Company-provided laptop - software that tracks use

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
Messages
1,899
Location
NY, USA, etc.
I have a work PC that was given to me when I first started employment. It was used by a few other people before me, which makes me wonder:

When I'm on break, I sometimes use the work PC to pay bills and enter secure passwords.

Is it possible for the employer (or even a previous employee) to install some kind of software that tracks keystrokes and the like? Is there any way to check?

Not really concerned, just curious.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
Is it possible for the employer (or even a previous employee) to install some kind of software that tracks keystrokes and the like? Is there any way to check?

Yes to the first question, and maybe but maybe not to the second one. Some programs can be installed in hidden folders only visible to the administrator account (and sometimes not even there).
 
My advice would be to use your own personal computer to pay bills or surf the web.
While your employer may have verbally said it was okay to use, in a legal battle your computer use could be used against you.
 
What about connecting to a company VPN with a personal computer? Can they hack into your home machine without you knowing, even if you're disconnected?
 
I've been thinking about this, too. My company issues laptops to most employees. Until recently, the help desk people would grant administrator access to just about anyone who demonstrated decent computer knowledge. But, with recent news of hacks, worms, and viruses the company decided to lock everything down. Some programs, like Chrome, can take multiple attempts to even start. I would not be at all surprised if intrusive monitoring were being practiced. Keystroke logging might be a stretch, but that could be just one more publicized data breach away.

I hope I can follow my own advice, but don't do anything on your employer's computer, or internet connection, that you would not feel 100% comfortable sharing with your employer.
 
Never, ever enter anything personal on an employers computer.
Personal and work always stay separated. I won't even place a personal call on "their" phone.
My employer monitors web activity, e-mail, downloads, word docs. Folks have been investigated for using employer provided hard/software for job searches, NSFW stuff, and hack/crack warez.
 
The company computer and data is their property so they have the right to monitor. Most companies will allow certain non business activity on your time - check their in house or MDM policy. As far as them monitoring your keystrokes, definitely not. That would expose them to privacy and intellectual property laws that could get them into serious hot water. Basically they know where you've been but not how you got there.
 
Seems simple enough.

Today for example, I worked from home and used my personal PC to connect to the company VPN and remote into my desktop at the office. Could this be a cause for concern?
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
Seems simple enough.

Today for example, I worked from home and used my personal PC to connect to the company VPN and remote into my desktop at the office. Could this be a cause for concern?


Yes, in that in any criminal or civil action involving your employer, your personal desktop could be seized.
Even using your personal phone to view emails or even your hours and pay would subject it to seizure.
 
They absolutely could use a keylogger and it's about the simplest way to monitor your usage.

I worked at a small 20 employee business and when the boss got paranoid about good people leaving she started paying $5/month for a 3rd party email service just so she could read our stuff. She could have done it for much cheaper via keylogger etc but didn't trust our in-house "IT" to set it up.

(In house IT had a high school education and thought "download" was two words.)
 
Just to point out 'one of the many problems' with using your work computer is the fact that many companies use a legitimate 'man in the middle' decryption scheme to intercept and decrypt HTTPS traffic going thru a proxy; So even if you log into your bank using and encrypted website, the traffic is IN FACT being decrypted at your company's web proxy for the purposes of inspecting and possibly logging the traffic and then reencrypted and sent to the bank; consequently your passwords and login accounts could show up in numerous log files.

Why do companies do this? No company wants an employee to have the ability to send encrypted traffic offsite without the ability to inspect it.

Don't 'think they might be' doing this, bank (no pun intended) on it.
 
Last edited:
I do IT for an agency.

The employer owned laptops have a VPN program on them to get back to the internal network.

All the traffic goes through a web filter appliance. Every webpage you visit can be audited, but we are only concerned with stuff that generates an alert, such as porn.

All pc's have an antivirus client which reports back if there are any infections on the pc.

If you are remoting into a session from your home desktop computer like a VDI session, there is no cause for worry. You are controlling a work owned desktop and that has nothing to do with your desktop pc.

Think about it, if the company installed keyloggers, why would they do that? Also who the heck has time to read keylogger data all day.
 
Many companies allow employees to use their own cell phones, tablets and computers for work purposes, instead of providing these devices. Employees like this because their work life and personal life can coexist on a single device and they can use the phone, tablet or computer of their choice.

This is often referred to as Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD. However, employees are often asked to install device management software on their devices, and are pressured into signing vague user policies that give the company the right to monitor and access, and provide on demand the devices.
 
I think of using company owned computers or phones for non-business use like the Eye of Sauron in Lord of the Rings: The Eye mostly doesn't care about what's going on as long as things are normal. But, when it wants to, the Eye sees all.

All it may take is that one guy who screws up and then the managers pull records of who has been going where online. Maybe the manager gets tasked with firing 10% of the headcount, and he needs something that will be a reasonable reason to fire w/o worrying about a lawsuit.

If you didn't buy the hardware, it ain't yours.

BSW
 
OK, I had company computers assigned to me. Always carried a personal laptop when traveling unless I had cleared usage before hand via email with accounts manager. Why accounts manager? Because I advised them that as I was putting up the $$ to travel and requesting re-reimbursement after the fact (way easier than requesting travel advance), I was going to monitor my bank account and pay bills while on travel. Always kept a copy of their reply on the machine.

Unless you have some sort of explicit permission from a higher up, just don't do it ...

Nowadays with smart phones (mine was company issued too) it's a little messier when they are on a free WiFi hot spot ... But when they are on the company plan using data minutes, don't use theirs for you ...

It's just not that hard to have a personal device around to use, and keep theirs all theirs. And mostly turned off when not actually working ...
laugh.gif
 
Last edited:
There very well could be one, I know in the EU they recently passed a law requiring then to tell employees if they are reading employees emails for the company address. Wouldn't be that far fetched to suspect they would also track their "merchandise".

From my understanding Zemana Anti-Keylogger is the best on the market to prevent keylogging. Essentially it works by encrypting your keystroke to all programs run except for the one your are actively typing on.

For tracking .. Well you could install a firewall and just block the tracker from accessing the internet.
 
Have company notebook but not allowed to have personal email on it. Have company iPad - to use personal email - must use safari. I wound up traveling with those plus my own iPad - leave email active and shop/surf on mine only.
Too much risk of phishing so expect companies to get stricter and to spy more.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top