Not too tech savvy, but I am working remotely for a bank which provides me a VPN in order to log into our servers. In the event that my employer does not want me to work outside of my home country, is there a way for me to mask the IP and be able to do so anyway?
When trying a general google search, I get responses to use a VPN. But what’s confusing me is my employer already has be using their VPN, so am I able to use two without detection, or is there something else I could do?
Fully understand risks associated with getting caught in this act. Don’t have a plan in place to go through with this, it’s really just a thought at this point from curiosity.
I don’t know why this has been spiking in popularity lately, but I feel like this is posted almost daily now. My advise to you is, don’t risk it.
Technically its possible, but there are so many risks involved that its not even close to worth risking your career over. And I can tell you right now, there’s a 99.999% chance your employer will not let you work outside of the country, especially a bank.
A VPN will route your network traffic to anywhere you point the server. The VPN host, your employer, can see your logs and will immediately know where you are. You could use a private VPN to connect to a location in the operating country of the bank and then connect to your work VPN from there, but the whole process is complicated and there are so many possibilities of passing identifying info.
Don’t risk it man, I’m a systems administrator and had to fire people for this. If you have access to any kind of employee or customer info and something goes wrong, both you and your employer could get into some serious legal trouble.
You buy a travel router and a raspberry pi. You install wireguard on your raspberry pi and use it as a home vpn server. Plug your travel router into your laptop via Ethernet. Enable a kill switch on your travel router. It’s talked about in depth here.
r/digitalnomad
If you want to travel and work in banking, do not ask. They will say no. Best is to ask for forgiveness if caught. However if setup correctly you will most likely not be caught.
Running two VPNs on one machine is impossible on some machines and on those that can do it there’s still a lot of risk if you set it up properly.
The way to do it is set the VPN CLIENT on the router you use, while still using the company VPN on the computer your use. This way the company VPN tunnel is inside the broader router VPN tunnel.
If you connect the router VPN CLIENT to a commercial VPN service SERVER, you can easily appear to be in the correct country, but if the company IT department is dilligent this will raise red flags as your connection will appear to originate from a data-center.
The more cautious way to do it is connect your VPN CLIENT to an always on VPN SERVER at a friend or family’s house in the desired region. Another router is a good device for this, and they’ll need a pretty good internet connection (both upload and download) for you to use it smoothly and without affecting their experience. The advantage of this is that your data still appears to originate from a residential location.
BUT, whether a very diligent IT department, or simple mistakes on your part, there is a decent chance your obfuscation or your actual location will be revealed. Consider carefully the consequences and how much risk you’re willing to take.
If you’re not tech savvy but if you have a permanent place or a friends place or someone trusted in Canada, leave an always on laptop/desktop at their place with always on internet and just remote into it from your vacation spot with like TeamViewer or whatever… Set it to login to Windows account…
I am no system admin, so can’t fully say it’s foolproof, but can’t see how it wouldn’t be…
Please don’t use a VPN to bypass your employer’s security provisions that are often put in place to protect the sensitive data of it’s customers. We don’t need another data breach that exposes millions of people’s information.
I say this sincerely and I even wouldn’t want my own VPN users to put common folk’s data in jeopardy.
Being able to work remotely is actually 100% worth the risk to your job (it’s a job, not a career).
And the vast majority 99.99% of people who do it never get caught or are able to handwaved/ beg forgiveness later. Go to any digital nomad space everyone is doing this and it’s not as complicated to hide your tracks (or don’t hide tracks, many companies don’t care, once you get fired from this job find a new one).
Really appreciate your feedback and detail. It’s more of a general question to learn about how these things work. I wouldn’t risk my career over something like this because I actually love my job. I would rather beg to the employer to allow me to work abroad. I’m not in a position to do this right now but we’ll see how things lay out in the coming years. Thanks!
I don’t know why this has been spiking in popularity lately, but I feel like this is posted almost daily now. My advise to you is, don’t risk it.
Technically its possible, but there are so many risks involved that its not even close to worth risking your career over. And I can tell you right now, there’s a 99.999% chance your employer will not let you work outside of the country, especially a bank.
A VPN will route your network traffic to anywhere you point the server. The VPN host, your employer, can see your logs and will immediately know where you are. You could use a private VPN to connect to a location in the operating country of the bank and then connect to your work VPN from there, but the whole process is complicated and there are so many possibilities of passing identifying info.
Don’t risk it man, I’m a systems administrator and had to fire people for this. If you have access to any kind of employee or customer info and something goes wrong, both you and your employer could get into some serious legal trouble.
So its possible, how exactly is it possible to do?
The IT department doesn’t even have to be very diligent. A very slight mistake that leaks your true IP even once should light up 20 alarm lights. A sudden location switch, especially outside of the country, is a serious safety issue to look into.
Working remotely is not the same as working out of the country. At that point it’s not a matter of job vs career, there’s significant laws with major implications for you as well as the company.
Depending on your line of work, if you lie about your working location you could face hefty fines and even jail time. As I mentioned earlier, I’m a systems administrator and I’ve had to fire people in the past for this.
If all that is still worth it to you, then by all means go for it. But for 99% of people its not worth the risk.
You’re welcome, just don’t want to see you make a mistake that could cost you big time! If you bank operates internationally, there’s a chance they might allow it, but there’s a substantial amount of policy and such that goes into an employees operating position. IT Data security policies, FDIC coverages, business law, data retention laws, payroll taxes, etc, etc.