Blocking websites by schools or educational institutions, workplaces and governments is becoming more and more common today. How to get through a firewall?
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 allows specific traffic based on specific advanced security rules.
Most importantly, firewalls are used to validate access, manage and control network traffic, defend resources, and record or report events between other applications.
They protect all computers on a given network, but are also annoying, especially for students and employees who do not have access to their favorite social media platforms, streaming services and other websites.
How to bypass the school firewall
There are a few tricks to get around the school firewall. It depends on how the firewall works; some may monitor what you enter in the address bar, while others will actively monitor traffic.
Use a proxy site to bypass URL restrictions
Proxy sites are services that support your requests. These servers are useful when you are trying to bypass a firewall because the proxy server handles all surfing activities.
If your institution blocks the game site, it will probably look for the URL in the address bar. An Internet proxy bypasses this because you don’t visit the game’s website; you go to the proxy page and have it go to the site instead. Then it displays everything on the game page, and the school firewall only sees the proxy URL.
For example, if you want to play Minecraft for free in your browser, your school may have already blocked the minecraft.net domain. Therefore, when you play, the firewall detects that you are visiting Minecraft and is holding you back.
However, if you access the site through a proxy server, your firewall will not see that traffic is coming from Minecraft. Instead, it will only see your proxy data, which just sends you data from Minecraft!
Use a VPN
A virtual private network is one of the best ways to encrypt traffic and Internet access over a secure connection.
You can get a good free VPN to use or use the premium VPN service. Either way, they’ll protect you by preventing your firewall from viewing your browsing activity.
Gaps in applications
No matter how secure a firewall is, if your operating system or protected applications have vulnerabilities, a hacker can easily bypass it. For example, there are many exploits on Windows that can be used by attackers. All they have to do is convince the user to visit the infected website and enter.
Therefore, it is important for organizations to ensure that all their operating systems and applications are always upgraded to the latest versions, and to update anti-virus tools and consider disabling applications with known weaknesses, if this does not affect functionality.
