Security with CGIProxy

Only install CGIProxy on a secure server.

You can make your server secure by getting a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt. Install their tool Certbot on your server to easily manage your certificate. If your CGIProxy server is not secure, then all traffic to that server is visible to anyone between the user and the CGIProxy server, including all passwords and other sensitive data. Please use only a secure server for CGIProxy.

Only use a proxy that is operated by someone you trust.

This is very important! Most proxies, including CGIProxy, let the proxy owner see the traffic that goes through it, including all passwords and other sensitive data. CGIProxy needs to see the traffic because it needs to modify Web pages to make all URLs point back through the proxy. If you don't trust the proxy owner, then don't use the proxy.

Ideally, use a proxy that you or your friend installs. If you need to use a proxy run by a company, make sure it's a company you trust.

In addition, you need to trust that the server isn't compromised, or else the attackers could see all of your traffic, even traffic to secure servers. So be sure that your friend the proxy owner can protect the proxy server.

If you run a proxy, only tell people you trust about it.

Anyone who knows about your proxy can reveal its location to government censors, at which point your proxy will probably be blocked. If it's not blocked, it could be worse: the censors could spy on Internet traffic to learn who is using the proxy, and you may never know about such spying.

Even if you only tell people you trust about your proxy, any of them can tell the wrong person, and then the proxy will be blocked or spied upon. So you need to educate users of your proxy to be careful about who they tell.

Note that proxies use a lot of bandwidth; the more users, the more bandwidth is used. Before you tell people about your proxy, be sure that you're prepared to handle the traffic.

If you use someone else's proxy, be very careful who you tell about it.

If you tell someone who is not trustworthy, they could tell the censors about it and the proxy will be blocked or spied on. Even if you tell someone who is trustworthy, but who has bad judgment about who else is trustworthy, they could tell the wrong person, and the proxy will be blocked or spied on.

Also, proxies tend to use a lot of bandwidth that someone has to pay for. Before you tell someone about a proxy, be sure that the proxy owner is prepared to handle the traffic of more users.

Clear your browsing history after using CGIProxy

If someone else gets access to your computer, your usage of CGIProxy could show up in your browsing history. Clear your browsing history after using CGIProxy, or else only use CGIProxy with a browser that doesn't record your history:

• To clear your browsing history:
  • in Chrome, Firefox, and MSIE, use Ctrl+Shift+Delete
  • in Opera, use the menu item "Settings / Delete Private Data"
• To open a new private window:
  • in Chrome and Opera, use Ctrl+Shift+N
  • in Firefox and MSIE, use Ctrl+Shift+P