Today, schools or educational institutions, workplaces and government agencies are increasingly blocking websites.
One of the most popular examples of such restrictions is the Great Firewall of China, which censors the Internet in the country to slow down cross-border Internet traffic and block access to certain foreign websites.
If you’ve come across blocked websites at school or at work, management probably doesn’t want you to use such websites through their ISP account – mostly to keep you out of the rabbit hole.
They do this by using firewalls that filter web content, so students or staff cannot access blacklisted sites.
Fortunately, there are several workarounds you can use to bypass your school or workplace firewall and view the sites you want.
- Use a proxy.
- Use a VPN
- Use your smartphone as a mobile hotspot.
- Use an SSH tunnel
- Use Tor
How to get around a firewall at your school or workplace
- Use a proxy
- Use a VPN
- Use your smartphone as a portable hotspot
- Use an SSH tunnel
- Use Tor
What is a firewall and how does it work?
A firewall is a hardware or software network security system that monitors inbound and outbound traffic and blocks or permits certain traffic based on certain advanced security rules.
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Most importantly, firewalls are used to validate access, manage and control network traffic, protect resources, and record or report events among other applications.
As much as they protect all computers on a particular network, they are also annoying, especially for students or employees who are unable to access their favorite social networks, streaming services and other websites.
How does the firewall block websites
This is the first step towards understanding why you can’t access your favorite websites and how the tips we’ll share later in this post can help you bypass the firewall and view the sites you want.
Every time a computer wants to access a specific web page, it makes an HTTP request that is wrapped in a TCP packet. The website name is then identified as an IP address and the TCP packet is moved to the IP layer for the routing process.
Based on the IP address and routing tables, the layer determines which server in the website the request is sent to.
Here, the firewall blocks the website if it exists on the network, because the firewall works at the IP level and monitors every packet of data using a “wall of code†to block your device from accessing the Internet.
Firewalls guard the entry point of the computer where information is exchanged between your device and the Internet, so it monitors both sides of the connection and decides what goes through and what gets blocked.
Such firewalls are called packet filtering firewalls and are the most commonly used type, but there are others such as next generation firewalls, proxies, stateful multilayer inspection (SMLI), and network address translation (NAT).
How to bypass the firewall at school or at work
Use a proxy
A proxy can bypass your school or workplace’s firewall and other URL restrictions, handling all surfing for you. To do this, it goes to the website on your behalf and then displays everything from the website, while the firewall only sees the proxy url.
Proxies are usually free to use, but they have serious drawbacks. They are unreliable, insecure, and can leak your IP address, so in the end you won’t be able to access this site.
Likewise, your school or workplace can also use a proxy to block websites as all requests must go through it first.
Sometimes the proxy site itself can be blacklisted, which is another drawback of this approach. If you don’t have one that the management doesn’t know about, it probably will work for you.
Use a VPN
A VPN is one of the best ways to encrypt your traffic and access the Internet over a secure connection.
You can get a good free VPN to use or take advantage of premium VPN services. In any case, they will protect you by preventing the firewall from tracking your online activities.
A VPN takes outgoing information from your device, encrypts it so that online hobbyists cannot see what you are sending, and then sends the data to the VPN server. The server decrypts the data to find out which site you want to visit and directs you there.
This way, you can browse the web safely and confidentially because all Internet traffic – inbound or outbound – is encrypted, so your school or workplace’s firewall or ISP will never know what you are doing when you connect to the network.
However, most school IT administrators or IT administrators in the workplace are familiar with VPN technology, so they usually block the most commonly used ports used by VPNs, rendering them ineffective.
The good news is that there are VPNs with hidden technology and powerful enough systems that can bypass firewall blocking using the same ports and protocol as regular sites.
No matter what device you’re using, you can get a reliable VPN, download and install the client, and start browsing the web. Most of the best VPN service providers have apps for Android and iOS, as well as other major platforms and devices.
Use your smartphone as a portable hotspot
If using a proxy or VPN seems too unbearable for you, and you need a more visible way to access your favorite sites so that you are not “seen” on the school network or in the workplace, turn your smartphone into a mobile hotspot
This way you can visit your favorite sites at any time. It consumes your phone’s data, but you are spared the hassle of bypassing firewalls and other internet blocking. It also eliminates potential hazards if someone finds out what you are doing at school or at work.
Make sure your mobile carrier supports a modem, then switch to your phone’s internet connection and enjoy your content. However, be careful as there are several dangers to the modem that must be checked before using the phone as an access point.
Use an SSH tunnel
Tunneling over SSH works in much the same way as a VPN to securely move your traffic. If you have an SSH server that you can remotely access, set up tunneling to redirect traffic over a secure connection and bypass firewall blocking on your school or work network.
It still gives you the same surfing experience, but slightly slower since you are not sitting on an SSH server.
Using Tor
Tor is a popular web browser that allows you to browse websites anonymously. It directs your web browsing through an encrypted network before reaching an endpoint that will most likely not be censored or filtered.
If you’re trying to access unencrypted or sensitive data, this is not the best way to bypass firewalls compared to using a VPN, even if it allows you to bypass a firewall in your school or workplace.
However, it tends to work even where proxies, standard VPNs, or SSH tunnels don’t work, but it is much slower than your regular web browsing.
Should you bypass your school or workplace firewall?
There are several dangers in breaking the rules besides being caught in the act and possibly being removed from office or expelled / fired. Other consequences include stealing your personal information, becoming infected with malicious viruses that can spread to other devices in your school or office, or worse, being prosecuted for your actions.
Firewalls are installed to keep you safe online, not annoy you. They are designed to promote learning at school and productivity at work. Before bypassing a firewall block, check to see if it’s worth the risk given what’s at stake.
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