Using Anonymizer for Research
Find out why law firms, government agencies, universities, journalists and corporations turn to Anonymizer to reduce the risks of online research.

Operation Safe Investigation
Qualifying law enforcement and news media organizations can get up to 25 user accounts for free.

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FACT SHEET:
Information Gathering and Anonymizer Protection

WHAT DATA IS AT RISK?
The following information can be captured by web logs or scripts when Web surfing is unprotected. Using Anonymizer eliminates the risk.

  • IP Address - A unique identifier of an individual computer.
  • Network ownership & administration
  • Operating System & Browser - Reveals which security gaps can be most easily exploited.
  • Previously visited Web pages (History)
  • Form Contents
  • Favorite Sites/Bookmarks lists
  • Traceroute - Can reveal information about geographical location.
  • Port Scan - Reveals data in transmission.
  • Drive Scan - Reveals the contents of the user's hard drive, including software and files.

Take a look at what we already found out abou you, using very basic and widely-used tracking techniques. Click Here.


DID YOU KNOW:
The subject of your Web investigation can automatically show dynamic Web pages based on the IP address of the visiting computer. That means if they can identify your computers, they can make sure your researchers see only what they want you to see.

EXAMPLE: Last year, when employees of networking giant Cisco Systems visited the Web site of top competitor 3Com, they were greeted with job offers rather than 3Com's normal Web page!


KNOW THE THE THREATS TO YOUR PRIVACY AND SECURITY:

Threat: Revealed IP Address
IP addresses show up in the web logs of visited sites, with time stamps and specific URLs visited. Your research subject can easily identify when you visited their site and which pages you viewed. They can even serve a special page with different information based on your IP address - see DID YOU KNOW above.

Solution: Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing service conceals your IP address from visited sites and other outside parties.


Threat: Scripting Attacks
JavaScript: Can harvest IP address, history file, email address, and form contents. Can also leave hidden "spy windows."
Java: Can harvest IP address and history file. Can also allow the
attacker direct system access on some browsers.
ActiveX: Gives attacker absolute access to PCs, with virtually any type of malicious action possible (virus, Trojan horse, drive scan, etc.)

Solution: Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing service removes Java, Javascript, ActiveX, and other potentially malicious code from visited Web pages. Advanced options include "sandbox" technologies to isolate and filter scripts before passing them through to the browser.

Threat: Web Bugs
An invisible 1x1 pixel image file loaded to a web site by a third
party. Can send cookies and scripts through to hard drives, often
circumventing browser preferences.

Solution: Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing service blocks Web Bugs from reaching the hard drive.


Threat: Cookies
Cookies can track the movements of a web user across thousands of web sites, and report this information back to the source of the cookie.

Solution: Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing service can be set by the user to block cookies, or encrypt them to disable long-term tracking (useful for the many sites that require cookies to work properly).


Threat: Packet Sniffing
Sophisticated attackers can intercept the contents of all communications to and from a computer via packet sniffing.

Solution: Anonymizer's Secure Tunneling SSH service encrypts all communications from the computer to the Anonymizer servers, establishing a personal VPN and protecting all communication content, including Web surfing, mail, and other protocols.


Threat: Intermediary Surveillance
ISPs, network administrators and others with direct access to the user's Internet connection can log and view all Internet activity passing through their servers.

Solution: Anonymous Surfing offers an option to encrypt URLs (but not page content) to prevent URL logging. For deeper protection, Secure Tunneling encrypts all communications, preventing intermediaries from intercepting any content, including Web surfing, email, and other Internet protocols.

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