Computer Privacy At Work - Comments Page 1

I believe you can't state often enough that most - if not all - of these tips can get you fired, depending on the company standards.

Hi Bob, Tourbus rider for several years now... I'm quite surprised, and disappointed, you would advise Tourbus riders to a) install software on work computers. b) attempt to circumvent or violate the Internet usage rules of their workplace.

Many companies do not allow installation of non-IT approved software on work computers. There are a lot of good reasons for this position. Licensing issues - all software installed on each computer at work is supposed to be licensed. Malware and Virus vulnerabilities, Potential performance issues.

As far as Internet usage, cruising 'inappropriate' websites at work puts the employer at risk of: sexual harassment lawsuits, union and or labor board complaints, human right commission investigations. It's work. Be an adult and play within the rules. Keep your personal life at home. Deciding to try to circumvent or go outside of your company's Internet usage rules can have serious consequences.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lou, I'm not sure you read the entire article! I did say that people should check their "company's Internet and computer usage policies to ensure you do not engage in anything that might get you fired." I also said "employees are expected to follow those policies" and "it might be the safest bet to do your recreational browsing on your computer at home." I will however add a note to the article about the potential problems of installing unauthorized software at work, thanks.

Hi Bob, Peacefire.org is an excellent resource, for admins and those who would like to stealth surf. It is most focused on school/educational blocking. It also has excellent discussion about why filtering based is flawed, and some of the non obvious dangers of it.

- The statement about web based email will prevent your mail being read is a little inaccurate. Nothing is private. That should be in most acceptable use policys. It is trival & free to use a program like VNC on every computer, which enables you to view or take over a computer screen/interface. Also a key stroke logger would do so, but it's more likley something similar to VNC would be installed anyway, as it's such a handy trouble shooting tool.

- Typically someone will try one of the top10 anonymizers, get blocked, try again etc until success. Good sysadmins will look at the list generating of hits on thier blocked sites. These are often sortable by category to make it easier. Your account is far more likey to be looked at for "Proxy Loophole" hits than normal blocked hits.

- Good workplaces should allow some personal use, at least imo. But if they don't, it is thier equipment, costs and rules.

Bob, you are disseminating bad information. Perhaps some shops with old proxy software could not track all incoming and outgoing traffic, but certainly all current proxies can. And any company that has more than a couple of people uses a proxy server. EVERY packet, incoming and outgoing, can be tracked. No matter how people want to hide their activity, if the I.S. Dept wants to (and is good enough), they can track your activity.

Most often, the I.S. Dept doesn't look at everyone, there's just too much info. BUT, if a manager requests, I.S. can provide detailed logs of your traffic. Now, most managers don't care if you do a little on-line shopping or check the news now and again. Just like they don't care if you make a personal call once in a while. But if your work is suffering, and your manager wants to make a case against you, your internet logs are one the ways she can do this.

So my only recommendation is NOT to use the internet in any way at odds with your companies internet policy.

I'm with Lou. And I did read the whole article - I just don't think it's a good idea to tell people how to cheat even if you use tag lines like the ones you added. I use my company machine for company tasks. They allow me to access a few things like banking and personal e-mail as a trade-off for not wasting hours surfing. I have full admin rights on my machine, which would make cheating dead simple, but why would I? I'm there to work and they do give me a few freedoms in exchange for not cheating.

IT departments are getting more "big-brotherish" every day, and the more people know about circumvention of policy, the tighter the IT boys will turn the screws. That ultimately will cost us those tiny freedoms we have and will result in more companies adopting what my buddy has to put up with - a daily download of a file that records every keystroke into an analysis application that looks for words and word combinations. No personal use is tolerated and he has to defend what he writes in business correspondence roughly five times a year to the geeks.

Play by the rules so they don't change 'em! They never make them better.

Hi Bob, Our company has a software that allows for "snapshots" to be taken remotely of any employee's computer screen. I've seen a printed copy of a snapshot of an email I sent to another employee. So, even if someone were to use their personal email from Yahoo, etc, doesn't mean it's still private if their employee has this same type of software. It's best to think of email as a postcard that anyone can see.

Agree with the above, it is the company's system and if they want to be hard *sses, they have that right. It might also be time to look for a better employer, as work environment counts for as much as money in employee satisfaction.

Given the choice of personal email accounts, I would choose Google simply because you are going to "google.com," not "hotmail.com" which is so obviously a personal email account.

I kind of find it amusing and bizarre that there are companies that have enough IT staff that they can spend significant resources spying on employees without good reason. I mean, if red flags go up, or a manager thinks staff is screwing around, that's one thing. But some of these responses imply the IT staff is checking on staff regularly, which is pretty frightening.

If I have a work-issued laptop computer, does that mean that the i.t. department can still monitor my internet activity while I surf the web at home? For example, I know that my IT dept can log onto my computer and remotely "take over", ie. install software or help fix a driver problem. I hate it when they do this because they just start moving my mouse around (usually while I'm on the phone with them), and there is no warning from the computer that someone is remotely accessing my desktop. Can they still do this if I am away from my desk using the computer at home?

In a way I can justify or at least understand my employer's need to monitor my youtube activity at work, but the idea of their logging my internet usage away from the office seems invasive and freaky. Is that even possible? I'm afraid to hear the answer because it's probably yes. Btw, thanks for the informative article!

EDITOR'S NOTE: They can only do so if you connect through your employer's Internet service. If you connect with your home ISP, then no.

The City of Virginia Beach (VA) uses the WebSense software that blocks web-based email providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. They even block the web-based email access provided by your home Internet provider. The IT department blocks Anonymizers, music download sites, gambling-related sites, hate-group sites (not that I have visited them), and some of the more computer-savvy websites in which work-arounds are talked about. As older computers are replaced, the IT department's grip gets tighter.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Viva la Self Employment!

I use my personal computer and plug into my company's network at work. Any way to protect myself? Is this compromising my company's security?

EDITOR'S NOTE: You should make sure your hard drive is not shared on the network. And be aware that any viruses or spyware on your PC could possibly infect other computers on the company network.

What if you work from home, but your employer pays for your DSL line. I use the router my employer provides me. I think my employer has a contract with my phone company. Can my employer still track what sites i go to? Do the phone companies provide employers information about the sites i visit? Or can my employer get infor from the router they gave me? THanks!

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'd say it's very unlikely that the phone company would provide that information to your employer.

Can my employer find out what I have been using my laptop for at home, when I connect through my own wireless network, when I return to work and plug into their network?

EDITOR'S NOTE: That depends on whether or not you share your hard drive on the network. If not, then no.

Thanks. What do you mean by sharing my hard drive on the network?

EDITOR'S NOTE: In My Computer, right-click your C: drive icon, then select Sharing. You can share (make accessible) the files on your hard drive with other computers on your home network.

I have a laptop which I use remotely from work - conecting through my own network - and I use the laptop for pleasure, as well as work. Can my employer tell what I have been doing with the laptop whilst at home, when I visit the office and connect to their network?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Only if you have "shared" your entire hard drive, and given access to your browser history. That's unlikely, but you should check the sharing and security options on the C: drive.

So as long as you use your own internet connection on the company issused laptop, they cannot view what you looked at or see what you wrote, even when you log on and it has a disclaimer about using the company computer?

EDITOR'S NOTE: That's not exactly true, as I've mentioned before. If you don't clean out your browser cache and history file, it MAY be possible for your employer to view them.

if an IT guy (he is a friend) came to my house and use my wire less internet connection with password using his laptop... can he see and check what i do online, what site i visited? after he goes home?. he have my internet password connection i am just wondering what he can see because he logged on to my internet at home using his laptop i am not sure if he got my pass word but i know he entered it to his laptop himself. thanx in advance.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Not unless your network is horribly misconfigured. But why not change your password anyway?

Ok, what if... 1. The ISP is paid for by a third party, and the router is owned by my company. I do not have to connect to a company server to get access to the internet. What information can the router record if I use a personal laptop while at work?
2. If the third party were interested, can they use any sort of program to record information about my internet activities with my personal laptop. I ask because they pay for the ISP and we share the router.
3. If the third party asked for records from the ISP would they receive the personal laptops history or all the history of all computers on the router? How is that ISP information typically broken down? Finally, does the ISP supplied information give just IP addresses or host names/website names as well?

Even if your unable to answer these questions, you've been extremely effective in explaining this topic. Thank you.

First of all I have a remote desktop with dual monitors. When I access the remote desktop, I can only work on one screen as the remote desktop does not have remote capability. I can use the second monitor, but not as part of the remote desktop connection. I can use it just as I would normally do if I did not have the remote desktop on one monitor. What I am being told from my IT department is that I am over my internet usage amount and that I have blocked sites on their report. How is this possible if I NEVER access the internet from the remote desktop connection, but only from the other monitor which is not connected to the remote desktop, but through my home internet connection. I have asked the IT Director at my company to call me, but of course he hasn't. My director knows that it is not possible that I am on the internet as much as the report says because that would reflect in my productivity. Also, the report shows that I am accessing the company's internet at times when I am not even working. No one else has access to my computer. I live alone. Any ideas what is going on here? Is it possible that in some cases, my internet access is being picked up even though it is not being accessed thru the remote desktop.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Your description of remote, local and dual leaves my head spinning. I can't make sense of which computer you're physically at, where the remote desktops are, and why a dual screen setup would even matter. But here's a thought... if you have a wireless router somewhere in the mix, perhaps unknown parties are connecting to your network due to missing or weak password on the router.

My company is completely remote (meaning that all employees work from home using company-issued laptops). My employer uses LogMeIn software, which they claim is for maintenance and repair. I do not have to log in to a corporate server; all of my work is performed locally, through my own home internet and router.

My Question: What exactly can my employer track?

Since I leave my computer on almost all the time, can they determine what time I start/end my work day (i.e. am active/inactive on my PC)? Can they track my website history? What else might they be tracking?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If someone can log in to your computer via LogMeIn, then it's just like they are sitting at your desk. They have access to EVERYTHING you do.

I am unclear as to whether my employer (a government office) can track or see what I am doing on my home computer if I am connecting to my home computer via Remote Desktop.

I don't see how this is possible. I am sure that if they wanted to look for it they can tell that I have a remote desktop connection active, but that's about it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I agree.