A bulletproof host (BPH) is a provider of web infrastructure that intentionally allows its clients to host illegal or gray area content, ideal for those who want to profit from providing NCSEI. These providers are “bulletproof” because they:
- Ignore Abuse Reports: While a normal host investigates complaints, a bulletproof provider deletes them**.**
- Operate in Lax Jurisdictions: BPH providers often house their servers in countries with weak cybersecurity laws, no extradition treaties, or where local authorities turn a blind eye to digital crime**.**
- Offer Extreme Anonymity: They typically allow sign-ups without identity verification and accept difficult-to-trace payments such as Bitcoin or Monero.
In addition to hosting NCSEI, bulletproof hosts often serve a wide variety of malicious content, including malware, stolen credit cards, pirated movies and TV shows, or forged legal documents.
How Bulletproof Hosts Evade Detection
Many bulletproof providers frequently shift their position and use obscuring infrastructure to evade detection.
- Hosting Hot Seat: Constantly changing the hosting provider associated with a website to make it harder for authorities to pin down where its data is served.
- Reverse Proxies: Placing a “clean” server in front of the “dirty” bulletproof server to hide the true origin of the content.
- Infrastructure Laundering: Sometimes, BPH providers rent space from legitimate data centers under fake company names, effectively “laundering” their presence within reputable networks.
Can Bulletproof Hosts Be Stopped?
While it is difficult to “shoot” a bulletproof host, it is not impossible. International law enforcement occasionally conducts massive raids to seize bulletproof web hosting providers.
An effective strategy when combating bulletproof hosts is to cut off their essential resources. We can report their illegal activities to infrastructure providers (i.e., reporting to upstream hosts), or submitting abuse reports to their payment service providers, such as MasterCard.
By understanding how these providers operate, we can design effective reporting and takedown strategies to protect victims and ensure that illegal content is no longer “bulletproof.”
Security Conference Talks on Bulletproof Hosts
Shcherbatyuk, D. (2023). Basement, bunker, offshore platform: Where bulletproof hosting hides [Conference presentation]. Positive Hack Days (PHDays) 12, Moscow, Russia. https://phdays.com/en/archive/2023/
Mahjoub, D., & Brown, S. (2017). Behaviors and patterns of bulletproof and anonymous hosting providers [Conference presentation]. USENIX Enigma 2017, Oakland, CA, United States. https://www.usenix.org/conference/enigma2017/conference-program/presentation/mahjoub
This post was last updated on December 23, 2025.
