SOCKS proxy via an SSH tunnel

You are behind a restrictive firewall and you aspire to more freedom? You need to access an Intranet website located in a different environment than yours? You are far from your home country, and can’t live one minute more without your favourite TV shows, that you can’t watch because of the localisation restrictions?

You can communicate via port 22? Do you have an SSH server that could access the content you want? Then, you can use an SSH client as a SOCKS proxy and redirect the requests via an SSH tunnel. From Linux, connect like this:

$ ssh -D 1080 user@host

If you are on Windows, you can use Putty. Enter the IP address (or the name) of your remote host, then go to Connection > SSH > Tunnels and reproduce this:

Click on Add.

Then, enter the proxy parameter on your browser or system. For instance, on Firefox:

Et voilà! You are connecting through your SOCKS proxy created via your SSH connection. This took you 15 seconds, and will save your life at least many times.