Privacy

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Need Help Bypassing Firewall Restrictions at My School (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi everyone,

I'm currently facing some frustrating restrictions with the public Wi-Fi at my school. It's an open Wi-Fi network without a password, but the school has implemented a firewall (Fortinet) that blocks access to certain websites and services, including VPNs like Mullvad and ProtonVPN. This makes it difficult for me to maintain my privacy online, especially since I don't want the school to monitor me excessively.

After uninstalling Mullvad, I tried to download it again, but I found that even a search engine (Startpage) is blocked, which is incredibly frustrating! Here’s what happened:

The Wi-Fi stopped working when I had the VPN enabled.
I disabled the VPN, but still couldn't connect.
I forgot the Wi-Fi network and reset the driver, but still no luck.
I uninstalled the Mullvad, and then the Wi-Fi worked again.
I tried to access Startpage to search for an up-to-date package for Mullvad, but it was blocked.
I used my phone to get the software file and sent it over, but couldn't connect.
I searched for different VPNs using DuckDuckGo, but the whole site was blocked.
I tried searching for Mullvad, but that was blocked too.
I attempted to use Tor with various bridges, but couldn't connect for some unknown reason.
I finally settled for Onionfruit Connect, but it doesn't have a kill switch, which makes me uneasy.

Ironically, websites that could be considered harmful, like adult content, gambling sites and online gaming sites, are still accessible, while privacy-tools are blocked.

I'm looking for advice on how to bypass these firewall restrictions while ensuring my online safety and privacy. Any suggestions or alternative methods would be greatly appreciated! (If any advice is something about Linux, it could be a Problem, since my school enforces Windows 11 only PC's which is really really igngamblingThanks in advance for your help

edit: did some formatting

edit2: It is my device, which I own and bought with my own money. I also have gotten in trouble for connecting to tor and searching for tor, but I stated that I only used it to protect my privacy. Honestly I will do everything to protect my privacy so I don't care if I will get in trouble.

edit 3: Thanks for the suggestions, if I haven't responded yet, that's because I don't know what will happen.

(page 2) 36 comments

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Use Tor with bridges, or orbot if you want to use apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Please read Charger8283's reply. It's the best one. You're thinking small, how do I break out of their system, that will only land you in trouble. You should think big like how Charger8283 thought and break the system altogether.

If you first find vulnerabilities and report them to your school, later when you find another one you don't tell them about it until they ask. Keep it a secret and use it for a while. Just pretend like you weren't ready to tell them because you didn't understand it yet.

Sometimes it pays off to play nice and stupid.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

There is a way, it's called SSH over HTTP, I think there are many guides on the internet. I hope this works.

EDIT: I don't know how to do that on Windows or if it's possible but maybe with a virtual machine... sorry.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Airvpn, then use their advanced config to create a 443 tcp tunnel out to a single server. Then use that server’s IP in your OpenVPN config file. Route all traffic including dns inside the tunnel.

Traffic will look like all other web traffic - encrypted on standard web ports. You won’t even need to do a DNS lookup to start with and airvpn uses generic rDNS so it’s not super easy to figure out from their perspective.

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