[OT] Getting out from behind a corporate firewall

[Fernando Duran]

Technical: A simple option to the ssh/vnc to your home computer is just to use logmein.com (free for personal use). It goes through web (ssl) so if there's a web proxy it may be blocked though.

Human: without getting into legal/ethical issues I think it's "bad" to try and circumvent a company's network/security policy without their knowledge. You can try and see after a few days how the Internet is used (for example people browsing during lunch may be fine) and then for example comment that you are going to browse too but through your home desktop, since you have your settings there and it's safer for them (no stuff downloaded locally etc).  

Try to see this from the company's and their IT guys' point of view. I wouldn't have a problem with people doing some personal browsing in my company (they can do whatever they want as long as the jobs is done) but I would have a serious issue with somebody that purposely and without asking tries and goes around the policy and other people's work; it's a breach of trust.
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Fernando Duran
http://www.fduran.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Stephen <stephen-d-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>
To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
Sent: Tue, May 11, 2010 9:23:00 AM
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: [OT] Getting out from behind a corporate firewall

Myles Braithwaite wrote:
> Speaking as someone who recently had to deal with this kind of stuff
> (the employee in question was looking at that Adult Friend Finder type
> sites). I simple blocked the website at the DNS level to redirect to a
> internal web server with a simple splash page saying "This website has
> been blocked by the SysAdmin". No ever contacted the employee and
> after this block was put in place we even noticed a pickup in his
> sales.
> 
> Most companies don't measure you work in hours worked but if you are
> actually getting the job done (speaking of most desk jobs). Most
> wouldn't mind if you spend 30 minutes a day looking at different
> photography sites (which by the way are the most common to be
> blocked).
>  
I am an independent contractor, and I have both a consulting business and a photography business.

I receive messages to my account on the photography web site. I want to be able to access and reply to them at lunch time. But the site is blocked at most businesses I have been at.

I do not want to browse the site on my laptop computer inside the business network.

I want to use VNC over SSH to my home computer, and browse the web from there.

In my experience people who know how to do this kind of thing frighten many IT staff.

If I am lucky there will be some really good IT people, but I have rarely been lucky in this way.

Stephen
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--
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