Anyone have tips to beat a proxy in an office environment? Basic sites like facebook and youtube are insta-blocked but there’s some work related sites that the admins refuse to pull off the proxy list and it’s starting to bug me.
The errorout code looks like:
Explanation: There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed, this webpage may be inside a blacklist or you are trying to reach an intranet site through the proxy server, try contacting your local Helpdesk.
Technical Information (for support personnel)
Error Code: 502 Proxy Error. The ISA Server denied the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL). (12202)
IP Address: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
Date: 7/25/2012 1:28:50 AM [GMT]
Server: XXXXXXX.XXXXX.XXX.NET
Source: proxy
Also, what I’m curious is, every attempt made from my end to access a no go site, I’m assuming that’s entered into a standard log file?
As a sysAdmin (I’m nice and don’t block much), when I see a user attempt to bypass my system (yes they CAN log when you attempt to access a ‘bad’ site) it’s almost like they’ve said to me, “Let’s fight!”
My response is always, “Challenge accepted!”
It tends to end with them giving up as I own the network…My favorite thing is to redirect them, flip images, make everything one style, etc. Just play games
I can’t vouch whether any of these still work, but my school had a pretty (it seemed legit at the time) web filter that I managed to dance around fairly well. It didn’t work well for sites that require login since the URL gets passed during authentication and breaks things behind the scenes but they worked back then fairly well.
www.websiteyouwant.com.nyud.net:8080 (or 8090 sometimes) Also I think this was just a software issue on the web filters part but its worth a shot. Manually forcing the site to go to https in the URL got you access to most sites.
That’s all I have in my bag of tricks, since half way through high school I just gained access to the web filter control panel and unblocked the select sites I wanted globally and the gems, facebook, youtube, ect… for my specific MAC address I always used.
Though in closing I would take your request not to the admins but to your boss/manager. If you have a valid business based reason to access them then the boss can go over the heads of the admins and force them to open them. No need to risk your job bypassing the filter, companies don’t like when you do that…
EDIT: I also just thought of another way I bypassed the filter, I used logmein to connect to my computer at home to browse sites like facebook and such that required login before I was able to unblock them. So if logmein isn’t blocked then you might be able to just walk around the firewall by virtually going home. Best part is you don’t leave tracks as to what you visited on any logs the company has.
Use a VPN (if they are not blocked). Take into account that depending on the terms of your contract you could get in troubles for accessing disallowed websites. Be careful.
If vpn and proxy sites are blocked (which any filter worth it’s salt will do) you can always try translate.google.com, then look at the “original” webpage instead of the translated one. It works for some sites better than others, but it’s better than nothing.
I recommend a vnc server running at your house and a vnc client at your work ( if you can’t install then maybe a Linux pen drive that runs embedded in windows with the software on it)
Unless a proxy does a full MITM ‘attack’ (stripping SSL etc.) or you have a whitelist of sites you can access (very unlikely) the you can try this. Never been a single firewall that this has not been able to circumvent for me.
