Leveraging SOCKS5 Proxy for Seamless Access to Geo-Restricted Content
ACCESSING TATA IPL @ JIO CINEMA in NEPAL(Accessing Geo-Restricted Content)
A SOCKS5 is short arbitration for Socket Secure proxy and 5 refers to the 5th layer of OSI Model and SOCKS5 acts as an intermediary between a user’s device and the internet. By configuring a SOCKS5 proxy server, it becomes possible to tunnel network traffic through a different location using AWS INSTANCE as actual intermediary server , effectively help bypassing the geographical restrictions imposed by streaming platforms or websites.
Leveraging SOCKS5 Proxy for Seamless Access to TATA IPL @ JIO CINEMA in NEPAL(Acessing Geo-Restricted Content):
I am currently in Nepal and would love to watch IPL 2023 on Jio Cinema. However, Jio Cinema is not accessible in Nepal. Therefore, I thought of using a SOCKS5 proxy server (AWS Free Tier instance) to tunnel my network to India, Mumbai, and aid me seamlessly enjoy the IPL matches.”
This example showcases one of the advantages of using SOCKS5 proxies, which can offer faster performance compared to traditional VPNs.
We will go ahead by taking one of the use case of tunneling , ie by running the command that i will provide to run the chrome browser and understand how it facilitates the establishment of a SOCKS5 proxy. this article, will help us understand and know one of the use of tunneling purpose and usage of SOCKS5 proxies.
SOCKS5 proxies are particularly useful for bypassing network restrictions, anonymizing online activities,
FIRST COMMAND
ssh -i ipl.pem -l ec2-user 3.110.88.251 -N -D 9090
above command starts our intermediary server, and will help bypassing the geographical restrictions imposed by streaming platforms or websites.
Let’s break down the command provided above and examine its components:
-i ipl.pem:
This flag specifies the private key file (ipl.pem) required for authentication during the SSH connection. Make sure you have the correct key file for successful connection establishment.
-l ec2-user:
This flag denotes the login username (ec2-user) used to authenticate with the remote server. Replace it with the appropriate username based on your configuration.
13.233.122.21:
This is the IP address of the remote(aws instance) server you want to connect to. Modify it accordingly to match the target server you intend to establish an SSH connection with.
-N:
The -N flag instructs SSH not to execute any remote commands after the connection is established. This is useful when you only need to establish the SSH tunnel for port forwarding purposes.
-D 9090:
This flag configures dynamic port forwarding, where the local port 9090 is designated as the SOCKS5 proxy port. All traffic forwarded to this port will be routed through the SSH tunnel.
SECOND COMMAND
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --user-data-dir="%USERPROFILE%\proxy-profile" --proxy-server="socks5://localhost:9090"
onec we run the above command , it will spin up a new chrome window as you can see in the following image the ip address matches the aws instances
Let’s break down the command provided above and examine its components:
“C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe”:
This section of the command specifies the file path to the Google Chrome executable on your computer. It is essential to run Google Chrome to establish the SOCKS5 proxy.
— user-data-dir=”%USERPROFILE%\proxy-profile”:
By including this flag, you designate a specific user data directory for Google Chrome. In this case, the directory is set to %USERPROFILE%\proxy-profile, which can be customized to a preferred location on your system.
— proxy-server=”socks5://localhost:9090":
This part of the command sets the proxy server for Google Chrome to localhost on port 9090, using the SOCKS5 protocol. The proxy server acts as an intermediary for all internet traffic initiated by the browser.