Question for IT guys....

[huskernation20]

What exactly can you see other employees doing on their computers?

 

I've been playing that Goalline Blitz game a lot lately at work and when I came in this morning, it was blocked. So I'm guessing they can see exactly what websites you visit and whatnot. Thanks for any help!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

They can see the websites that you visit and then block them from there. My old job blocked huskerboard.com because they thought it was game playing.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I also know some IT guys can access your computer remotely and change settings, etc.

[rawhide]

stay off the grid ( as he logs onto the net

 

j/k there are many programs that IT uses that monitor net traffic some more insidious than others. I did not log onto any sites where they could get my password, like my bank acct. and etc. , not that I don't trust a buncha geeks all hopped up on redbull.

[AR Husker Fan]

What exactly can you see other employees doing on their computers?

 

I've been playing that Goalline Blitz game a lot lately at work and when I came in this morning, it was blocked. So I'm guessing they can see exactly what websites you visit and whatnot. Thanks for any help!

It depends on what they want to monitor - not so much what that can monitor.

 

At the minimum, I would expect all IT departments to monitor both bandwidth and web sites. But the latter is often just an IP address.

 

But there is remote access software that not only puts the user's screen up on the observer's screen - it does so "silently" so that the user doesn't even know it's happening. I'd guess that, more than the IP address, you were "caught" due to bandwidth. Once they saw the usage, they then blocked the associated IP address - they probably didn't sit and watch exactly what you were doing, although they certainly can.

 

Your company should have some kind of Internet acess and usage policy. My guess is that they outline what they consider acceptable behavior; the implication is that if they say you shouldn't go to certain web sites (or use the Internet for business-only purposes), they are certainly monitoring where you are going.

[AR Husker Fan]

Forgot - moving to the Tech forum.

[bennychico11]

luckily I do the IT stuff here...but we're a small company so no one really cares anyway. I'm always on Youtube, Huskerboard, etc.

 

My girlfriend however works for a bank and they block many websites and even monitor their e-mails. She said a few people around work were getting in trouble for too much personal e-mail usage back and forth. We e-mail all the time but are just careful in what we say in the e-mails. I could care less that they are reading what I'm saying to her ('cause I'm aware they can), I just don't want her to get fired for spending too much personal time e-mailing.

[Landlord]

What AR said, the possibilities are really completely limitless, it just depends on what they want to monitor. Most companies wont bother looking at the usage records without a reason to (ie, complaints about someone looking at inappropriate sites), but then again it obviously varies from company to company. Working in IT here, we have access to all emails/site history/bandwidth levels and have a pretty solid proxy to block streaming and unnecessary things. I know a friend who worked in IT at BD and he said he would remotely shut people's computers down from time to time to update them, and could also just watch someone elses web navigating on his screen as if it were him doing it.

[huskernation20]

The weird thing about it was on Friday, I was on the game most of the morning because I own a team. All throughout the day my screen kept flickering...kind of like someone was taking pictures of my screen or something. It never does that! Then I come into work on Monday and the site is blocked under the category, "GAMES". Will I get in trouble for this or they block it and that is it?

[BIGREDIOWAN]

The weird thing about it was on Friday, I was on the game most of the morning because I own a team. All throughout the day my screen kept flickering...kind of like someone was taking pictures of my screen or something. It never does that! Then I come into work on Monday and the site is blocked under the category, "GAMES". Will I get in trouble for this or they block it and that is it?

My old job just blocked it and that was it, but it probably depends on how aggressive your company is for illegal internet usage?

[AR Husker Fan]

The weird thing about it was on Friday, I was on the game most of the morning because I own a team. All throughout the day my screen kept flickering...kind of like someone was taking pictures of my screen or something. It never does that! Then I come into work on Monday and the site is blocked under the category, "GAMES". Will I get in trouble for this or they block it and that is it?

Depends on your company's usage policy and whether they want to make an example of you for others. If the policy strictly forbids that kind of activity and there has been a lot of violations that they are getting a handle on, they may take some disciplinary action.

 

However, the fact that it wasn't a porn site, or some kind of hate-mongering site, etc., I doubt they do anything, or if they do, it won't be too bad.

 

Now, if you were to find ways around it, and continued to use that site or similar sites, you could very well run into problems.

 

Most employers, though, recognize that there's going to be some degree of "personal use". Take web based email - some employees have a need to access their email; cutting that off would actually hurt the employer. Casual web surfing is also something most employers won't frown upon. It's those things that either eat up bandwidth or that they think is major time waster/sink hole that catches the attention.

[tattooedhusker]

besides the remote software, if they really want to be nosey they can install a keylogger

[Landlord]

Keyloggers are a pain to look through though.

[tattooedhusker]

You ain't lying Landlord, tried it once just for sh#ts and giggles...ugh