Using RSS feeds to Bypass Web Access Restrictions
Posted by William Brant on Tue, May 10, 2011 @ 04:40 PM
If you happen to be in an organization the restricts your ability to access websites. This blog wills how you how to use RSS feeds access those block webiste categores so you can get "fix". This blog specifically shows how to gain access to news websites like cnn or googles top news.
This methodology was tested using novell groupwise against a environment secured with a CyberRoam www.cyberoam.com (UTM) Unified Threat Management device.
While it was only tested in this environment it should work with other web filtering products.
Overview
This solution works by using RSS feeds in combination with clouded/hosted Novell Groupwise environment. The methodology outlined below shows how I was able to use a RSS feed to view the Google “top news“ from within A Cyberoam protected environment.
The first step in the process to get together a list of RSS feed links. I have included the links for both google and cnn below for convenience.
The next step is to setup the RSS feeds in the Groupwise client. This is accomplished on the folders by right clicking and select New RSS Feed
Once you select new RSS feed you will need to fill in the source , foldername and description
- Set the source to the google top news RSS feed referenced above
- Set the Folder Name to TopNews
- Set the Description to Google Top News
Set the Update Frequency to 15 Minutes
Select the following
- Remove entries when deleted from the server
- Download the entire Page with each item
- trust HTML images from this feed
Click on the OK button.
Once you have completed this step you will be able to access the news from either you Groupwise Web access page or from your Groupwise Client.
Now you can have your daily news available at your finger tips regardless of whether you are inside or outside a enironment that is restricted by a web filtering appliance.