The web is constantly evolving, and so is Proxyrack.

As websites introduce new anti-bot technologies, businesses scale their data collection efforts, and developers demand more reliable infrastructure, maintaining a high-quality proxy platform requires continuous improvement—not just occasional feature releases.

During the first half of 2026, our team has focused on strengthening every part of the Proxyrack platform, from our proxy network and Scraping API to the dashboard experience, documentation, and overall platform reliability.

Here's a look at what we've been working on.

Reliable proxies are the foundation of every successful data collection project.

, consistent performance depends on constant monitoring and optimization behind the scenes.

Throughout 2026, we've continued investing in:

While these improvements aren't always visible from the dashboard, they help reduce interruptions and improve the overall experience for customers running web scraping, automation, market research, SEO monitoring, ad verification, AI data collection, and other data-driven workloads.

Continuous Improvements to Our Scraping API

 continues to evolve alongside the modern web.

As websites introduce new protections and change their infrastructure, we've been continuously refining our backend to improve compatibility, performance, and overall reliability.

Rather than treating the Scraping API as a finished product, we see it as a continuously evolving service that adapts alongside the websites our customers rely on.

A powerful platform should also be easy to use.

Throughout 2026 we've continued refining the 

 to make managing services faster and more intuitive.

Our work has included improvements to onboarding, account management, authentication, and overall usability, helping both new and existing customers get started more quickly and manage their services more efficiently.

Reducing friction remains one of our ongoing priorities.

A great developer experience goes beyond the product itself.

 and publishing new educational resources covering proxy technologies, web scraping, APIs, CAPTCHA handling, and implementation best practices.

Our goal is to make it easier for developers of all experience levels to successfully integrate Proxyrack into their applications while staying up to date with changes across the web scraping ecosystem.

Maintaining a healthy proxy network requires continuous investment in platform integrity.

Throughout 2026 we've strengthened our internal systems to better protect customer accounts, reduce abuse, and maintain the quality of our network.

Although many of these improvements happen behind the scenes, they help create a more stable and reliable experience for every legitimate customer using Proxyrack.

Many of the improvements we've made this year began with customer conversations.

 from developers, businesses, and long-term customers continues to influence how we prioritize improvements, refine existing workflows, and shape future development.

Our goal isn't simply to add more features—it's to build features that solve real problems.

The first half of 2026 has been focused on strengthening the foundations of Proxyrack.

As we move into the second half of the year, we'll continue investing in the areas that matter most:

We're committed to making Proxyrack more reliable, more powerful, and easier to use with every update.

Whether you're using Proxyrack for web scraping, price monitoring, SEO, market research, brand protection, cybersecurity, AI data collection, automation, or another use case, we appreciate the trust you place in our platform.

Every improvement we make is driven by one objective: providing reliable proxy infrastructure that helps our customers build with confidence.

Thank you for being part of the Proxyrack community. We look forward to sharing more updates as 2026 continues.

Proxyrack

Company

Proxyrack Product Update 2026

Network Improvements, Scraping API Enhancements & Platform Updates

Proxyrack Product Update 2026: Network Improvements, Scraping API Enhancements & Platform Updates

Cybercrime is on track to cost the world $11.88 trillion in 2026, with the trajectory pointing toward $19.71 trillion by 2030. The threat industrialized over 2025: payment volumes fell as attack volumes climbed to record highs. AI lowered the barrier to entry for new attackers. Manufacturing absorbed the largest year-over-year ransomware surge. Third-party breaches doubled.

This article distills the key findings from our full Global Cybercrime Report 2026, which combines forecast modeling, third-party primary research, and Proxyrack's internal calendar 2025 KYC enforcement data into a single picture of where the threat is heading.

1. Global cybercrime cost is estimated to reach $11.88 trillion in 2026

, up from $10.5 trillion in 2025, on a path to a projected $19.71 trillion by 2030. That figure approximates the GDP of China and exceeds the combined GDP of Germany, the UK, and India.

2. The 10 highest-risk countries cluster across emerging markets

 in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. The 2026 update places Myanmar, Haiti, and the DR Congo at the top, reflecting Basel AML Index 2025 data. Nordic countries continue to dominate the safest end.

3. Ransomware payments fell roughly 8% to an estimated $820 million in 2025

 (Chainalysis), but the median payment per victim climbed 368%. Attack volume reached the highest level on record. Q1 2026 trackers show activity holding at the elevated 2025 plateau.

4. Manufacturing absorbed a 61% surge in ransomware activity

 in 2025. Healthcare took 290+ ransomware incidents at provider organizations. SMBs faced disproportionate exposure: 88% of ransomware-affected organizations had fewer than 1,000 employees (Sophos).

5. AI lowered the skill floor for cybercriminals

 rather than raising the ceiling. The FunkSec ransomware group, whose developers told researchers they were not coders, used generative AI to ship working malware and reportedly claimed 113 victims by March 2025.

6. Proxyrack internal KYC enforcement data

 for calendar 2025 shows the United States accounted for the largest single share of suspended accounts (26.32%), followed by a tier of 6 countries at 5.26% each (Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nigeria, Poland). The dataset reflects Proxyrack's platform enforcement activity and is not a measurement of global cybercrime distribution.

Global Cybercrime Cost: $11.88 Trillion in 2026

Cybercrime is estimated to cost the world $11.88 trillion in 2026, growing at roughly 13% compound annually through 2030. The forecast comes from Proxyrack's internal model, which uses Cybersecurity Ventures historical baseline data only (2015-2023) and applies growth-rate inputs derived from Verizon DBIR breach prevalence trends, IBM Cost of a Data Breach annual averages, and Chainalysis crypto-crime payment volumes.

The 2025 actual landed within 4% of our prior-year projection, which means the model is calibrated against ground truth. Three structural shifts amplify the trajectory: AI-augmented attack tooling has expanded the attacker pool, the Initial Access Broker economy now functions as a 30-day leading indicator for ransomware activity, and third-party breaches doubled to 30% of all breaches in 2025. For deeper analysis on direct breach costs, see our 

The 2026 update places Myanmar at the top of the risk list with a Cybercrime Risk Score of 8.43, followed by Haiti at 8.12 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 7.94. Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and the UAE round out the top 10. The shift at the top reflects the Basel AML Index 2025 update, which elevated Myanmar, Haiti, and the DRC to the highest-risk tier for financial crime vulnerability. For the previous year's rankings, see our 

Finland, Iceland, and San Marino take the safest spots. Nordic countries continue to dominate the safest end of the rankings, with mandatory cybersecurity legislation, deep public-private cooperation, and high digital infrastructure investment per capita all reinforcing each other.

The Proxyrack Cybercrime Risk Score combines five international indices weighted equally: the Basel AML Index 2025 (14th Public Edition), the Cybersecurity Exposure Index (held at 2020 because no newer edition exists), the National Cyber Security Index (live data), the Digital Development Level (live data), and the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index v5 (held at 2024 because v6 has not been released). Each index is normalized to a 0-10 scale before averaging. The methodology is unchanged from the 2025 Proxyrack report to preserve year-over-year comparability.

Ransomware in 2026: Industry Restructured, Did Not Weaken

Ransomware payments fell roughly 8% to an estimated $820 million in 2025 (Chainalysis), the second consecutive annual decline. At the same time, attack volume reached the highest level on record. The two facts together describe an industry that did not weaken. It restructured around a smaller pool of paying victims, a fragmented supplier base, and an AI-enabled new class of low-effort operators.

70 active ransomware groups tracked in Q1 2026

 (Ransomware.live), up from 67 a year earlier and roughly double the count from 2022. New groups keep arriving even as established names get disrupted by law enforcement.

Top 10 groups captured 73% of payment volume

 (Chainalysis 2026 Crypto Crime Report). The long tail of 60+ smaller groups absorbs the rest, often through volume-over-value pricing.

 from 2023 to 2024 ($175,000 to $814,000) and continued rising in 2025. The smaller pool of organizations that still pay are paying significantly more per incident.

Manufacturing absorbed a 61% year-over-year surge

 in ransomware activity. The Akira, Qilin, and Play groups dominated the segment.

Public incidents anchored the year. The Marks & Spencer breach in April and May 2025, attributed to Scattered Spider, disrupted UK retail operations. The Jaguar Land Rover incident has been reported in industry coverage to have inflicted multi-billion-dollar damages. The DaVita ransomware breach is reported to have exposed approximately 2.7 million patient records.

AI-Powered Cybercrime: The Skill Floor Collapse

AI cybercrime is the dominant cybersecurity narrative of 2026, but the popular framing has it backwards. The risk is not that AI created a small number of more dangerous attackers. The risk is that AI eliminated the apprenticeship that previously kept low-skill actors out of the cybercrime market, creating a much larger pool of mediocre but functional attackers operating at higher volume.

FunkSec is the case study. The group launched in late 2024 with developers who told researchers they were not coders. Using generative AI tools to produce Rust-based malware, they shipped a functional ransomware payload in weeks. By March 2025, FunkSec had reportedly claimed 113 victims across 10 countries, ranking among the top groups by victim count for that quarter despite the small team size and limited capital.

IBM's 2025 study of 600 breached organizations found that 

16% of breaches involved AI-assisted attacks

, most commonly in the phishing and impersonation categories. The percentage is rising quarter over quarter according to IBM's tracking through Q1 2026.

The defensive side of the AI shift is more encouraging. IBM found that organizations using AI tools in security operations cut their breach lifecycle by 80 days and saved nearly 

 compared to organizations without AI in the SOC.

Supply Chain Attacks: The Largest Single-Year Shift

Third-party breaches doubled in 2025 to 30% of all breaches, the largest single-year shift in attack vector composition Verizon has recorded in the DBIR's history. Vendor risk management still receives a small fraction of enterprise security spend despite this exposure. For the broader picture of which industries are most exposed, see our 

The increase reflects two shifts. Organizations have continued to outsource more operations to specialized vendors. Attackers have learned that compromising one well-positioned vendor can cascade access to dozens or hundreds of downstream organizations.

Proxyrack Internal Data: KYC Enforcement Record for Calendar 2025

Proxyrack operated a Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process throughout calendar 2025 as one layer of its anti-abuse stack. The dataset below captures all account suspensions executed under that process during the full 2025 calendar year. Total suspensions: 76 accounts.

The United States accounted for the largest single share at 26.32% of suspensions. A second tier of six countries (Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Nigeria, Poland) each accounted for 5.26%. A third tier of four countries (India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Vietnam) each accounted for 2.63%. The remaining 24 countries each accounted for 1.32%.

Important caveats. The figures represent share of total suspensions by country, not in-country suspension rates. The dataset is small (76 total accounts) and reflects activity on the Proxyrack platform during one calendar year. It is not a measurement of global cybercrime distribution.

Proxyrack's KYC verification process was retired in late 2025 as the company consolidated its anti-abuse stack around its 

, which provides ongoing real-time enforcement at the device, network, and session layers.

What This Means for Security Teams in 2026

The defining ransomware shift of 2025 is not in attack count or payment dollars. It is in the supply chain. Initial Access Brokers, AI-enabled small operators like FunkSec, and the splintering of LockBit-class groups into a long tail of low-skill teams have changed the threat model. The old defensive playbook assumed a small number of well-resourced attackers. The 2026 reality is a much larger pool of lower-skill operators working at significantly higher volume, supported by increasingly accessible credential and access markets.

- Katy Salgado, Operations Manager, Proxyrack

Treat the Initial Access Broker market as a leading indicator, not a downstream artifact. When IAB listings spike in your sector, ransomware activity in the same sector spikes 30 days later. Build that into your threat intelligence cadence.

Build vendor security review into the same priority tier as identity and access. Third-party breaches at 30% of all breaches mean the supply chain is now a primary attack surface, not a secondary concern.

Design defensive architecture for the high-volume low-skill AI-enabled attacker, not just for the sophisticated operator. Detection logic optimized for nation-state TTPs will miss the FunkSec-class segment because there is nothing distinctive to detect.

→ Download the full Global Cybercrime Report 2026

The 2026 cybercrime cost forecast is produced by Proxyrack's internal model using Cybersecurity Ventures historical baseline data only and growth-rate inputs derived from current Verizon DBIR, IBM, and Chainalysis data. The country rankings methodology is unchanged from the 2025 Proxyrack report to preserve year-over-year comparability. The KYC suspension dataset reflects Proxyrack platform enforcement activity for calendar 2025 only.

Primary external sources cited in this article and the full report include the Chainalysis 2026 Crypto Crime Report, Verizon DBIR 2025, Sophos State of Ransomware 2025, IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, Halcyon 2026 Power Rankings, IPinfo + AbuseIPDB joint research at RSA Conference 2026, GreyNoise 2026 Invisible Army Report, Google Cloud Threat Intelligence IPIDEA Disruption (January 2026), the Basel AML Index 2025, the e-Governance Academy National Cyber Security Index, the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index v5, and others. The complete source list is in the full report.

This article summarizes findings from the Global Cybercrime Report 2026 (8,700 words, 5 charts, 24 primary sources). The full report covers 11 sections including phishing economics, cryptojacking trends, government action, NIS2 enforcement, and our complete methodology.

Download the full Global Cybercrime Report 2026

 (PDF, 8,700 words, 5 charts, 24 sources). 

Global Cybercrime Report 2026: Key Findings

If you’re searching for an alternative to Oxylabs, you’re not alone.

Oxylabs is one of the most recognized names in the proxy space—but for many developers, startups, and data teams, it’s not always the best fit. Whether it’s pricing, flexibility, or complexity, users often start looking for solutions that better match their actual needs.

Oxylabs is powerful—but that doesn’t mean it’s practical for everyone.

Oxylabs is built for enterprise use, which often means:

For many users, this creates unnecessary overhead.

With advanced tools and infrastructure comes complexity:

If your goal is simply to collect data reliably, this can slow you down.

Some users find Oxylabs restrictive when it comes to:

What to Look for in an Oxylabs Alternative

Before choosing a provider, focus on what actually matters:

1. Proxyrack — Best for Flexibility & Real-World Use

Proxyrack is designed for users who want powerful proxies without enterprise friction.

2. Bright Data (formerly Luminati) — Enterprise Powerhouse

Bright Data is one of the largest proxy networks available.

Large enterprises with complex data needs

3. Proxycurl — API-Based Data Extraction (Not a Full Proxy Solution)

Proxycurl is often compared to proxy providers, but it serves a different role.

Instead of giving you raw proxy access, it provides 

, especially for platforms like LinkedIn.

“VIP Proxy Server Download” — Why You Should Be Careful

You might come across search results like 

Always use trusted proxy providers instead of downloading unknown tools.

Oxylabs vs Alternatives: Quick Comparison

Proxycurl vs Proxies: What’s the Difference?

The tradeoff is flexibility vs simplicity.

A provider that balances performance, cost, and ease of use

Oxylabs is a strong player—but it’s not the only option.

Today, the proxy landscape offers more flexibility than ever. You no longer need to commit to expensive, complex setups just to get reliable data.

Choosing the right provider comes down to one thing: 

Answer these, and the right choice becomes obvious.

If you want to take this further, you can:

You don’t need the biggest provider—you need the right one.

Oxylabs Alternatives in 2026

Better, Cheaper & More Flexible Proxy Providers

Oxylabs Alternatives in 2026: Better, Cheaper & More Flexible Proxy Providers

Below are some of the most well-known residential proxy networks used by developers, data teams, and enterprises.

simple, developer-friendly proxy infrastructure

 designed for data collection and automation.

Unlike enterprise proxy platforms that bundle complex ecosystems, Proxyrack focuses on 

high-performance proxy connectivity with transparent pricing and simple integration

Bright Data is one of the most established providers in the proxy industry, offering a massive residential proxy network and advanced scraping tools.

 that require advanced infrastructure and integrated scraping tools. However, the platform can be more expensive than other providers.

Oxylabs is another major proxy provider known for 

large IP pools and enterprise-grade infrastructure

, which is why it is widely used by enterprises and data analytics companies.

Decodo, previously known as Smartproxy, has become a popular provider thanks to its balance between 

developers and mid-scale scraping operations

 that need reliable residential proxies without enterprise-level pricing.

precise geo-targeting and clean proxy pool

, which helps reduce blocks during data collection tasks.

NetNut offers residential proxies with a slightly different architecture, focusing on 

direct ISP connectivity rather than P2P networks

, such as account management or marketplace monitoring.

IPRoyal has become a popular proxy provider thanks to its affordable pricing and developer-friendly approach.

IPRoyal is often used by startups, researchers, and smaller data teams that need reliable residential proxies without large enterprise commitments.

Webshare is known for its simple and accessible proxy infrastructure, particularly among developers and automation teams.

Webshare focuses on providing easy access to proxy infrastructure with straightforward pricing, making it popular among developers running scraping scripts and automation workflows.

How to Choose the Best Residential Proxy Provider

The best proxy provider depends on your specific project requirements.

When evaluating providers, consider the following factors:

Large proxy networks offer better IP rotation and lower chances of getting blocked.

, which is increasingly used for specialized networking workloads.

Proxy pricing can vary significantly depending on:

 is essential before committing to a provider.

Residential Proxies vs Datacenter Proxies

Many businesses compare residential proxies with datacenter proxies.

Residential proxies are usually preferred when 

, while datacenter proxies are used for high-speed tasks with lower detection risk.

Residential proxies have become essential for companies that rely on 

The best residential proxy provider depends on:

Enterprise providers like Bright Data and Oxylabs offer 

By evaluating proxy networks carefully, businesses can build reliable data pipelines while avoiding blocks, CAPTCHAs, and access restrictions.

Best Residential Proxy Providers in 2026

“sell internet data and earn money in India”

 are growing fast — and for good reason. As India’s internet infrastructure improves, internet data has become a valuable resource for global businesses.

But here’s the truth many articles miss:

What Does “Selling Internet Data” Really Mean?

When people talk about selling internet data, they usually 

In practice, internet data monetization refers to:

, not by individuals manually selling anything.

Why Internet Data from India Is in High Demand

India is one of the most important regions for global data collection because of:

 to see the internet the way real users in India do.

How Companies Actually Monetize Internet Data

Businesses earn money from internet data by:

internet data is accessed, processed, and turned into revenue

Can Individuals in India Earn Money from Internet Data?

Most individuals benefit from this ecosystem by:

Why Proxies Are Essential for Internet Data Monetization

This is why proxy services sit at the core of the internet data economy.

, the real opportunity lies in understanding 

 — and how businesses use proxy services to do it.

Earn More with Proxyrack: Join the Peer Program!

Want to take your earnings to the next level? With Proxyrack’s 

, you can start earning additional income by sharing internet data from your devices. It’s simple, secure, and designed to reward you for helping grow our global network.

—whether you’re in India or anywhere around the world.Don’t miss out on this opportunity to unlock extra income with minimal effort. Start earning with Proxyrack!

Sell Internet Data and Earn Money in India

How Internet Data Is Actually Monetized

Sell Internet Data and Earn Money in India: How Internet Data Is Actually Monetized

The first one is called Parrot (a website that you load in your terminal using curl) and it has an animated sequence that shows a parrot.

It would be extra cool if someone rewrote this to display an animated version of each country's flag based on the geographic location of the IP. That's how we could potentially fork this project into a proxy-related animated GIF website.

This one is a bit different. This is where AI is starting to become cool, and you can see the progress is really being made. For this, you could upload literally just two photos: one is a starting photo, and the second photo is the end photo. You can then write a prompt on what you kind of wanna happen in between. In this case, we wrote, we put a logo and a picture of an explosion. And then we wrote, we want it to start at the start frame and turn the logo into an explosion. It will then generate a video based on this very minimal input.

Here are the two input images provided for an example of how easy this was.

Start with showing the first image and transform it into an exploding event
