Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The State Of Man-In-The-Middle Tls Proxies: Prevalence And User Attitudes, Mark Thomas Oneill

Theses and Dissertations

We measure the prevalence and uses of Man-in-the-Middle TLS proxies using a Flash tool deployed with a Google AdWords campaign. We generate 15.2 million certificate tests across two large-scale measurement studies and find that 1 in 250 TLS connections are intercepted by proxies. The majority of these proxies appear to be benevolent, however we identify over 3,600 cases where eight malware products are using this technology nefariously. We also find thousands of instances of negligent, duplicitous, and suspicious behavior, some of which degrade security for users without their knowledge. Distinguishing these types of practices is challenging in practice, indicating a …