Jan 28 (Reuters) - Google said on Wednesday it has taken action to remove ​domains belonging to one of the ‌largest residential proxy networks in the world, called IPIDEA, ‌in an effort to protect millions of consumer devices from being exploited by cybercriminals and state-sponsored hackers. Residential proxy networks allow attackers to route ⁠internet traffic ‌through hijacked consumer IP addresses, effectively masking malicious activity and bypassing security ‍defenses. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement"We believe our actions have caused significant degradation of IPIDEA's ⁠proxy network and business operations, ​reducing the available pool ​of devices for the proxy operators by millions," Google said. IPIDEA operated at least ‍13 residential ⁠proxy brands, which were taken offline. Google identified over 600 Android applications and 3,075 ⁠unique Windows files connected to the network's command-and-control infrastructure.