ChiSox59 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 I'm not really a techy, and haven't tried to use Proxy sites before in the past (haven't had to), but is anyone familiar with a really good one? Long story short, my office went through a full firewall update this week and have blocked a ton of websites (facebook, twitter, fantasy sports, gambling sites, etc.). Most of that stuff doesn't bug me at all, but I do play a ton of fantasy sports and generally spend my lunch break and other small 5-10 minute sanity breaks throughout the day working on my fantasy teams. Anyways, I've tried a few proxy sites the past few days without much luck. A few of what appeared to be the more well known ones per a simple google search were blocked. One allowed me to actually log onto yahoo fantasy sports, but didn't have functionality. Another made my computer starting beeping and wouldn't let me X out of it without restarting my computer...so I gave up. I don't have the ability to install new browsers or chrome apps like Tor, which looks like it would be a possible solution. Any ideas? It actually really sucks cause I don't have a laptop at home, just an ipad, which isn't nearly as easy to use the research functions and what not on, and mobile app isn't nearly as user friendly as the website, IMO. Not to mention once baseball starts, its pretty much something you need to keep an eye on throughout the day do be competitive. Thanks in advance for any tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox_Sonix Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Try changing the web address from http:// to https:// It doesn't always work but I know if works for Yahoo's fantasy sites and works with most sites that my office has blocked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 01:54 PM) Try changing the web address from http:// to https:// It doesn't always work but I know if works for Yahoo's fantasy sites and works with most sites that my office has blocked You're my new best friend. What a simple solution!!!!!!! THANK YOU! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 So the company that is paying your salary doesn't want you to access those sites using their equipment and resources. So you're looking for ways around their restriction. Is it really worth risking your job over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 11:52 AM) So the company that is paying your salary doesn't want you to access those sites using their equipment and resources. So you're looking for ways around their restriction. Is it really worth risking your job over? To be honest, if their protections cannot even stop a simple web port change, then the company doesn't care that much anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Or they believe that by paying someone a salary they will follow workplace rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Astrill is pretty good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 06:24 AM) Or they believe that by paying someone a salary they will follow workplace rules. Technically, he's not breaking any workplace rules. If they wanted to block said websites, they should know you have to block both http AND https (default ports 80 and 443, respectively). Those are the only two standard web ports, one is for standard communication, and one is for encrypted communication. The fact they left one of the two wide open means they don't really care. There are also other ways for the company to prevent such access, such as using a proxy that only allows certain classifications of websites, and social media (including all social media type sites) could be blacklisted regardless of port. You can also block proxy, etc...and none of this is all that difficult for even an unexperienced IT team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 So the company goes through the effort to block certain websites, an employee finds a way around the initial block, and you don't think it goes against what the company wants? If the company wasn't trying to stop employees from visiting those websites, why the initial block? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 11:35 AM) So the company goes through the effort to block certain websites, an employee finds a way around the initial block, and you don't think it goes against what the company wants? If the company wasn't trying to stop employees from visiting those websites, why the initial block? Could have just been accidental, a feature of the new firewall they installed that they forgot to disable or didn't know was enabled. I find that scenario more likely than one where they enabled it for http but not https, when the majority of the world runs https these days. And the "effort" you speak of amounts too checking a box. Edited February 21, 2016 by Y2HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 11:52 AM) So the company that is paying your salary doesn't want you to access those sites using their equipment and resources. So you're looking for ways around their restriction. Is it really worth risking your job over? Thanks for your concern. I figured I was safe from requesting the ol' please spare me the lecture line around here. I am fairly confident that my job is more secure than getting fired for spending some downtime throughout the day time doing a hobby. I get my job done, and I do it well, which is far more important to my employers, I assure you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 09:16 AM) Technically, he's not breaking any workplace rules. If they wanted to block said websites, they should know you have to block both http AND https (default ports 80 and 443, respectively). Those are the only two standard web ports, one is for standard communication, and one is for encrypted communication. The fact they left one of the two wide open means they don't really care. There are also other ways for the company to prevent such access, such as using a proxy that only allows certain classifications of websites, and social media (including all social media type sites) could be blacklisted regardless of port. You can also block proxy, etc...and none of this is all that difficult for even an unexperienced IT team. Thanks for the additional color - I appreciate it. Social media sites remain blocked under https, so I suspect you're assumption is correct. Furthermore, I can still get on fantasy hockey and basketball, but for some reason baseball is blocked without using https. Edited February 21, 2016 by ChiSox59 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) Thanks for the additional color - I appreciate it. Social media sites remain blocked under https, so I suspect you're assumption is correct. Furthermore, I can still get on fantasy hockey and basketball, but for some reason baseball is blocked without using https. If you have access to a "UNIX shell", there is a very easy way around all of this. If you had a Mac at home (which runs UNIX) you could even use that to do it. You basically create an SSH tunnel to a destination computer and configure SOCKS proxy in Windows (or Firefox) to push all of your traffic across that tunnel, and the computer it pushes it too is actually what goes out to the Internet allowing fully open access. As a bonus, it's all all encrypted because your doing it over a secure tunnel to the destination computer, so they wouldn't really know what you were doing. If you have access to a UNIX shell, I can easily show you how to configure this. Edited February 22, 2016 by Y2HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 04:09 PM) Thanks for your concern. I figured I was safe from requesting the ol' please spare me the lecture line around here. I am fairly confident that my job is more secure than getting fired for spending some downtime throughout the day time doing a hobby. I get my job done, and I do it well, which is far more important to my employers, I assure you. Sorry if it sounded like a lecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 06:29 PM) If you have access to a "UNIX shell", there is a very easy way around all of this. If you had a Mac at home (which runs UNIX) you could even use that to do it. You basically create an SSH tunnel to a destination computer and configure SOCKS proxy in Windows (or Firefox) to push all of your traffic across that tunnel, and the computer it pushes it too is actually what goes out to the Internet allowing fully open access. As a bonus, it's all all encrypted because your doing it over a secure tunnel to the destination computer, so they wouldn't really know what you were doing. If you have access to a UNIX shell, I can easily show you how to configure this. Thanks man! Honestly, I don't need it. The simple solution you gave me gets me all I need. I appreciate the tips. Go Sox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2HH Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 07:47 PM) Thanks man! Honestly, I don't need it. The simple solution you gave me gets me all I need. I appreciate the tips. Go Sox! Wasn't the one that gave you that suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 09:27 PM) Wasn't the one that gave you that suggestion. Ahh, well I appreciate the tips anyhow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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