IM over corporate firewall?

[Gurm]

Ok, Julie works for a big company with a pretty restrictive firewall. Used to be they had a rule allowing through MSN messenger, but they nixed that when corporate decided that they should use "sametime", a chat client for Domino/Notes. Now "sametime" used to interface with AIM, until the AIM folks got bitchy.

So now Julie is off IM semi-permanently. It's very frustrating.

She doesn't have install rights for her PC, so I had her just bring in Trillian on a CD. None of the protocols would connect, leading me to think that the only ports open on her machine are the traditional web/ftp ports (80/8080/etc.)

Additionally, running the web clients for the major chat programs works, but only for about 10 minutes - the firewall also has a session timeout thing going on.

Anyone know a chat client that will let you run over those ports? We're getting tired of having her fire up the web IM every 10 minutes.

Or can I just point the Yahoo plugin from trillian at one of those ports on an alternate server, etc.? I honestly haven't fiddled with these clients in a while.

Or maybe there's some proxy I could run here at home on port 80? Anyone?

[Fat Tone]

You could just let her get on with her job!

(Sorry, only joking, couldn't resist )

Seems there an increasing number of threads with the 'how do I get around these restrictions' theme.

[High_Jumbllama]

Don't most chat clients auto-reconnect?

[Sasq]

http://forums.miranda-im.org/showthread.php?t=4477&highlight=web+proxy

any use?

maybe some general tips here

http://forums.miranda-im.org/showthread.php?t=5361&highlight=web+proxy

[MultimediaMan]

There is a damn good reason Corporations don't run consumer type IM services; Read to find out why here.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2001 requires ALL electronic communications originating on Corporate-owned machines to be logged and archived. The penalties for non-compliance are severe.

I'm shocked she even has a CD-ROM in her workstation.

[Sasq]

and suddenly I am reminded why I don't live in that great country of yours

half of my co-workers are off site, JW is only one of them. without multiple IM's to fall back on, work would grind to a halt

[TransformX]

ICQ web version (flash): http://www.icq.com/download/icq2go/
There's also a web version of AIM ad YIM afaik. Some have both Flash/Java versions that use different ports.

[TransformX]

and suddenly I am reminded why I don't live in that great country of yours

I've been working under Sarbanes-Oxley regulations for over a year, there's Enron and friends to thank for those regulations. I wouldn't be suprised to see Eurpoe and later the rest of the world adopting part of them as well.

[Jammrock]

For ICQ I use Trillian on port 443. Use the IP address of the log on server, not the DNS name (a lot of coroporate firewalls block the name, not the IP). I use: 64.12.161.185. Works like a champ.

You could try the same trick with MSN, but my work doesn't block MSN, so I've never tried it.

[Sasq]

I've been working under Sarbanes-Oxley regulations for over a year, there's Enron and friends to thank for those regulations. I wouldn't be suprised to see Eurpoe and later the rest of the world adopting part of them as well.

we have an internal rule about not using p2p software.
last I checked, at our size biz, there are no document retention rules regarding electronic exchanges - email et al, of course all financial records need to be kept dating back to the Jurasic, but thats another story.

*amusing going into a customers store room, and pulling financial records off the shelf dating back to 1966

[agallag]

http://webmessenger.msn.com

[Wombat]

Does gTalk via the gmail website work?

[Jessterw]

There is a damn good reason Corporations don't run consumer type IM services; Read to find out why here.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2001 requires ALL electronic communications originating on Corporate-owned machines to be logged and archived. The penalties for non-compliance are severe.

I'm shocked she even has a CD-ROM in her workstation.

Sarbanes-Oxley, as I understand it, applies more towards financial systems/divisions/firms than to companies in general or as a whole. Nevermind that it only applies to publicly-traded and IPO-preparing companies.

Having read through it previously I obviously overlooked any sections specifically requiring the archival of ALL electronic communications.

Also, wasn't the act signed in 2002 and not 2001?

I know a number of companies that allow the use of specific consumer type IM services, mainly MSN given the ability to tie-into both public and internal systems. A number also use Jabber-based clients, which of course are not necessarily consumer-level.

Not saying I don't see the reasoning behind blocking IM-traffic in general, given that most people don't need to utilize those services (ignoring any internal usage). If there is a need for external communication via IM then companies can make the necessary provisions for such.

[MultimediaMan]

There are certain types of corporations which fall under the authority of S-O; I don't remember what chapter Corporations, exactly. S-O also deals a bit with with IT Security.

Court rulings have pretty much made all Electronic Correspondence subject to Document Retention and Protection under S-O.

IM's at work, under the letter of the law, should be retained, since it originated on a corporate machine.

Then there is the matter of PCI compliance....

Back On Topic:

Gurm, if Julie worked where I do, she would be very likely be coached for merely attempting to install a piece of unapproved third party software. Most every place I have worked, installing unapproved software is a Big No-No. I almost got into trouble for putting Firefox on a production system for alpha testing a 3rd. parties' Web Solution and I'm a developer and a Domain Admin. Actively attempting to circumvent network firewall protections is also a Big No No wherever you go, and could be viewed as illegal activity. I don't know what her company policies are regarding computer usage, but I'd read then before even thinking about posting on this subject again.

[dbdg]

Gurm, if Julie worked where I do, she would be very likely be coached for merely attempting to install a piece of unapproved third party software. Most every place I have worked, installing unapproved software is a Big No-No. I almost got into trouble for putting Firefox on a production system for alpha testing a 3rd. parties' Web Solution and I'm a developer and a Domain Admin. Actively attempting to circumvent network firewall protections is also a Big No No wherever you go, and could be viewed as illegal activity. I don't know what her company policies are regarding computer usage, but I'd read then before even thinking about posting on this subject again.

Were not allowed to install anything on our machines at work, not that that stops me though. we are also not allowed to use any webmail apps, again not a problem for me, they don't block webmail.mydomain.com

We're slowly upgrading to Lotus 6.5, once we do we will be able to use the built in IM, or so we've been told.