How can I bypass my school's packet filter?

January 19, 2006 7:56 PM

Is it possible to bypass a packet filter in order to log onto AIM from my school's network? Filtering is combination URL filtering via Sonic Wall and packet filtering via Packet Hound. We have tried proxies but have been met with little success, we need a simple lightweight solution.
posted by SuperCoolZane to technology (15 comments total)

Have you tried socks5 proxy? When our university ended up banning AIM as a way to slow viruses for a few days, I used a socks5 proxy over ssh on a machine at home to get back on.
posted by adamwolf at 8:06 PM on January 19, 2006

I googled around for socks5 proxies but they all seem to run under linux which none of us are very well versed in. We're running both XP and OS X if that helps.
posted by SuperCoolZane at 8:19 PM on January 19, 2006

aside from doubting the NEED for AIM, I'd suggest finding a server you can bounce an ssh tunnel off of. Trivial on OSX and you can skate out on an open port. On XP you just need the latest version PuTTY. No proxy, just tunnels.
posted by shagoth at 8:25 PM on January 19, 2006

shagoth has it.
posted by Firas at 8:51 PM on January 19, 2006

you could try an online version of the client... I remember there being a wicked browser-based client that allows you to sign into nearly ANY messenger service... it's worth a gander
posted by hatsix at 8:52 PM on January 19, 2006

I believe Meebo is the IM site hatsix mentioned.
posted by scottreynen at 9:01 PM on January 19, 2006

yup.. meebos rocks my world :)
posted by snarkle at 9:10 PM on January 19, 2006

As mentioned above, ssh with dynamic port forwarding enabled is all you need. Try:

ssh -D 1080 -N remote.host

The "-D" tells it to act as a SOCKS4/5 proxy on port specified port (1080 in this instance), while "-N" tells it not to run any commands on the remote system. All you need to do is point AIM at a SOCKS proxy a localhost:1080.

This all assumes you have login access to a system beyond the firewall somewhere.
posted by blender at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2006

If you have a shell, there are commandline MSN and AIM clients that I quite like. I'm still looking for a good IRC-MSN and IRC-AIM bridge - that would be close to perfect.
posted by devilsbrigade at 9:59 PM on January 19, 2006

Looks like hopster is an option if you don't have a box on another network to bounce off of.

no experience with it -- just was interested with your problem and did some research.

i can't find any reviews on it, so I can't speak to its quality -- but maybe someone else here has some experience with it?
posted by fishfucker at 10:10 PM on January 19, 2006

Hrmm... do you have XP/OSX machines at home that are constantly on, with a broadband net connection? If so, you could always VNC into your home computer (provided they haven't blocked VNC) and AIM to your heart's content.
posted by antifuse at 1:31 AM on January 20, 2006

If you are a system manager on IT person at your school, this should be trivial. You would just open up the right port and off or authenticate the user and off you go. I mean, if you own the fence, you can tear it down or cut as many holes in it that you like.

If you are not a sysadmin and are trying to punch a hole in the school's security so you can chat with your pals, don't do it. This is exactly the behavior that can get you (1) suspended (2) expelled (3) have all computer rights revoked or (4) fined, depending on the rules at your school. If your actions are construed as hacking, that could land you in the pokey, absolute worst case. No matter what the rules are, this is one of the quickest ways to piss off an IT manager. Discuss it with them and see what can be done. If they say 'no', honor that. I had IM blocked because students inevitably and unwittingly brought in spyware and viruses and I inevitably paid for it in the time spent removing the junk.
posted by plinth at 7:34 AM on January 20, 2006

ssh is the way to go.

I'm sure you're aware of this, Zane, but someone should really mention that circumventing your school network's filters like this is probably a violation of the acceptable use policy.

Now, I'm not saying that means you shouldn't do it, since fascist policies like that exist to be circumvented. All I mean is, well, why are you posting this question without anonymity?! Especially since your profile lists your real name, and a google search quickly turns up a blog...common sense, man!

The fools in your school's administration who could potentially discipline you for this are blind to the vast differences between punching through a firewall to chat with friends and hacking the school's LAN. They will punish you for the former as if you did the latter.

On preview: what plinth said.
posted by jbrjake at 7:43 AM on January 20, 2006

It's not like your admins will be able to see that you are using ssh to tunnel AIM, all they'll see is an SSH session.
posted by atrazine at 8:00 AM on January 20, 2006

Tunnelier is a nice and simple way to do proxying over ssh w/o a command line, which many people find intimidating.
posted by phearlez at 10:41 AM on January 20, 2006