How to Protect Your Self-Hosted Proxy Network from Hackers > 자유게시판

Managing your own proxy server cluster can be a powerful way to scrape data at scale. But with great power comes great responsibility—especially when it comes to security. If your proxy farm is left unguarded read more on hackmd.io public networks without proper protections, it becomes a high-value target for hackers, bots, and automated scanners looking to compromise insecure services.

The foundational move in hardening your setup is to assume that all components in your network will be targeted continuously. Initiate strict network separation from your main network. Use a dedicated subnet so that even if a proxy is compromised, attackers won’t reach your home network or connected assets.

Turn off unused daemons on each proxy machine. Standard deployments come with remote access protocols activated. Open minimal ports required. For SSH access, disable password login entirely and require key based authentication. Switch to a non-standard port to avoid common brute-force attacks, but never consider this sufficient—it’s easily bypassed.

Set up packet filtering on every machine. Use ufw on Linux to deny all external connections except from your known locations. If you need to access your proxies remotely, use ZeroTier or Tailscale or use a bastion host as a dedicated access node. This way, you never expose the proxy boxes directly to the public internet.

Maintain up-to-date packages. Outdated operating systems, traffic routing applications, or even dependency modules can contain known vulnerabilities. Enable automatic updates where possible, or schedule biweekly updates.

Monitor your logs daily. Tools like fail2ban can block malicious sources that show brute-force patterns. Set up alerts for unexpected geographic origins, such as surges from unfamiliar regions.

Generate complex credentials for control panels and don’t duplicate logins across devices. Leverage Bitwarden or 1Password to create and safeguard multi-character keys.

If your proxies are hosted on AWS, DigitalOcean, or Linode, MFA for your accounts and restrict access using IP whitelisting. Avoid using public or free proxy software from untrusted sources. Prioritize actively developed open source projects with active communities.

Never use proxy servers for storage on your proxy servers. They function as transit nodes, not to retain logs. If you must store any data, encrypt it with strong encryption and store decryption keys offline.

A proxy farm is only as secure as its weakest link. Operate under breach conditions and remain alert. Hardening is continuous—it’s an ongoing process.