Re:Why are free proxies free? (2013)
by MichaelGG on Sunday January 04, 2015 @04:14AM
(#8833921)
No, correctly configured, HTTP proxies just forward the connection on, so you can verify the TLS on your end. That's the default you'll get from your browser.
However, you can configure a proxy to intercept and re encrypt things. But the client (your browser) must trust the certificate that's re encrypting, which won't happen unless the proxy's CA cert is installed on your system. This most often occurs in corporate environment, where they control the endpoints.
Of course, if you're not careful, the proxy can do sslstrip and such, tricking users into not using/checking https. But if you're careful and check for HTTPS, you're OK in theory (assuming TLS works, no vulns, etc).
However, you can configure a proxy to intercept and re encrypt things. But the client (your browser) must trust the certificate that's re encrypting, which won't happen unless the proxy's CA cert is installed on your system. This most often occurs in corporate environment, where they control the endpoints.
Of course, if you're not careful, the proxy can do sslstrip and such, tricking users into not using/checking https. But if you're careful and check for HTTPS, you're OK in theory (assuming TLS works, no vulns, etc).