HTTP past a blocked port 80?!

Hiya.

A computer im doing some work on has an Internet connection (company
provided) that blocks port 80 (Definitely ISP blocking port 80) . The
need has come up to access hotmail (login page is HTTP), and i can't
figure out a way to bypass the block.

Anyone with some brilliant suggestions or clues?

Much thanks in advance,
wulf

On 2006-04-12, Wulf Solter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> A computer im doing some work on has an Internet connection (company
> provided) that blocks port 80 (Definitely ISP blocking port 80) . The
> need has come up to access hotmail (login page is HTTP), and i can't
> figure out a way to bypass the block.

If it's work-related and that your need, report to the company's IT
department and have your port 80 unblocked. Every attempt to circumvent
company's policies would be illegal and, mostly, unsuccesful.

Davide

--
Starting your usenet experience with this group is like starting your
drug experiences with 500 mikes of acid with an amphetamine chaser.
--Rebecca Ore

Davide Bianchi wrote:
> On 2006-04-12, Wulf Solter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> A computer im doing some work on has an Internet connection (company
>> provided) that blocks port 80 (Definitely ISP blocking port 80) . The
>> need has come up to access hotmail (login page is HTTP), and i can't
>> figure out a way to bypass the block.
>
> If it's work-related and that your need, report to the company's IT
> department and have your port 80 unblocked. Every attempt to circumvent
> company's policies would be illegal and, mostly, unsuccesful.
>
> Davide
>

Been in contact with IT dept. It is the ISP that only allows certain
ports through (HTTPS, SMTP/POP3, FTP, etc..) Not really to keen on
getting another net connection at $x just for webmail.

On 2006-04-12, Wulf Solter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Been in contact with IT dept. It is the ISP that only allows certain
> ports through (HTTPS, SMTP/POP3, FTP, etc..) Not really to keen on
> getting another net connection at $x just for webmail.

First of all, never heard of an ISP that blocks plain http, second,
if that's the contract that have been negotiated by your company, then
they are basically precluding you to do your job and is THEIR problem
to fix it, third, if it's the ISP that block such thing you've zero
possibilities of bypassing it.

Davide

--
Microsoft broke Volkswagen's world record: Volkswagen only made 22 million
bugs!

Davide Bianchi wrote:
> On 2006-04-12, Wulf Solter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> Been in contact with IT dept. It is the ISP that only allows certain
>> ports through (HTTPS, SMTP/POP3, FTP, etc..) Not really to keen on
>> getting another net connection at $x just for webmail.
>
> First of all, never heard of an ISP that blocks plain http, second,
> if that's the contract that have been negotiated by your company, then
> they are basically precluding you to do your job and is THEIR problem
> to fix it, third, if it's the ISP that block such thing you've zero
> possibilities of bypassing it.
>
> Davide
>

eek.. a fresh new connection it is then....
Thanks very much mate!
wulf

"Wulf Solter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:443cf038$(E-Mail Removed)

> Been in contact with IT dept. It is the ISP that only allows certain
> ports through (HTTPS, SMTP/POP3, FTP, etc..) Not really to keen on
> getting another net connection at $x just for webmail.

I've heard of people running sshd on a box at home, and if outbound port 22
(or whatever port they run sshd on) is open, they do an ssh connection with
X forwarding, and run the browser on the remote machine that displays on
their local machine behind the block. All encrypted data pass though port 22
outbound, and the port 80 connection is done from their home machine where
it's unrestricted.

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:22:06 +0200, Davide Bianchi wrote:

> First of all, never heard of an ISP that blocks plain http

I have to second this. If I understand correctly, this ISP is blocking
its clients from connecting to servers on port 80 on the Internet?
That's...very bizarre.

It's far more likely that your company's IT department is doing this
blocking. Perhaps someone complained to them about the number of hours
being wasted "surfing" the web.

Or there could be semantic games afoot. Perhaps your company requested
that the ISP put the block in place for the aforementioned "wasted hours"
reason. That would make it true that the ISP is blocking, but would also
explain why the ISP would take so odd an action.

Have you tried asking the ISP?

- Andrew

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:57:52 +1200, Wulf Solter wrote:

> Hiya.
>
> A computer im doing some work on has an Internet connection (company
> provided) that blocks port 80 (Definitely ISP blocking port 80) . The
> need has come up to access hotmail (login page is HTTP), and i can't
> figure out a way to bypass the block.
>
> Anyone with some brilliant suggestions or clues?
>
> Much thanks in advance,
> wulf

Replied to in one of your other cross posts.

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 06:30:13 -0700, sara lautman wrote:

> All encrypted data pass though
> port 22 outbound, and the port 80 connection is done from their home
> machine where it's unrestricted.

Oh, yes. I forgot about this.

There's an better variation of this. Put a proxy server on the home
machine, perhaps available only to localhost. On the SSH connection to
the home machine, forward some local port (80? 8080? It doesn't much
matter) to the proxy server's port on the home machine.

Run a browser on the machine at work (thus avoiding X forwarding, which
is why I call this "better"), but with the proxy set to the port being
forwarded by SSH to the proxy server (ie. that "it doesn't much matter"
port).

The browser thinks that there's a proxy server on the local machine. SSH
forwards proxy requests to the proxy server on the home machine. The home
machine's proxy server does the usual proxy stuff.

BTW, none of this requires that port 22 be open. Since it involves
running SSHd on one's home machine, then it could be placed on any port.

- Andrew

Andrew Gideon wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:22:06 +0200, Davide Bianchi wrote:
>
>> First of all, never heard of an ISP that blocks plain http
>
> I have to second this. If I understand correctly, this ISP is blocking
> its clients from connecting to servers on port 80 on the Internet?
> That's...very bizarre.
>
> It's far more likely that your company's IT department is doing this
> blocking. Perhaps someone complained to them about the number of hours
> being wasted "surfing" the web.
> Have you tried asking the ISP?


Yep, they maintain it isn't so much of a company request to stop wasting
time but more rather a reduction of costs as http isn't a neccesity on
this network - and hence a cheaper connection plan. Network is mostly
used for pop3/smtp and the occasional ftp