Last Updated on September 23, 2024
Ninja Proxy Facebook Access
Yes, I know it is addictive, yes, I know you love to spend hours on there – which is probably the reason Facebook is blocked at your work. I did some work last year on a content filter at a medical company – although we did not block anything, we simply monitored the amount of time users spent on different sites. The amount of time some people spent on Facebook, MySpace and Ebay was simply incredible – one young lady was spending over 30 hours a week regularly on these websites!!! Which is not bad for a 35-hour contract of employment, and we didn’t even count those who used a Facebook proxy.
The idea of monitoring the web sites people used and for how long was obviously to help build a solid case for blocking them. You see the company HAD quite a relaxed Internet Usage Policy and they were also quite happy to allow people to browse what they wanted (within reason) during breaks and after work. However, management were shocked at the amount of time people were actually spending on these sites, after all it didn’t seem like they had much time left for actual work.
So, we ended up blocking ….
Now for ordinary people who just want to keep in touch or check in with friends occasionally this can be a bit annoying. So, I want to tell you a bit about how websites are normally blocked within a corporate network. However, if you are thinking of circumventing them, then first of all though you check your employment and internet use policies – if there’s stuff in there about not using the internet for personal use etc, etc and phrases like subject to disciplinary actions APPEAR – then you’re probably best waiting until you get home. Accessing web sites that your company have specifically decided to block is likely to get you into trouble – but hey that’s your choice.
Facebook Blocked by Firewall – Using A Web Proxy
The very simplest way to block access to a website is just by using a proxy or firewall combination. Here you can just create a single blacklist of websites which will not be allowed through. So for instance, in this case, we might-have the URL – www.facebook.com listed, perhaps the IP address of the Facebook servers or maybe both. All internet traffic will go through the firewall or proxy so when you request any websites in this list you just get sent to a pre-prepared page instead (usually a warning or information page).
This is the way everyone used to do this, although it’s pretty easy to get round now. If you look on the internet about ways to access Facebook at work or school, you’ll find that the usual suggestion is to use an external proxy (they’ll often have stupid names like shadow proxy or something like that!) What happens here is you go to a proxy website, then type in your URL (e.g., Facebook) into the web proxy, which then fetches the page and displays it in a little frame for you. From your site you are communicating with the proxy server (not Facebook) and so the Firewall does not block your request.
In MOST places this does not work anymore for a variety of reasons, however these are the main ones:
- The proxy sites are themselves blocked by the firewall
- Firewalls only allow access through the company proxy (which will not allow a proxy chain).
- Most companies now use more sophisticated filters which will look inside the network packet for the blocked site. Meaning using just a proxy won’t work.
If your company does not bother with these restrictions, then you may be able to use the web proxies to access sites online but most simply won’t work. In fact if your company network is that insecure then you may actually find a free online proxy and surf directly through it (instead of through frames in a web proxy). Just search for some free proxies, find their IP address and input the address into your browser under the screen below which you can find under Internet Options / Connections / LAN settings or something like that.
Here you relay all your web requests directly through the external proxy which is normally quicker and you shouldn’t have advertisements and little frames added to your browsing session. If you find a fast enough proxy then you may not even notice the difference in speed from normal surfing.
Remember this only works in environments that have limited security settings so check it out before hand. Most places you won’t be able to even modify those settings in Internet Explorer (there’s ways around this little problem as well but that’s for another post).
Facebook Blocked By Content Filter
This is by far the most difficult scenario to bypass as content filters actually look at the data in each network packet. So even if you are using a proxy to relay your request to a blocked site like Facebook, then the content filter will still see the url in your data. So not only do you need the protection of a proxy server, but you also need some way to stop the filter reading the contents of your web requests too.
The solution is encryption, if you encrypt your connection nobody can see anything except the IP address of the server you are accessing. To do this you need to set up either your own remote VPN or you use a trusted service like Identity Cloaker which encrypts everything by default anyway. Of course, Identity Cloaker is a paid service but if you just want to get round a Facebook block Then you’re in luck as the demo version is available for free which actually allows access to Facebook!
Ninja Proxy Facebook Access Demonstration
See this video – Facebook Blocked
Click on the graphic to go to the download page, use the demo account and you can connect through a secure encrypted tunnel to-any of Identity Cloaker’s servers and effectively change your IP address at will. Through this you can surf through all of the most sophisticated content filters and secure infrastructures. This version is only the demonstration so it will only work with a specific list of websites – Facebook and Twitter Both are both currently on the allowed list.
So, if Facebook is Blocked and you want a solution – there you have it. i did mention this earlier but remember if you’re sitting at your desk and someone sees you accessing Faceboo0k then you might have some problems. They’re certainly going to know you’ve BYPASSED Their filter!!! So be aware of you company policy. This method will also work in the many countries which -have Facebook Blocked and filtered as well. There are quite a few other sites allowed in the demo modes which have been blocked in countries across the world – such as Blogger, Twitter, Squidoo and Wikimedia for instance. If you want to use it for accessing –other websites like BBC iPlayer , Hulu, Pandora etc, etc. which are normally restricted by location – then you’ll need to upgrade your subscription any problems ask the Identity Cloaker guys. I like watching loads of stuff, which is blocked where I am, including some of the Australian and Canadian TV channels normally inaccessible from the UK.
Anyway, hope this helps people and do not get in to-any trouble!!
Hi, thanks for the post really useful. My problem is that I have no admin access at all on my work pc so can’t access any settings or install software. Any ideas?
Yep if you can’t install the full version, there’s a cut down version which you can run from a memory stick. This is the download link, http://www.identitycloaker.com/download/IDC_Portable_Setup.exe you can get the login details from the free demo page on the main Identity Cloaker site. It requires no administrative access, as long as you’re not blocked from the USB ports.
Just tried this using the demo mode and it worked for me !! Is there a time limit on the demo, I only need to access Facebook.
Jacklyn – that’s great thanks for the comment. No the only limitation for the demo mode is the sites you can use it to visit. If you just want it for Facebook there’s no point upgrading.
Hi, I tried to put my buddy’s proxy server in the configuration screen you mentioned above but it’s all greyed out. Any ideas why and what I can do about it?
Hi, this is how most environments control access to proxies. The settings are probably being deployed by Windows GPOs (group policy objects). It’s pretty difficult to override unless you have local administrator access to your pc. If you do then start the management console (mmc) and try and override the settings in local security policy, changing your DNS servers will also block GPO functionality but may break other settings that are needed for your computer to work. Probably the easiest method is to install another browser as it’s unlikely that these will have the same restrictions as the internet explorer ones.
Facebook is blocked in my country, how would this allow me access? How does it bypass the blocks I mean…
Identity Cloaker bypasses the two main blocks that countries (and companies use). Firstly it hides the url and IP address of facebook so any systems don’t know you’re trying to access the site. Secondly it encrypts all your data so that content filters can’t check you’re trying to access Facebook.
Wow spending 30 hours a week on social media is a heck of a lot. Can they analyse to that extent what you are doing online?
Well the filter and analysis program I was using (won’t say the version) was far from perfect. The problem is that people sometimes leave browser windows open in the background, and with a self updating site like Facebook it looks like the page has been active. So you could open Facebook in the morning, and it sits ignored in a tab on your browser and it looks like you’ve been using it all day!
I only need this to access Facebook and it works great 🙂
Is there any benefit in upgrading to the paid version for me ?
Well it’s a terrific security program which keeps your connection safe. But if you just need something to access Facebook – just stick with the demo mode, there’s no need to upgrade.
Hi two questions please?
1) Apart from the url restriction, does the demo version have any other restrictions?
2) I don’t think any traffic in our network can bypass the company proxy, certainly none I’ve tried work – any ideas,
Margherita Mike
Hi Mike,
1) No it’s fully functional apart from the limited number of urls you can visit.
2) It’s very probable that the only web traffic allowed out is through the IP addresses of your internal proxy, it’s a common network configuration. What you need to do is use the ‘Local proxy’ setting and get Identity Cloaker to send it’s traffic through the proxy too, you just need to enter the details and your network username and password. If it’s a windows domain – try your windows login it should be enough to authenticate if the network uses the active directory.
theninja
Hi Gert,
No at the moment the demo version enables Facebook, so if that’s all you need – don’t bother subscribing there’s no need.