anonymous on the uni internet

[McCloud]

Hey guys,
so as you can tell, I am new to this forum.. before I manage to raise your cortisol levels just with the title, please bear with me. I've spent the whole day looking through the forum (which I find very useful and unique from all the other ones) and I know this topic comes up a lot. You must be sick and tired giving advice to noobs interested just in watching some decent porn on the campus.
Now to the point... I just started my studies on a university. I am living on a campus, that means all my traffic goes through the uni network. Apart from the fact that I don't like 'being watched' all the time, it is very restrictive too.
Most of my regular downloads (just small files, docs, mp3s) are going through their servers, being checked- and only then I can download them. Of course, proxies and torrenting is banned.
I am not sure about this one, but is it possible that ftp is banned too? I am doing some webdesign and administration work and I couldn't connect to some of the websites (I was able to do so via the host's cpanel online ftp client).


So my main concerns and goals are:
1. bypass the uni filtering system (whatever they use) - for websites, proxies, torrents..
2. hide my activity - in my opinion it's useless to use a proxy/vpn if they know you are using it. That's like putting a sign on your door "Do not disturb, I am jerking off"
3. hide my transffered data - it would be very suspicious if they see me downloading 2-3gb at once (even if they don't know what I am downloading).


What are my possible options? I guess the ideal way is to go for a VPN? Or maybe VPN with a proxy chain?

I must be repeating myself.Setup some box somewhere, VPS ,SSHD or whatever.Run it on port 80 or 443, outbound it almost always works.Uhm next step; nothing, you is done.I must have said this a million times by now.

This is what proxx suggested on a similar topic, but I'd need some elaboration on this.


Thanks guys
And once again, I apologize if I seem "too nooby" (I learn quickly though) I am new to this anonymity thing - in my country the ISPs don't give a shit about what you do online. But now in my current situation this is necessary.

[proxx]

Hey guys,
so as you can tell, I am new to this forum.. before I manage to raise your cortisol levels just with the title, please bear with me. I've spent the whole day looking through the forum (which I find very useful and unique from all the other ones) and I know this topic comes up a lot. You must be sick and tired giving advice to noobs interested just in watching some decent porn on the campus.
Now to the point... I just started my studies on a university. I am living on a campus, that means all my traffic goes through the uni network. Apart from the fact that I don't like 'being watched' all the time, it is very restrictive too.
Most of my regular downloads (just small files, docs, mp3s) are going through their servers, being checked- and only then I can download them. Of course, proxies and torrenting is banned.
I am not sure about this one, but is it possible that ftp is banned too? I am doing some webdesign and administration work and I couldn't connect to some of the websites (I was able to do so via the host's cpanel online ftp client).


So my main concerns and goals are:
1. bypass the uni filtering system (whatever they use) - for websites, proxies, torrents..
2. hide my activity - in my opinion it's useless to use a proxy/vpn if they know you are using it. That's like putting a sign on your door "Do not disturb, I am jerking off"
3. hide my transffered data - it would be very suspicious if they see me downloading 2-3gb at once (even if they don't know what I am downloading).


What are my possible options? I guess the ideal way is to go for a VPN? Or maybe VPN with a proxy chain?


This is what proxx suggested on a similar topic, but I'd need some elaboration on this.


Thanks guys
And once again, I apologize if I seem "too nooby" (I learn quickly though) I am new to this anonymity thing - in my country the ISPs don't give a shit about what you do online. But now in my current situation this is necessary.

lol.
VPN could work depending on them allowing it or not.
DNS tunneling might work if you can connect to upstream DNS server you can pull traffic through that, it has a theoretical limit though, its drastic but gets the job done, works on many hotspots 2, paying is lame
Most importantly you need a box to connect to, a VPS will do and can be affordable it does offer more options than just a VPN, for a rookie however that might be easier.
Make sure you have something that doesnt hold caps on amount of traffic etc.

[McCloud]

sorry for the late response...
Alright, so I tried to connect through VPN to my old school's server.. that didn't work.



Then I tried CyberGhost vpn.. which didn't connect either. So I guess they are blocking the VPN :/
I was going to try some free VPS to see if I can connect via SSH. But it's quite problematic to find a good working host. Already tried three of them and couldn't even get past the registration successfully.

[Kulverstukas]

Why don't you go to the IT department and ask about it instead of trying to circumvent their protection? it is possible that they don't really analyze any traffic, their ISP is more likely to do that. However blocking is done on the uni network that's for sure. Still though I would just go to the IT department and just about FTP and other "legal" stuff.

[McCloud]

well, yea.. I could do that. But I would need to download some torrent stuff too. Some time ago my notebook crashed and I lost a couple of important programs..


And of course this is a good opportunity to learn some new skills to maintain my privacy.

[CyberSleuth]

I'm new too. My opinion is pretty conservative. I work at an .edu. It is a rough blend of balance between protecting the infrastructure so it is available for everyone, deflecting liability, and still being able to allow students the freedom and experiences they could have from their homes. This is especially tough when it is a student resident whose home is now their residence hall room. A student who pays for a home, away from home, should be able to do what they want from that home. But edus are hammered by anyone looking to take advantage of low hanging fruit from a legality or liability perspective - aka DMCA and "bad actor nations."

I don't have any great suggestions; just one fundamental point: obfuscating your activity is different than obscuring your content. Almost every ISP can see what your doing - especially if they have deep packet inspection capability. But, "seeing" what it is you are viewing is a different level of capability that most places don't have the time or money to pull off if you use some kind of tunnel.... or encryption. Do they differentiate between what you can do on authenticated access versus any kind of "open" network? 

I'm sure I'm not saying anything a lot of people have said before.

JMO       

[McCloud]

guys, is there any free VPS provider? I tried a ton of services, but it's usually a scam - and I completely understand that (truly free doesn't exist today anymore).
I might be willing to pay for this service, but I need to test it out before, to make sure it works technically and I can get through the uni firewall at least to get a connection to the VPS.

[repair404]

Try TOR if working... Or can try "add on" on chrome name spotflux lite.. For this add on just google it you will find

[McCloud]

Try cloudatcost.com they have a VPS for 1$ a month (Or 35$ lifetime), it's not free but it's probably one of the most cheapest server providers I've found so far.

great. I'll have a look at that. 1$ is a very good deal. Thanks for that Insider.

Regarding the chrome plugin.. I cannot use that. Any VPN connections are blocked.
I found out that the default port 22 is open as well.. but I'll rather use SSH over port 443, so that they'll be less likely to notice that I use SSH tunneling.
Is there any advantage in using port 443 rather than 80? SSH should be pretty secure anyway..

Also, I assume the cloudatcost servers are based in the US? Wouldn't there be any restrictions (torrenting..) ?

[bloodgoodytjn]

I guess the ideal way is to go for a VPN?

[McCloud]

oh god, do you even read what I wrote?


VPS is the only way for me.. as Insider suggested, cloudatcost.com looks very good. I am only worried about their own restrictions, since they are based in the US (I guess).
Is here anyone that uses their services? I'd have to pre-order for the full year, so I need to make sure they don't have any issues with torrenting, for example.

[proxx]

The advantage of using port 443 instead of port 80 would be that you'd run your traffic through SSL (If it's available). SSL also know as Secure Shell is a protocol made to encrypt traffic over the internet.

Also, cloudatcost servers are based and located in a canadian datacenter

Whahahahahahaha epic.
I wanted to delete this post but its just too fucking funny.

[McCloud]

ok, thanks for the info.
Just regarding Spotflux, that was previously mentioned. I managed to use it (was connecting via a VPS), but I am not sure how (and if at all) it works. When checking online, this is what came up:



But when going to google, it opened the local google for the country where the VPS is. And it states the location at the bottom as well.



So are these proxy/vpn services actually changing anything?? Seems very unreliable to me.

[Architect]

A VPN encrypts your traffic but it doesn't hide your identity. Only way to do that is to use Tor to connect to your VPN. Of course your VPN when being used will always be the ISP and specific country you see on dnsleaktest and whatsmyip.

[McCloud]

A VPN encrypts your traffic but it doesn't hide your identity. Only way to do that is to use Tor to connect to your VPN. Of course your VPN when being used will always be the ISP and specific country you see on dnsleaktest and whatsmyip.

I am talking about Spotflux here...