Office Websense blocks TBHP.

Zappo · 5th April 2006, 16:29

Mod Note: Please refer to our FAQ entry for the same. Might just solve the issue

Our office proxy uses websense for filtering out various sites. This is mainly done using generic descriptions. TBHP also gets blocked as websense sternly says that "Forums and Message Boards are not allowed". Guys, could not we do something about this?

Its driving me nuts. Something needs to be done about this. Can not we do something so that TBHP does not fall under the generic description of Message Boards and Forums? Basically can we change the description so that it stops from getting caught? I know this can done as inspite of being able to block most of the mail sites (message - Category Webmail is not allowed) I have seen some sites like bluebottle.com and other such mail sites do manage to evade the websense. Obviously they describe themselves differently or else do not describe themselves at all. GTO... ru listening

Zappo · 5th April 2006, 18:18

Hmmm... no ideas yet!

sinner · 5th April 2006, 18:30

my office people keep blockin sites... i just pray that some day they don'e block Team Bhp...

Zappo · 5th April 2006, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinner

my office people keep blockin sites... i just pray that some day they don'e block Team Bhp...

exactly!

that is why i wanted to know whether it is not possible to remove that description of TBHP which lets websense (and similar other softwares) to categorize the site as Message Boards and Forums.

freakrz · 5th April 2006, 18:42

Try Going through this site..its like a proxy ... http://anonymouse.org/..but i guess they would have even blocked such sites..if they r clever enough....

jkdas · 5th April 2006, 18:45

I doubt

It will kill its googlable ability I guess.

Zappo · 5th April 2006, 18:46

Oh all those old tricks do not work anymore nowadays! All sites categorized as "Proxy Avoidance" are anyhow blocked.

I think only way out is if the definition/categorization of the site can be changed... GTO will be able to tell whether that can be done. There are a few mail sites which manage to avoid the filter... I understand that they are configured in a way that does not let the Websense proxy categorize them as Webmail (a blocked category).

Zappo · 5th April 2006, 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkdas

I doubt

It will kill its googlable ability I guess.

But google's way of finding and indexing sites is a very complex way.... Just mere categorization does nothing. In fact predicting how they do it is a big business in itself.

And the best thing is that the mail sites that I found open here inspite of the tough filter (bcoz of a different/no category than Webmail) were actually found through Google... So google did find them

GTO · 5th April 2006, 19:02

Zappo

Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done since the web address of every Team-BHP page has the word forum in it. For example, this threads address is http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets/11999-office-websense-blocks-tbhp.html

Even if we change the description, it will still be blocked by websense.

GTO

sbasak · 5th April 2006, 19:21

Better you approach your system administrators and try to make them understand that team-bhp is not a conventional chat side. I know it is tough, but if those guy themselves somehow develop addiction to team-bhp, most probably they will lift the filter

jkdas · 5th April 2006, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbasak

Better you approach your system administrators and try to make them understand that team-bhp is not a conventional chat side. I know it is tough, but if those guy themselves somehow develop addiction to team-bhp, most probably they will lift the filter

yah, educate them

and tell that you dont browse teh site more than 10min daily. hehe

pratheesh · 5th April 2006, 22:21

TRY browsing through webproxies.......might help sometimes...if not please report....here are some proxies....
http://www.nodeproxy.com/
http://www.browseatwork.com/
http://proxykey.com/
http://www.fsurf.com/
http://www.daveproxy.co.uk/
http://www.tntproxy.com/
http://www.topproxies.com/index.php?cat=Proxy
http://www.dzzt.com/
http://www.boredatschool.net/
http://workbrowse.com/
http://www.browseatschool.net/
http://www.browseatwork.net/
http://www.proxydrop.com/
http://www.proxytastic.com/
http://www.alienproxy.com/
http://www.mrnewguy.com/
http://www.proxyfoxy.com/
http://www.foxyproxy.net/
http://www.freewebproxy.org/
http://www.cloakie.com/
http://demonproxy.com/
http://www.myspaceproxy.com/

Zappo · 6th April 2006, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by pratheesh

TRY browsing through webproxies.......might help sometimes...if not please report....here are some proxies....
http://www.nodeproxy.com/
http://www.browseatwork.com/
http://proxykey.com/
http://www.fsurf.com/
http://www.daveproxy.co.uk/
http://www.tntproxy.com/
http://www.topproxies.com/index.php?cat=Proxy
http://www.dzzt.com/
http://www.boredatschool.net/
http://workbrowse.com/
http://www.browseatschool.net/
http://www.browseatwork.net/
http://www.proxydrop.com/
http://www.proxytastic.com/
http://www.alienproxy.com/
http://www.mrnewguy.com/
http://www.proxyfoxy.com/
http://www.foxyproxy.net/
http://www.freewebproxy.org/
http://www.cloakie.com/
http://demonproxy.com/
http://www.myspaceproxy.com/

Hey pratheesh thanx a lot for the list.. .most of them i was even aware of. Unfortunately most of these are also blocked... except for the proxytastic.com Again it gets past because the description category is not Proxy Avoidance. However it does not let POST to go through and hence I can not log into tbhp using this proxy :(

Hey GTO... the Websense does not seems to look into the URL words, I think. I just now tried Pratheesh's list. While all got caught as "Proxy Avoidance" the one described above actually sneaked through the websense. And it has the word proxy in it. So I am guessing that the description change should be able to make it past the websense.

@JKD: Yaa mannn... and they will immediately believe me and decide to change the policies

I am sure of that... haa haa haaa.

jkdas · 6th April 2006, 20:52

Get Hutch or Airtel of whichever has GPRS. Get a nice mobile with big screen.

SLK · 6th April 2006, 21:02

And.. HTTP tunneling?...
I think it can't be blocked... but can be detected....
and if detected...
you might not need to face websense anymore.

5th April 2006, 16:29	#1
Zappo Team-BHP Support Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 5,922 Thanked: 2,699 Times	Office Websense blocks TBHP. Mod Note: Please refer to our FAQ entry for the same. Might just solve the issue Our office proxy uses websense for filtering out various sites. This is mainly done using generic descriptions. TBHP also gets blocked as websense sternly says that "Forums and Message Boards are not allowed". Guys, could not we do something about this? Its driving me nuts. Something needs to be done about this. Can not we do something so that TBHP does not fall under the generic description of Message Boards and Forums? Basically can we change the description so that it stops from getting caught? I know this can done as inspite of being able to block most of the mail sites (message - Category Webmail is not allowed) I have seen some sites like bluebottle.com and other such mail sites do manage to evade the websense. Obviously they describe themselves differently or else do not describe themselves at all. GTO... ru listening Last edited by GTO : 21st November 2013 at 11:56. Reason: Adding link to FAQ entry :)
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 18:18	#2
Zappo Team-BHP Support Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 5,922 Thanked: 2,699 Times	Hmmm... no ideas yet!
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 18:30	#3
sinner BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Thane - Mumbai Posts: 432 Thanked: 73 Times View My Garage	my office people keep blockin sites... i just pray that some day they don'e block Team Bhp...
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 18:42	#5
freakrz BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Visakhapatnam Posts: 176 Thanked: 51 Times View My Garage	Try Going through this site..its like a proxy ... http://anonymouse.org/..but i guess they would have even blocked such sites..if they r clever enough....
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 18:45	#6
jkdas Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Thiruvananthapu Posts: 9,687 Thanked: 1,492 Times View My Garage	I doubt It will kill its googlable ability I guess.
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 18:46	#7
Zappo Team-BHP Support Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 5,922 Thanked: 2,699 Times	Oh all those old tricks do not work anymore nowadays! All sites categorized as "Proxy Avoidance" are anyhow blocked. I think only way out is if the definition/categorization of the site can be changed... GTO will be able to tell whether that can be done. There are a few mail sites which manage to avoid the filter... I understand that they are configured in a way that does not let the Websense proxy categorize them as Webmail (a blocked category).
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 19:02	#9
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,512 Thanked: 300,696 Times View My Garage	Zappo Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done since the web address of every Team-BHP page has the word forum in it. For example, this threads address is http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets/11999-office-websense-blocks-tbhp.html Even if we change the description, it will still be blocked by websense. GTO
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 19:21	#10
sbasak BHPian Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: CCU-LTN Posts: 608 Thanked: 14 Times	Better you approach your system administrators and try to make them understand that team-bhp is not a conventional chat side. I know it is tough, but if those guy themselves somehow develop addiction to team-bhp, most probably they will lift the filter
	() Thanks

5th April 2006, 22:21	#12
pratheesh BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Omnipresent Posts: 49 Thanked: 0 Times	TRY browsing through webproxies.......might help sometimes...if not please report....here are some proxies.... http://www.nodeproxy.com/ http://www.browseatwork.com/ http://proxykey.com/ http://www.fsurf.com/ http://www.daveproxy.co.uk/ http://www.tntproxy.com/ http://www.topproxies.com/index.php?cat=Proxy http://www.dzzt.com/ http://www.boredatschool.net/ http://workbrowse.com/ http://www.browseatschool.net/ http://www.browseatwork.net/ http://www.proxydrop.com/ http://www.proxytastic.com/ http://www.alienproxy.com/ http://www.mrnewguy.com/ http://www.proxyfoxy.com/ http://www.foxyproxy.net/ http://www.freewebproxy.org/ http://www.cloakie.com/ http://demonproxy.com/ http://www.myspaceproxy.com/
	() Thanks

6th April 2006, 20:52	#14
jkdas Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Thiruvananthapu Posts: 9,687 Thanked: 1,492 Times View My Garage	Get Hutch or Airtel of whichever has GPRS. Get a nice mobile with big screen.
	() Thanks

6th April 2006, 21:02	#15
SLK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: DL XX XX XXXX Posts: 1,634 Thanked: 1,011 Times	And.. HTTP tunneling?... I think it can't be blocked... but can be detected.... and if detected... you might not need to face websense anymore.
	() Thanks