Any way around blocked POP3 access on my campus?

[archcommus]

Simple question. Trying to use Outlook for Gmail.

 

[ScottMac]

Best way:

Talk to the network admins and ask for access through.

If they deny your request, then give up and get other access (dial-up, cable, DSL).

If you intend to persist, then FIRST: ask your parents how they'll feel about you getting booted from school for policy violations ... after you ignore that, think about how much fun school will be with NO network access (the more likely scenario is that they'll pull your access to everything).

Most of the folks here are network admins. They'll maybe explain to you that everything you're likey to try has been tried before, they're watching for it, you'll get caught. They might also tell you that even if they aren't allowed to completely pull your network access, they CAN severely restrict your access (to the campus, @ 56k, etc).

Talk to your network admins, maybe they'll tell you how to access your gmail.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[ktwebb]

3245 posts but you've obviously spent very little time in this particular forum. Asking this type of question will typically get virtual tomatos thrown at you. Not appreciated. What is appreciated and responded to are questions from people trying to keep punks from doing this sort of thing on their network.

 

[archcommus]

Well I'm not looking to do any hacking or to bring anyone's network down, if you think I'm that hardcore. I simply am assuming that POP3 is blocked (since Outlook doesn't work and there's nowhere to set a proxy), so I was wondering if there was an easy way to access it, or just another way to pull my email off of Gmail's servers. If it's not possible easily then I'll simply accept defeat. Of course I'll ask them about it, though.

As a last question, though, what is the reason for blocking POP3 access? I can still access my mail on the web, I don't see what dangers allowing POP3 opens up.

 

[archcommus]

Well, is ANYTHING that uses a blocked port completely out of my reach without doing some policy-breaking task? This is sort of ridiculous, I can't use the video feature of MSNM, no games connect, no POP3, pretty much nothing works but HTTP. I'm surprised AIM and NOD32 are able to connect.

 

[omarBMX]

Why is everyone getting their panties all knotted up for? The kid just wants to access his email.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Well, is ANYTHING that uses a blocked port completely out of my reach without doing some policy-breaking task? This is sort of ridiculous, I can't use the video feature of MSNM, no games connect, no POP3, pretty much nothing works but HTTP. I'm surprised AIM and NOD32 are able to connect.

Many "public" shared networks like the ones available at colleges are locked down like this. The school's network is there for students to be able to do school work. Everything else like P2P file sharing, ICQ, POP3 email, streaming video, etc. is usually blocked (I'm surprised AIM isn't blocked at your school) to keep people from using up limited - and often extremely expensive - bandwidth for things that have nothing to do with the school. The primary offenders are P2P file sharing programs, but if other ports are blocked, there's probably a reason for it (usually due to a school policy or because some idiot abused the system).

If you do need to access your GMail at school, just ask the network admins NICELY and explain to them exactly what you need it for and how much bandwidth you expect to use (i.e, is it just text email from grandma, photos and small files now and then, or do you use up your 2GB GMail limit on a regular basis). If you can give them a valid reason and don't give them any reasons to not want to be helpful (like being rude or demanding that they help you), chances are that they'll open the port(s) for you unless school policy specifically prohibits it.

 

[archcommus]

I'll have to ask them today. I can't imagine them making a specific accomodation just for me, though. Can't talk to them now, however - the place is completely flooded with students having troubles with their new laptops.

 

[okb]

My school allows you to get your POP3 email through their web mail system. I don't know how well it works as I've yet to use it, but it seems to be a nice feature. I'm assuming they block POP3 unless it's done through their email system. Might be something to look for in the meantime.

 

[zimu]

let us know what the admins say, i'd like to hear how this all plays out

 

[archcommus]

I just went down, only got to talk to a student so not much help. He just said POP3 is blocked because it's very insecure, they don't make exceptions, and his only recommendations were to use Gmail's interface, or forward all my Gmail to my GCC address (hah, yeah right, no way with a 20 meg cap).

So...Gmail's interface it is, then. Oh well.

Believe it or not, this may make me just stop using Outlook competely. My INTENT was to use Outlook to download my Gmail and to use it to "view" my GCC mail from the school's servers. So all my mail would be in one place. Then I could use the calendar for school stuff and personal stuff, and the tasks list, etc.

However, my desktop doesn't interact with their domain well, so I can't view my GCC mail correctly through Outlook (it works fine on my Tablet). Now I can't use it for Gmail either. And I decided NOT to use the Outlook calendar for school stuff anyway. So...goodbye Outlook. No need now.

 

[archcommus]

And finally, is there any way AT ALL to manually get my emails into Outlook without POP3? Before I give up completely.

 

[archcommus]

Wow, ridiculous. I asked a higher-level admin and he said they make no exceptions. I asked what the real risk of POP3 is and he said there isn't much of one and that they'll probably allow it in the future. THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST ALLOW IT NOW.

No online gaming, no POP3, AIM transfers don't work, MSNM video doesn't work, this sucks huge. Is this common on campuses?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Wow, ridiculous. I asked a higher-level admin and he said they make no exceptions. I asked what the real risk of POP3 is and he said there isn't much of one and that they'll probably allow it in the future. THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST ALLOW IT NOW.

No online gaming, no POP3, AIM transfers don't work, MSNM video doesn't work, this sucks huge. Is this common on campuses?

e-mail is a notorious transport for viruses. But blocking external pop3 access for this reason is useless if they aren't running mail based anti-virus solutions on their own servers.

They probably have to justify opening it up, get it approved locally, then get it approved up the chain of command.

DSL an cable don't have those limitations.

 

[archcommus]

It's just amazing to me why they would feel the need to block it when so many campuses don't. If those colleges don't see a risk why does mine?

At this point I really have no reserverations setting up a VPN to do what I need. If they see it and stop me only once it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. It's worth trying. I'm not even doing any P2P stuff.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: archcommus
It's just amazing to me why they would feel the need to block it when so many campuses don't. If those colleges don't see a risk why does mine?

Different admins have different priorities.

At this point I really have no reserverations setting up a VPN to do what I need. If they see it and stop me only once it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. It's worth trying. I'm not even doing any P2P stuff.

With the unparralleled goodness that is the gmail web interface, why would you want to use trash like pop3 anyhow?

 

[archcommus]

Well I use Outlook for the calendar already and like using it to store my mail, as well. I just prefer opening a program to going to a website for that. And I already have hundreds of emails stored there.

 

[Mark R]

I think their concern is that if you are receiving e-mail from an external server it may not be adequately virus scanned. A virus/worm attack on a large academic network is a disaster, so they are justified in their concern.

The other security risk of POP3 is that it sends your password in unencrypted plain text - anyone on your LAN running a network analyser can capture your password. With many people using the same password for multiple accounts - this is also a genuine problem (albeit one that is also common to web sites that require login - however, it is more difficult to scan web traffic than POP3 traffic).

I'll admit that this does seem an unusual restriction - but they probably feel it is justified, and I'm afraid you'll just have to put up with it. However, put yourself in the IT dept's place - if you unblock POP3 and the next day the entire network is floored by an e-mail virus, how would you explain this to the staff that have had their work disrupted.

 

[archcommus]

But every student here gets a Tablet PC, with Symantec Corporate pre-installed. It also auto-updates itself. Wouldn't that be sufficient protection?

I can deal with the email thing - simply download them and organize them when I return home. And I can deal with the online gaming thing, I don't play them much anyway. What really aggravates me is AIM transfers are blocked and the port video uses in MSN Messenger is blocked. Can anyone help me circumvent that? I bought it for the sole purpose of conferencing with my girlfriend.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: archcommus
But every student here gets a Tablet PC, with Symantec Corporate pre-installed. It also auto-updates itself. Wouldn't that be sufficient protection?

I can deal with the email thing - simple download them and organize them when I return home. And I can deal with the online gaming thing, I don't play them much anyway. What really aggravates me is AIM transfers are blocked and the port video uses in MSN Messenger is blocked. Can anyone help me circumvent for that? I bought it for the sole purpose of conferencing with my girlfriend.

Those restrictions are there for a reseason. Keep talking to the school and ask them how to "get around it"

Just hope you realize that you could lose internet for the year by mucking around.

 

[archcommus]

I was assuming they wouldn't really detect a VPN if very small amounts of data were being transferred through it.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: archcommus
I was assuming they wouldn't really detect a VPN if very small amounts of data were being transferred through it.

The very fact that it is a VPN can be detected even if it is only a couple of packets.

The sensors can tell if it is tunneled traffic.

But give it the ole college try though. Use port 80 or 443.

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: archcommus
I was assuming they wouldn't really detect a VPN if very small amounts of data were being transferred through it.

The very fact that it is a VPN can be detected even if it is only a couple of packets.

The sensors can tell if it is tunneled traffic.

But give it the ole college try though. Use port 80 or 443.

The only reason I'm willing is because the restrictions are massive and I'm sure a warning would precede a complete cutoff or a massive bandwidth cap. Just play dumb, they don't have clear network policies regarding this posted ANYWHERE.

But, I don't know how to still. A PM would be nice.

 

[Mark R]

The point is, the only way you are getting around it is to ask the IT dept what to do.

If you want to video conference, ask them what software they support and how to configure it. If you need to transfer files then ask them what methods are supported.

There are reasons for their restrictions - if it's not security, then it's probably bandwidth and reliability. Things like gaming, video conferencing, etc. tend to use UDP/IP rather than TCP/IP. TCP is intelligent - if your PC detects that data is backing up (because the network is congested) it automatically caps the application sending the data. UDP is not - your PC will continue sending out data at a constant rate without regard for network congestion. On a large network, this is a huge problem, and can cripple performance for people using TCP (most other purposes).

Bandwidth is expensive - they may not want to pay for people to listen to internet radio stations, play games, and video conference with their friends and relatives.

If you really need to do all this stuff, get your own cable or DSL connection. You're the boss, you can do what you like with it - no restrictions.

 

[n0cmonkey]

DSL and cable do not have these restrictions.