First off, let me admit that I know nothing about how most things in my “interweb machine” work. That being said…
Everyone at work today received a memo about inappropriate internet usage. One line that got my attention read, “Be aware that we are monitoring all workstations.” How is this possible? To what extent can they monitor? I tend to have the SDMB open on my computer for long periods of time at work while I’m doing something else. Should I be concerned that they have a log somewhere that says I spent 4 hours last Thursday reading about spitting or swallowing?
Thanks
(I did a quick search and couldn’t find an answer. If this has been brought up recently, I apologize. And no, I haven’t been looking at porn.)
All your internet traffic goes over your company’s network, through your company’s wires, your company’s routers, and your company’s interfaces with their upstream providers. At all of these locations, your company can monitor any traffic you send or receive. Assuming they are bothering to keep track of what network addresses are associated with whose machine, it is a very simple process to observe what kind of network activities you are engaged in. Remember also that if you have a company email account, all that email sits on their server, waiting for them to read.
On the other hand, it may simply be an empty threat. Many an IT department with the capability to monitor traffic doesn’t bother.
Be aware, also that they could simply install software on your work PC that is capable of not only recording all keystrokes you type but also providing them with a near-realtime view of your screen as you use your PC.
Basically… the question is how much they want to know.
Thanks for the input. As we are a small company without any in-house IT people, I imagine this is just another empty threat. At this point we don’t have any built in restrictions on what we view, so I think someone around here must have gotten caught in the act, so to speak.
The other thing to note is that if you open your browser and point to SDMB and then go off and do something else for four hours, the logs will not show you as having been on the site for four hours. They show what you download, not how long your browser is displaying the page.
You are aware, are you not, that the equipment and account actually belong to your employer? Look at this way: You loan me your automobile to do some work for you; however, you also inform me that I may not drive it through Sacramento. I drive through Sacramento anyway and some fool rear-ends me so bad that the car is totaled. Of course, there’s also a police report issued concerning the wreck and that’s how you find out I was actually in Sacramento. Are you going to loan me another vehicle?
Most companies allow some non-business usage of the Internet provided it doesn’t interfere with business related traffic. I don’t think lightingtool was actually abusing the resource, rather concerned that leaving a browser open to a page would make it look as if he was.
It kind of depends on how the employer defines “inappropriate”. They should provide specific examples in their policies.