SSL or HTTPS proxies are a type of proxies that use a particular type of protocol when communicating and transferring data to web servers. The other older type of protocol is called HTTP protocol. HTTP means Hypertext Transfer Protocol and HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol over SSL. SSL itself is short for the Secure Socket Layer.
When browsers look up information from a web server - for example, you search for something on Google - they send this data over the internet using the HTTP protocol. This simply sends the data as-is and anybody intercepting the data using for example network sniffer tools could actually read your personal data. In order to make the web more secure, the SSL layer was introduced so that the information was encrypted so it was secure from possible interception along the way.
But we are talking about proxies here. So turns out, even with proxies, it is important that they support the HTTPS protocol as some web-servers refuse connections if it is not encrypted, which is to say, that it is not HTTPS.
Applications of HTTPS proxies
HTTPS proxies are very useful for general web browsing activities like accessing geography-specific content on sites like Spotify, Pandora or Hulu. There are many web browsing VPNs in the market that provide these types of proxies.
The other application is when you are using it for web crawling and web scraping of data. We at Proxies API is an example of a Rotating Proxy Service that helps developers scale their web crawlers by routing their requests through millions of HTTPS proxies securely and anonymously.
What are the benefits of HTTPS proxies
HTTPS secures you from the risk of being 'listened to' when data is passing through the internet. If hackers can listen to your data, they can sometimes determine your identity as well as breaking your anonymity.
HTTPS makes your connections truly anonymous and hides your IP address completely. While this is true even in just HTTP proxies, your data might be giving away enough clues about your identity or parts of it.
