Middleboxes in the Internet: A HTTP perspective

Abstract

Middleboxes are widely used in today's Internet, especially for security and performance. Middleboxes classify, filter and shape traffic, therefore interfering with application performance and performing new network functions for end hosts. Recent studies have uncovered and studied middleboxes in different types of networks. In this paper, we exploit a large-scale proxy infrastructure, provided by Laminati, to detect HTTP-interacting middleboxes across the Internet. Our methodology relies on a client and server side, to be able to observe both directions of the middlebox interaction. Our results provide evidence for middleboxes deployed across more than 1000 ASes. We observe various middlebox interference in both directions of traffic flows, and across a wide range networks, including mobile operators and data center networks.