My work computer uses a ‘Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client’ VPN. So, when I start the machine up, it can’t connect to my wifi at home until this program is up and running and the connection is successful.
Although we are allowed to work from home, my work has a policy whereby we are not allowed to work from abroad. I am currently in the UK. I assume that they would be able to tell using the VPN?
My question is – is it possible to use one of those VPNs currently advertised on YouTube a lot (like NordVPN), to ‘trick’ my work VPN into believing I’m in the UK – and then once that’s sorted, for the Work VPN to then kick in and connect to my workplace intranet as normal?
I’m not sure how to phrase that better… but basically could one ‘stack’ VPNs where one program is switched on first (the ‘country’ VPN), and then the second one (‘work VPN’) comes on through the connection of the first?
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Something else just came to mind. I’m pretty sure the work laptop won’t allow me to download 3rd party software. Is it possible to do the “first VPN” thing with an external device that connects to my router, and then acts as a router itself, and so I then connect to that device instead? I suppose it might appear as another wifi network, but which is actually a VPN that ensures traffic gets routed through the UK…?..
If your router is capable of doing so, having it configured to route all of your traffic through PIA/NordVPN in your home country could work, and would definitely be better than trying to install the software on your laptop directly.
It’s not perfect, and you could be caught in a number of other ways (such as the VPN being misconfigured or temporarily failing.)
More importantly, as others have mentioned, this is a bad idea. At the very least, you may break tax and data privacy laws in your home country.
I am simply amazed at how many people ask this, and they refuse to understand that there are legal repercussions if they are caught, not only BY the employer, but TO the employer as well.
Your company likely has legal ramifications/tax issues if anyone is not working within the home country.
Don’t do this. Get permission from your employer to work abroad. If they don’t grant it and you don’t like it, get a new job that will allow that.
People, stop trying to “trick” your companies.
Are you trying to get reprimanded?
If job have policy we follow policy.
Answer is… Yes. It is possible.
However not in your laptop.
You cannot run VPN on VPN.
However, solution is configure VPN in your router.
So everytime router boots up, it will connect to the location set in the router.
All the devices connected to the router will think, you are in that location.
Should you be doing it? - No. Company laptops should be used in the location allowed by company.
I believe doing this could have legal ramifications. It may be illegal for you to lie about being international, signing up for a NordVPN account, configuring the OpenVPN Client on your perimeter router by following their client step by step guide, and connecting to their US based servers that are located all across the US depending on where you want to look like you are. I don’t think it would be the ethical choice to contact NORDVPN customer service and get a recommendation on which US server to connect to to make sure it has a US based ISP, some of their IP address ranges on US servers actually belong to international ISP’s, so that’s something you don’t need to be aware of because you shouldn’t be doing anything like this
thank you
(not that it matters to anyone here, but for the record I was asking as a temporary last-ditch measure that would at most last a couple of months, and not for travelling/digital nomad reasons)
Judging by how ‘hacky’ this feels (despite it seemingly technically possible), it seems as though it is not worth the hassle. Though, I hadn’t realised (or maybe I didn’t understand your sentence) that one could install a VPN program on a router (aha yes my n00bness is showing).
Except often times they don’t actually have a policy and would just prefer you not do a thing. Been there myself.
Op literally said “my work has a policy”…
Yeah. Mine does too, though they’ve never shown me it in writing.
You can have all sorts of policies that aren’t firmly defined. (And no, I do not work for a small company)