GeoSurf`s Blog

First, we shall explain what an IP address is. An internet protocol (IP) address is the unique code assigned to each computer when it connects to the Internet. The IP address is used to locate the computer and enables it to communicate with other connected computers.

A static residential IP address is provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This IP address is legal and legitimate and has a physical location attached to it. Residential IPs are easy to locate and usually allow ISPs or websites to collect information about your online activity.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) provides a secure internet connection, allowing its to access geo-restricted websites, browse securely and maintain their anonymity online.

VPN was originally created as a way to secure business networks or allow employees to access a business network from home. Nowadays, many people use a VPN connection for torrenting, streaming geo-blocked content, or guarding their data when using public coffee shop WiFi.

As you may or may not know, an in-store purchase is a thing of the past. Sneakers’ shopping is no different. Nowadays, retail brands release and sell online. And like we told you last year, buying a new pair of sneakers has become somewhat of a battlefield dominated by sneaker bots.

For the data scraping and data analytics industry, this past year has had a lot of twists and turns. From rising interest in data privacy to new and exciting scraping solutions, 2019 was definitely interesting. In this article, we’ll review the major advancements, tools, and trends we had this year, and discuss what we can expect in 2020.

THE US GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATES GOOGLE’S “PROJECT NIGHTINGALE”, SUSPECTS MASS COLLECTION OF MEDICAL DATA

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later corroborated by The New York Times, A partnership between tech giant Google and Ascension, the second largest healthcare provider in the US, allowed the secret collection of the health records of millions. According to the report, Google employees had access to the private records, with some even suspected of actively downloading the information from Google’s Cloud servers.

The world wide web holds an endless amount of information. The use of all this data was recently brought up before the courts, and no, we are not referring to the whole social media fact-checking extravaganza. Nowadays, a growing number of companies offer data collection and analysis services. One major tool these companies use is data scraping. Usually, web scraping only involves collecting data from what is considered the open Internet.

VPN services have seen extreme growth in popularity in recent years, as concerns regarding online privacy continue to grow. Not only that, but the increase in censorship and geo-restrictions also caused many to start using these services.

Even so, every VPN user likes to believe that they are safe thanks to their privacy apps, which might not always be the case.

According to a recent report, a new flaw has been discovered that might allow hackers to hijack VPN connections of some devices.

WHAT IS A PROXY NETWORK?

In order to explain the concept of residential proxies, we have to define what a proxy is in the first place. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a proxy server is ‘a computer system that facilitates the exchange of data between users on a network’. The main reason to use a proxy server is for greater security, for example, forwarding requests across a firewall.

The internet is a big and anonymous place… or is it? As you would have probably guessed, it is very far from that. When we surf the web, interact with different apps and websites and buy stuff online, we are almost the opposite from anonymous. Each and every step and action we take is monitored and tracked, and this data being gathered may and will be used against us by more people and companies than we would probably like.

According to a recent report, there is a new hacking group out there with rather advanced skills, which managed to compromise as many as 11 IT service providers. The group was reported by security researchers working at Symantec, whose theory is that the hackers’ end-goal might be to gain access to the IT providers’ customers.

Proxy management can be a serious issue and anyone who has worked on a web scraping project knows it very well. Proxies are (or at least should be) an integral part of the web scraping process because they offer many benefits.

However, it can be slightly overwhelming to choose the right proxy, especially if you’re still learning the basics. There are a couple of different options to choose from and to decide on the right one for your project, you need to consider a few different elements.

Virtual Private Networks, better known as VPNs, have become a necessity for internet users everywhere. They allow internet users to connect to an isolated network privately and securely.

This technology ensures a private and encrypted connection thanks to what is known as a VPN tunnel, through which the internet traffic passes.

There are a couple of different types of VPNs to choose from as different people require particular features from their VPNs. Therefore, it’s good to know what types of VPNs exist, how they differ, and who can benefit from which type the most.