it further compromises on your internet safety.  

A private proxy will provide the best reliability for price aggregators or businesses involved in market research, price scraping, and keyword research. It minimizes the chances of having network administrators detect, ban, or block your proxy. 

The best source of a private residential or data center proxy is a qualified vendor who has enough experience to incorporate the best features for internet safety and anonymity.