Question: Do you need HTTPS Proxies?
Answer: NO
What are Proxies?
A proxy is an IP that forwards your internet request/data, without the websites that you are connected to, finding out your actual IP address. Proxies can be used for a wide variety of use cases, including anonymous browsing, social media, scraping, etc.
HTTP VS HTTPS
Like any of our services, HTTP proxies can connect through HTTP and HTTPS sites without issues, as it has been so throughout the years!
There are added layers of security on HTTPS connections, so one may think that having HTTPS proxies is better than HTTP. However, one should understand that HTTPS connections are more beneficial for regular users than for proxy users.
Man-In-The-Middle
Truth be told, HTTP proxy connections can be prone to MITM (Man-In-The-Middle) attacks, where an intermediate node, between the user and the proxy server, might read the requested and received data from a certain target website.
If one uses an HTTP proxy to load an HTTPS website, a MITM attacker could potentially identify which domain the client is connecting to. The attacker will not be able to edit the data or read what’s inside the request or response, including the full URL. They will only be able to see the domain name.
MITM attacks are more serious for HTTP proxy users connecting to HTTP websites. The attacker can get information inside a request or response. It is worth noting though that there are not many HTTP sites around so the probability of you getting these attacks is less.
HTTPS proxies prevent these types of attacks. Nevertheless, these factors are negligible. Considering the complexity of organizing MITM attacks just to get, for example, scraped information? Not worth one’s effort.
To sum it up, having HTTPS proxies aren’t necessary. HTTP proxies are sufficient to get your tasks done! You can get the information you need as most use cases are compatible with HTTP proxies.