Proxies for collections
Proxies serve as an intermediary between a user and the internet, concealing the user's actual IP address.
This increases anonymity and security when collecting data, as the source of the requests is concealed. Proxies are particularly useful in data collection on social networks to minimize the risk of profile blocking, as they make it more difficult to identify recurring patterns from a particular IP address.
In Maltego Evidence Desktop, you can integrate your own proxy servers and use them to collect data in social networks. We recommend this in particular if you notice an increased blocking rate of your crawling profiles during the collection.
In many cases, so-called LTE or 5G proxies can provide a remedy. These simulate access to the network via the mobile network. This is unusual for most automated crawlers. Therefore, social networks tend to block fewer requests from such IPs. However, we cannot guarantee this. This is only our experience.
Important: Freezingdata does not offer its own proxy servers, we only give you the option of integrating your own proxy servers.
Important: Depending on the type of proxy, this can also significantly slow down the data collection process. It is therefore best to look for fast and high-performance proxy providers.
Configuring proxies in Maltego Evidence
To use proxies as part of a collection, you must first tell Maltego Evidence which proxies may be used. To do this, go to the settings. There, click on the Proxy menu item. There you can define a new proxy.
Further information about the format of the proxy can also be found on the settings page itself.
Important: As soon as you have defined one or more proxies, it is only possible to start collections using these proxies by default. It is no longer possible to start collections without a proxy. If you still want to be able to start collections without a proxy, you can add another proxy, assign it the name "No proxy" or similar and leave the proxy URL field empty. If you select this proxy, you will carry out the collection via your current IP.
Proxy selection during the collection
You can select the proxy to be used for an individual task or a total of crawling tasks on the collection page. To do this, specify your goals as usual, select your crawling profiles and then select the proxy to be used for all currently specified orders in the bar at the bottom.
