Internet monitoring at work?

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
6,192
Hey, how can you tell if your boss is monitoring your internet activity at work? Is there a way to tell if they've put some kind of spyware on your Mac to track? Am I paranoid? Wait... what was that. I think I hear something... they're watching me. Shhhhhhhh. :eek:

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It is very possible that your computer actions at work are being monitered. The best bet is just to assume that everything you do on a machine owned by the company is being watched by someone. Just don't do anything you shouldn't be and you won't have a problem.

A good way to check is if any pages are blocked that you know to be otherwise accessible.
 
where's the server? ask your tech guy. Oh right you said Mac. You may never live long enough to see a tech guy.

any internet stuff you do from your work station is being monitored. the whole of your net comings and goings can be monitored. firewall software at the server plus all the other goodies tech has at their disposal will copy and archive all the e-mail, web sites etc. in perpetuity, for every user. Not so much you're being watched but if for some reason they want to look further at your net meanderings they can show you printouts of everything.

It feels like an invasion of privacy, but corporations don't care about your privacy. The answer is to work in the tech dept. Especially a Mac tech because you almost never run into Mac savvy bosses.

Bottom line: don't piss off the bosses wench or they'll be spending the weekend going through the printouts.

I'm being monitored here on this Forum. Hiya Guys!
 
I agree, its more likely than not that you are being monitored at work.

The reason is twofold:

Firstly theres a widely held completely wrong belief that if you stop people looking at recreational sites at work you make them work harder. Reality is if you block someones ebay access they will work less hard for you because you are sending the impression you dont trust them. Responsibility = trust = motivation

Secondly the all pervasive 'cover your ass' culture. Say someone looks at some porn/ violence/ religious site at work and some goon there gets offended and complains they could sue the company for exposing them to offensive material in the workplace and not taking reasonable precautions to protect them from it. Web monitoring and web filtering are percieved to be reasonable precautions for covering the company ass.

In certain countries there are also legal requirements to archive all email for a certain period.

While you can check if pages are being blocked by trying to access something to trigger a blocked message, as an IT manager you dont have to block the pages, you can just have the web filtering software alert you if someone acceses the page and still allow the access.

Save anything that could be seen as inappropriate for the workplace until you get home, unless you want the reports to start coming out when theyre laying people off and are looking for an excuse to not pay redundancy...

I dont look at BF or *any* knife sites, weapon sites, 'adult' sites etc at work. I also dont open any personal emails on the webmail front end of my personal email at work unless I already know whats in them.

The other thing to remember is its also possible to see unencrypted passwords, and even encrypted ones with remote access/ keylogging software. I never log onto Internet banking at work, the last thing I want is some guy being made redundant from the It department looking to get his own back and watching for things like internet banking passwords.

To answer your initial question, as has already been mentioned web filtering is typically performed on a proxy server so there is no way of checking your machine locally, its nothing to do with that. Popular web filtering server software is Websense, popular email server filtering software is MIMEsweeper, but there are several other manufacturers.
 
In 1995, at the place I worked before retiring, one of the female employees on the second floor was fired for spending 4 hours one day on a web site titled "How To Give The Best B.J."

Apparently her boss was not impressed.

In this day and age, I would be very surprised if employers were NOT monitoring your computer.
 
Thats nothing. At school you look at anything and you get in trouble. They can tell what you typed and everything. Or so they say........
 
fulloflead said:
Hey, how can you tell if your boss is monitoring your internet activity at work?
Click to expand...
Ask him (or her) if you are being monitored...If you get the wrong answer, knock him (or her) out, and look for another job.:D.
 
fulloflead said:
Hey, how can you tell if your boss is monitoring your internet activity at work? Is there a way to tell if they've put some kind of spyware on your Mac to track? Am I paranoid? Wait... what was that. I think I hear something... they're watching me. Shhhhhhhh. :eek:

.
Click to expand...

Their computer. Their office. Their internet connection. Their time. Their money. Their potential liability. Their right to do whatever they want I guess.

On the other hand, most companies allow some personal access to the internet. Many have specific guidelines. If they don't allow it, well nobody is making you cash those paychecks.
 
I wouldn't check my email at work unless my ISP offered SSL access to it. And I don't just mean for protecting the password through web-based email.

If you have Windows XP Pro at home, you may be able to set up Remote Desktop and connect from work and surf the web from your home machine. All they'll see is encrypted traffic. I'm sure you can get secure remote access programs for Mac OS X as well.
 
Ryan8 said:
I wouldn't check my email at work unless my ISP offered SSL access to it. And I don't just mean for protecting the password through web-based email.

If you have Windows XP Pro at home, you may be able to set up Remote Desktop and connect from work and surf the web from your home machine. All they'll see is encrypted traffic. I'm sure you can get secure remote access programs for Mac OS X as well.
Click to expand...

He-he. That's an interesting idea.

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Here (in Finland) it is illegal for anyone, including your employer, to monitor your email without a court order (which requires suspicion of a serious crime). It is considered the same as your snailmail, and both are pretty seriously protected.
 
Ryan8 said:
I wouldn't check my email at work unless my ISP offered SSL access to it. And I don't just mean for protecting the password through web-based email.

If you have Windows XP Pro at home, you may be able to set up Remote Desktop and connect from work and surf the web from your home machine. All they'll see is encrypted traffic. I'm sure you can get secure remote access programs for Mac OS X as well.
Click to expand...

If they have a keylogger installed they would see your login passwords, even if they were over an encrypted connection, unless you used a one time password server like RSA token exchange or something...
 
Badbunny said:
Here (in Finland) it is illegal for anyone, including your employer, to monitor your email without a court order (which requires suspicion of a serious crime). It is considered the same as your snailmail, and both are pretty seriously protected.
Click to expand...


If only the rest of the world were so civil liberty minded rather than being ruled by business
 
jackknife said:
female employee on the second floor was fired for spending 4 hours one day on a web site titled "How To Give The Best B.J."

Apparently her boss was not impressed..
Click to expand...

ahahah
you have no idea how this sounds :p
 
fulloflead said:
Hey, how can you tell if your boss is monitoring your internet activity at work?

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Click to expand...

Not only the sites you visit, but your E-MAILS, including web-based e-mails like hotmail and yahoo.

How do I know? Because my boss told me once after some sexual e-mails I exchanged with a coworker.

Your best bet is to keep it work related only, and this will only make your off-work internet activities even sweeter, in addition to keeping you employed. :D
 
"Their computer."

yours and your family's asses always on the line when these thieves give an ape like GWB $2000 a plate for dinner.

"Their office"

notice they're the ones standing across the street without a word to staff when a real bomb scare is called in because someone they screwed has too much time on their hands

"Their internet connection"

as long as a member of the family is running the servers and even that doesn't always work.

"Their time"

it's always their time. the time wasted by their bumbling, ineffective, impotent, never had oral sex in their lifetimes lives

"Their money"

Chinas money now

"Their potential liability"

they are a liability

"Their right to do whatever they want I guess"

maybe to you girlfella

"On the other hand, most companies allow"

it's the other way around buddy. only as long as we allow them to remain company's. the company is not protected by the constitution. the company might want to keep reciting over and over, "the company is not an individual, it has no rights"

"some personal access to the internet. Many have specific guidelines. If they don't allow it, well nobody is making you cash those paychecks."

Do the company men get anymore spineless than this?

cute pic of the cheerleader, draftdodger in the avatar. I bet you're serving your country by serving as a troop leader. teaching boys knots and cool stuff.

"one more post towards being banned from Blade Forums" which I believe is subsidised by the company"

the above was an attempt at humour and not to be taken literally. and if you don't understand irony tough.
 
hey there fredericktoo,,,,


hmmm... crude remarks about sex, insulting me repeatedly and then trying to brush it off as humor and (as he has done in other posts) implying he wouldn't care about being banned....

No, I don;t think that is enywhere near enough to get you banned. But clicking

here

adds you to my ignore list. Much simpler.
 
fredricktoo said:
"Their computer."

yours and your family's asses always on the line when these thieves give an ape like GWB $2000 a plate for dinner.

"Their office"

notice they're the ones standing across the street without a word to staff when a real bomb scare is called in because someone they screwed has too much time on their hands

"Their internet connection"

as long as a member of the family is running the servers and even that doesn't always work.

"Their time"

it's always their time. the time wasted by their bumbling, ineffective, impotent, never had oral sex in their lifetimes lives

"Their money"

Chinas money now

"Their potential liability"

they are a liability

"Their right to do whatever they want I guess"

maybe to you girlfella

"On the other hand, most companies allow"

it's the other way around buddy. only as long as we allow them to remain company's. the company is not protected by the constitution. the company might want to keep reciting over and over, "the company is not an individual, it has no rights"

"some personal access to the internet. Many have specific guidelines. If they don't allow it, well nobody is making you cash those paychecks."

Do the company men get anymore spineless than this?

cute pic of the cheerleader, draftdodger in the avatar. I bet you're serving your country by serving as a troop leader. teaching boys knots and cool stuff.

"one more post towards being banned from Blade Forums" which I believe is subsidised by the company"

the above was an attempt at humour and not to be taken literally. and if you don't understand irony tough.
Click to expand...

What the...

Dude. You should see a doctor. I think having that chip removed from your shoulder is an out-patient procedure with a small co-pay.

.
 
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