Getting around a filter

[mrstuff68]

I dont know if this is possible but it is worth a try. Recently at work they implemented a filter that prevents users from going to sites such as hotmail, yahoo, ebay, etc. More specifically to websites that you can check personal email accounts. Is there a way that I can get around this filter, some type of back door where i can get around this filter?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I am willing to try anything.

Thanks

[DeadEyes]

Do you want to get fired?

[dglienna]

They may have turned on a Proxy Server. It *may* be able to be turned off. Re-boot to turn it on. (This worked at a place that I no longer work at.) I wasn't the only one to do it, but everyone else still works there...

[mrstuff68]

Hmm get fired, that might not sound like a bad idea, the way things have been going recently

See I was hoping that i can possibly run some app to get around it or maybe Connect to my computer at home through PCAnywhere and then somehow utilize my connection at home. So that i am at work but connecting through my house, and using my connection at home for surfing the web.

[Acidic]

use a web proxy. I don't have any links for those handy though, haven't used one in ages. Maybe you can also configure your Thunderbird/outlook to grab your emails straight from your account.

[Pirate]

Try one of those anonymous web surfing programs . They may work for you .

[dglienna]

here is where it may be

[Ideas Man]

Try and ping the site or use a web based ping, find out its IP addy and then use that to goto the site i.e. http://207.46.144.222 will take you to the Microsoft site.

Works for me at school .

[<ABX]

Originally posted by Ideas Man
Try and ping the site or use a web based ping, find out its IP addy and then use that to goto the site i.e. http://207.46.144.222 will take you to the Microsoft site.

Works for me at school .

Nice.... cheap firewall

I just use remote desktop from school, works perfectly.

If its just IE content advisor, just install firefox or edit the registry and turn it off.

[Ideas Man]

Originally posted by <ABX
Nice.... cheap firewall

Cheap?!?!? No, you gotta understand, this is our Department of Education and Training (DET)'s brand new super firewall that blocks all offensive content, including porn, "pink" in a google search and lots of other legitimate sites. How can you say it's cheap, because it works wonders .

[dglienna]

they don't have it set up right if it allows IP addresses to porn sites.

[Ideas Man]

they don't have it set up right if it allows IP addresses to porn sites.

Dunno about porn, but they blocked MSN Web Messenger, and I can still get to it via IP address.

The google search for "pink" is funny though, it's classified as Adult-SEX ROTFLMAO .

[dglienna]

don't think it makes a difference. maybe they want you to be able to type in a local address. they'll change it quickly, once that they notice.

[visualAd]

I think this depends on what the company has in place. A simple proxy server is peanuts to bypass. But if you look at the mechanics of the HTTP request there are many other things which can be use to filter requests too:

• DNS - Most probably, your company will have its own DNS servers. It isn't hard to block requests for certain hosts, or simply return the IP address of a local server which displays a warning message.
• Proxy on the default gateway - This is usually configured as a transparent proxy, i.e. the hosts have no idea that it exists. The advantage of this, is that any request outside the LAN to the Internet passes through the gateway.
• Stateful packet inspection on the gateway - this is by far the hardest to get around. By examining the content of the packets passing through the gateway and keeping track of connections to and from other hosts. They can even peek inside the packet and check the protocol being used, i.e. if you are connecting to port 21, are you using ftp? if not then drop it.