Hi everyone,

I’m currently facing some frustrating restrictions with the public Wi-Fi at my school. It’s an open Wi-Fi network without a password, but the school has implemented a firewall (Fortinet) that blocks access to certain websites and services, including VPNs like Mullvad and ProtonVPN. This makes it difficult for me to maintain my privacy online, especially since I don’t want the school to monitor me excessively.

After uninstalling Mullvad, I tried to download it again, but I found that even a search engine (Startpage) is blocked, which is incredibly frustrating! Here’s what happened:

  • The Wi-Fi stopped working when I had the VPN enabled.
  • I disabled the VPN, but still couldn’t connect.
  • I forgot the Wi-Fi network and reset the driver, but still no luck.
  • I uninstalled the Mullvad, and then the Wi-Fi worked again.
  • I tried to access Startpage to search for an up-to-date package for Mullvad, but it was blocked.
  • I used my phone to get the software file and sent it over, but couldn’t connect.
  • I searched for different VPNs using DuckDuckGo, but the whole site was blocked.
  • I tried searching for Mullvad, but that was blocked too.
  • I attempted to use Tor with various bridges, but couldn’t connect for some unknown reason.
  • I finally settled for Onionfruit Connect, but it doesn’t have a kill switch, which makes me uneasy.

Ironically, websites that could be considered harmful, like adult content, gambling sites and online gaming sites, are still accessible, while privacy-tools are blocked.

I’m looking for advice on how to bypass these firewall restrictions while ensuring my online safety and privacy. Any suggestions or alternative methods would be greatly appreciated! (If any advice is something about Linux, it could be a Problem, since my school enforces Windows 11 only PC’s which is really really igngamblingThanks in advance for your help

edit: did some formatting

edit2: It is my device, which I own and bought with my own money. I also have gotten in trouble for connecting to tor and searching for tor, but I stated that I only used it to protect my privacy. Honestly I will do everything to protect my privacy so I don’t care if I will get in trouble.

edit 3: Thanks for the suggestions, if I haven’t responded yet, that’s because I don’t know what will happen.

    • hperrin@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 months ago

      They said they got in trouble for Tor, they didn’t say their machine was identified. Even if it was, yet again, there’s nothing suspicious about SSH traffic. SSH traffic looks like work (because it usually is).

      And I’ll ask you again, since you avoided the question, what better way is there? What would look more innocent than SSH?

      • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        I guess they magically knew it was them? And there you go again with “work.” Shadowsox has already been mentioned for randomized https traffic. Feel free to learn from the other comments.

        • hperrin@lemmy.world
          1·
          2 months ago

          I mean, they could have used their eyeballs, but we don’t know, because he didn’t say.

          Shadowsocks would work, but I feel like bare stream ciphers over TCP are a dead giveaway that you’re bypassing content restrictions. Especially if they probe that host and see it running. But, what do I know? It’s just my job five days a week.

          See: https://lemmy.world/comment/12008875