The present-day business marketplace is a data-driven environment. According to a study by MicroStrategy in 2020, 60% of organizations worldwide use data and analytics to drive process and cost efficiency.
To learn more about business processes and customer feedback, companies need to have invariable access to analyze massive amounts of data. This is where web scraping comes in.
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What is Web Scraping in Cybersecurity?
Web scraping is a process of automating the collection of data from websites, storing it in the database, and retrieving it for analysis for security-related purposes.
It is an essential process for minimizing data breaches, as it enables the continuous monitoring of websites, detection of leaks, and the creation of alerts to respond promptly to potential security threats.
This technique involves using automated bots to crawl websites and gather information that can be crucial for enhancing cybersecurity measures.
Cybersecurity experts utilize web scraping as a tool for threat intelligence, allowing them to monitor the web, extract relevant information from target websites, and obtain high-level insights to strengthen security protocols.
Also include data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics for lead generation, brand monitoring, pricing optimization, competitor research, SEO monitoring, and predictive analysis.
To obtain lots of data, businesses implement varying web scraping methods, which also involve the use of different proxy servers during this process.
In this post, we’ll put our focus on the use of mobile proxies with web scraping to find out if it is more useful than other proxies or if there are any limitations that scraping professionals have to face.
What are Mobile Proxies?
A mobile proxy is a remote proxy server that acts as a secure intermediary between mobile devices and the internet. These proxies assign a mobile IP address to the user’s device instead of their real address whenever an internet request is made.
It relays incoming and outgoing requests through its network of mobile devices connected to different cellular networks. This way, mobile proxy servers show that the user is connected to the internet via a mobile data network and mask the original address.
But note that we call this a mobile proxy because it uses the IP address of a mobile network. This does not come from the fact that these proxies always run or get assigned to any mobile device.
The major objective of a mobile proxy server is to ensure anonymity online by assigning an IP address by a mobile carrier to the user. This makes it easier for users to access geo-blocked content that would otherwise be unavailable because of specific county restrictions.
Key Features of Mobile Proxies
Mobile proxies are of three types: free, shared, and dedicated. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages, but all share some main features. Here are the key features of a mobile proxy server:
- Enhanced speed and security
- Anonymity
- Reliability
- Easy access to geo-restricted content
- Fewer CAPTCHAs and IP blocks
- No cookies
Web Scraping and Proxies
Web scraping tools have proven to be immensely helpful for businesses to use their gathered information in making informed decisions.
A range of proxies is available with many features. Adding these proxies to the web scraping process can have various benefits, but there are some drawbacks as well.
This section will compare web scraping performed with the most extensively used proxies, including mobile, data center, and residential proxies, in terms of advantages and disadvantages.
| Advantages | Disadvantages | |
| Mobile Proxies | Assigns undetectable dynamic IP addresses Helps bots to avoid IP blocking Bypasses defined limits by websites | Free mobile proxies use already-known IP addresses, which leads to IP bans. These are extremely low in quality and are not secure A shared mobile proxy enables IP addresses to be shared among multiple users, increasing the chances of IP blocks. |
| Datacenter Proxies | Cost-effective fast performance Wide transmission or bandwidth capacity Several IP addresses can be handled at one and the same time | Less secure as these proxies do not belong to a genuine private IP address |
| Residential Proxies | Highly undetectable Exceptionally secure greater reliability Bypasses IP blocking or geo-hindering | Slow speed Expensive |
Challenges of Web Scraping with Mobile Proxies
There are endless benefits to using a mobile proxy for web scraping. However, like every other proxy, there are some not-so-pleasant points about this combination that make us think more about our choice.
Here are some of the challenges and limitations of performing web scraping with the use of a mobile proxy:
- A mobile proxy can cost a lot.
- Web scraping, can’t be used the way it is as there is a need to integrate these proxies with web scraping applications.
- If multiple mobile proxy servers have been purchased, they would need to be managed. And the management of these proxies is quite difficult.
Conclusion
All in all, web scraping is highly useful for businesses and individuals who want to use publicly available data to make smart decisions. This process generates great results when performed together with mobile proxy servers.
This combination successfully obtains a large amount of data from websites with dynamic addresses, along with helping to scrape bots avoid IP bans. However, there are a few limitations that do not always make it the best option.
