# What is proxy authentication? | SoftGlaze Browser glossary

> Proxy authentication is the login a proxy asks for before it relays traffic. How HTTP 407 and SOCKS5 logins work, and how SoftGlaze stores and hides proxy passwords.

- Canonical URL: https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary/proxy-authentication
- Last updated 2026-11-09

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[Proxies and networking](https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary?category=proxies-and-networking)

## Proxy authentication

Also called proxy login, proxy username and password, 407 Proxy Authentication Required, IP whitelisting, user:pass proxy

Definition

Proxy authentication is the login step a proxy requires before it will relay your traffic, usually a username and password, sometimes an allow-list of your own IP addresses instead.

Last updated 7 November 2026

### How it works

An HTTP proxy that needs a login answers the first request with status `407 Proxy Authentication Required` and a `Proxy-Authenticate` header; the client repeats the request with a `Proxy-Authorization` header carrying the credentials. A SOCKS5 proxy asks for a username and password during its opening handshake. Some providers skip passwords and instead accept connections only from IP addresses you register with them. Rotating gateways often put options such as country or session ID inside the username.

### Why it matters when you run several accounts

A proxy login is a paid credential: anyone who has it can use your traffic allowance and act from your addresses. When several people work in the same profiles, the login should let the browser connect without every team member being able to read it. Logins are also a common source of failure: a typo or an expired plan shows up as a profile that won’t load.

### How SoftGlaze Browser handles it

Proxy passwords are sealed with Windows’ own encryption before they are saved, so they can’t be read from the workspace database file. Operators see proxy credentials masked as ••••••••; revealing them takes the Manager role or above. For Chromium, which can’t send a SOCKS5 login and answers HTTP logins page by page, the app runs a local relay that adds the login itself. A check tells you straight away whether the login works.

### Sources

1.  [RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, section 15.5.8 407 Proxy Authentication Required](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110#section-15.5.8) IETF
2.  [RFC 1929: Username/Password Authentication for SOCKS V5](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1929) IETF
3.  [407 Proxy Authentication Required](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Status/407) MDN Web Docs

Outside sources were checked in November 2026. Browsers, standards and vendors' pages change, so details that depend on them are as of that month.

### Related terms

-   [HTTP proxy](https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary/http-proxy) An HTTP proxy is a proxy that speaks the web's own protocol: the browser sends it ordinary HTTP requests, and for HTTPS asks it to open a tunnel to the site with the CONNECT method.
-   [SOCKS5](https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary/socks5) SOCKS5 is a proxy protocol that relays network connections of any kind between your device and a destination, with optional username and password authentication, and can pass the destination's hostname for the proxy to resolve.
-   [Team roles (role-based access control)](https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary/role-based-access-control) Role-based access control (RBAC) is a way of managing permissions in which each person is given a role, and the role, not the individual, decides what they can see and do.
-   [Encryption at rest](https://browser.softglaze.com/glossary/encryption-at-rest) Encryption at rest means data is stored on disk in encrypted form, so a copied file or a stolen drive is unreadable without the key; it does not protect data while the system using it is running and unlocked.

### Read more on this site

-   [Docs: where proxy passwords are kept](https://browser.softglaze.com/docs/proxies#where-proxy-passwords-are-kept)
-   [Team access: masking](https://browser.softglaze.com/features/team-access#masking)
-   [Docs: a proxy won't verify](https://browser.softglaze.com/docs/troubleshooting#a-proxy-wont-verify)

### See it in SoftGlaze Browser

Separate profiles, each with its own cookies, device values and proxy, on Windows. Try the app's screens in your browser first, or start the free trial; no card needed.

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