Many times there are websites we want to access while at work or at school. You enter the website name on your browser search bar and wait for it to load. Instead of loading, all you get is a warning that you can’t access the website.
Schools and work places set up firewalls to prevent you from accessing certain websites. To many, this is more than a slight inconvenience. To the school or office, they are securing their computers and information. They are also keeping you focused on your work by blocking websites that would encourage time wastage.
However, there are some simple methods you can use to go around your school or office firewall to access any website you desire.
Use Your Smartphone as Your Internet Source
One of the simplest ways to bypass your school or office firewall is by gaining another source of internet.
The easiest way to get a new source of internet is by using your smartphone Wi-Fi hotspot. With this, you can access as many blocked websites as you like without getting blocked by your school or office firewall.
Unfortunately, this means that you will have to forego the use of the freely available school or work internet.
Use A VPN
Using a VPN is one of the most effective methods to get around any firewall. A firewall blocks you from accessing specific websites while using their internet connection. A VPN hides you from both your ISP and any firewall installed in the connection you are using.
When you use a VPN, information leaving your device is encrypted. Thus, the firewall can’t see what you are doing and can’t block your activity. It also gives you a new IP address and the school or office firewall that is localized won’t be working on your new IP address.
You can read more about IP addresses from Sweden and how you can use your VPN to get one. The IT department at your school or office may have blocked VPN ports. If this is the case, you should get a VPN with stealth capabilities that can’t be easily blocked.
Use a Web Proxy
A web proxy is a server that accesses the internet on your behalf. The proxy can access the website that you are blocked from. Visit the proxy site and enter the website you want to visit. It will display the information you need from that website.
This can be done without the school or office firewall detecting. Especially if you have a strong proxy.
You need to choose your proxies well too. Most proxies are already blocked by the firewall to ensure you don’t bypass them. Use an unknown proxy if you want to succeed against your school or office firewall.
Enter the IP address of the Website You Want to Visit
You can also bypass a firewall by searching for a website through its IP address instead of using its name as one is used to. Firewalls are set to block websites as you search for them. If you use an IP address to search for a blocked website you may easily access it.
The only problem you may face when you choose to use an IP address is that you may not know the IP address of the website you are searching for.
Remote Access for Your PC
You can also bypass a firewall by accessing your computer via remote access.
Remote access means that you can leave your laptop connected to the internet elsewhere. You can then access it using a computer at work or school via remote access. Windows operating system will instruct you how to access your laptop remotely.
Your laptop has to be connected to the internet. If your laptop is connected to uncensored internet, you can use it to get onto sites that are blocked on your end. You will then access them from your school or office computer.
Using SSH
You can use SSH to bypass school and office firewalls. Access your SSH server remotely and tunnel your web searches through it. SSH works just like a VPN but it will be slightly slower.
Conclusion
In as much as bypassing firewalls at schools or at work isn’t safe and against the rules, sometimes, you may need to. There are many reasons why organizations set up firewalls to prevent users of their internet connection from different websites. Securing information is the main goal.
You now have six sure methods to choose from when you need to access websites blocked by firewalls.
