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.

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.