spying boss

[weaselnoze]

we have no internet restriction on our work computers but we are expected to stay off sites that aren't work related.  well this is a HUGE problem for me because i get bored and wander around the internet, many times unintentionally.  the boss claims to be able to see anything we access from his main computer.  like some kind of watchdog thing.  i don't necessarily believe him because he's known to bluff when it comes to things like this.  that and if he had any idea some of the stuff i looked up before, he would have confronted me.  but i digress... 

say he does have the ability to see what sites we go on from his main 'server'.  does that include sites that are accessed from my iphone using the store's wifi?  cuz holy crap i could be in big trouble.  i've been pretty good about not wandering lately but i do occasionally surf 'taboo' sites on my iphone thru the store's wifi when i'm catching a smoke outside..

[yamahonkawazuki]

has he accused you directly?, if so, ask in a friendly tone. okay sir, might i ask which sites ive been to? ( you could always say you were using said sites for work "research")

[weaselnoze]

he has accused me directly for being on a car forum for instance.  idk if i forgot to clear my history and he went snooping on my machine before i got to work or what but if thats all he saw, then GOOD! lol

but that aside, i want to know if he has the ability to see what i access on my computer from his computer, can he see if someone is accessing taboo sites using their iphones?

[yamahonkawazuki]

im not IT, but i would think that maybe he could see that you used your iphone, to hit the wifi, but not specifically where you went

[spc]

If he honestly does have the appropriate programs in place to see where you go on your desktop and the wireless is part of the same network he should be able to see where you go on your iphone.  Just use edge or 3g if your outside.

[TheGoodGuy]

if its an open wifi.. which no store should have, he wont know who is using that connection. However if its a closed wifi that is managed by encryption or MAC id auth he will know.

We use a program that logs all transcations with teh server, so everything going out is logged by ip and address. Its never used but its something useful.  If you are running a proxy that will definately log the address and ip/devices.

if you got an iphone, just dont use wifi, use the edge/3g network.

[shiznizbiz]

TO answer your question, yes, If he has the proper software, he can see literally everythign youve visited from your workstation.  Iphone, me thinks he could but cant know for sure especially if you have an open wifi.  I used to work IT for an ISP(internet service provider) and we ewre allowed to go where ever we wanted but no porn.  My coworker decided to test to see if they were watchign, and coincidentally the supervisor was at home proxied into the main server.  Ayways, he looked and the boss called him with in 5 minutes.  he was wrote up for said violation. It is very possible if your boss knows what hes doing.  I dont know how, but i know it can be done.  be careful

[Kasumi]

Ok OK, first off where do you work? Is it a big company or a small company, what do you do? - This is important

Second thing is your boss any sort of IT guy?

The reason i ask is because big corporations who have a lot of employees always working on the computer have IT depts or specific IT guys who are responsable for obviously maintaining but also monitoring how the computers systems are being used. In this case they either have filters in place or they monitor where employee's are going with spot checks. (obviously they can't spend all day monitoring peoples work but they can do spot checks) but in anycase they will log all the use of the server like GoodGuy said. If they do find something then they will pass it on to the employees line manager to decide whether he wants to take action.

In your case unless your working in some sort of business where they do have an IT or IT dept then id be very suprised if he was doing anymore checking than just going into you non cleared history. Going through log files is not streight forward, nor is tracking it down to a PC. I would consider it being an indepth task if your not very computer literate just to fully understand what you might find out. I suspect that although log files may be taken of what happens with server traffic and the like that he is not an IT guy and hes bluffing on the fact that hes using mointoring software on you. More than likely hes been a nosy bastard and jumped on your PC when you wernt there to see what you'd been doing.

It also sounds like hes doing the sort of thing like, i have power im going to make you feel uncomfortable by illuding to the fact i might know what you've been looking at.

In that case confront him streight on. Ask him if he plans to take this further, call his bluff because i suspect he doesn't realllly know. Plus if your on a break and using your iphone so long as your not browsing inappropriate sites then you should easily get away with that, its your own time, if your not misusing the internet to look at taboo stuff.

Id challange him, i dont think he is moinitoring you from what you say however il be more sure when i know what you do and who you work for etc...

[bettingpython]

Just because theres no restrictions doesn't mean the firewall isn't handling logging dutiies and emailing a report of sites surfed by machine or network user ID. Don't use the corporate wifi with the iPhone. We have firewall restrictions in place where I work since it is a public school system. I can't get to my persoanl web mail through our network so I just use my 3g enabled phone to check my yahoo mail. I have the SSID network key on my phone and can use the district wifi with it but the same firewalling appplies to our network. Our IT actually tested with my phone and it identified itself to the network they can't link it to you by name but your phones mac address is probably logged so if your phone is checked it's unique hardware id is linked to those reports.

Use the 3g if you can't resist surfing and turn off the wifi. Then you are safe with the phone.

[frankieG]

of course he can see where you have been and actually watch in real time.  the programs are there.  i have said this before and we have seen it again and again in the media.  nothing online is private.  if you say it online you should expect it to be public.  so watch what you say and do online.  it is not hard to find many people and many times that their posts, e-mail, or sites visited have been used as a source of embarrassment or part of a law suit or criminal prosecution.

[weaselnoze]

thanks for the reply guys.  its a small company (<10 employees)and he's not what i would call computer literate.  but i guess the important thing is that he does have the ability to see what i'm doing on my iphone.  which sucks. thanks again guys!

[The Buddha]

OK Any damn thing that goes through the corp FW (fire wall) he can see. That is it, What they cant see really is how often you are flipping pages ... so you can claim you log in to some site but never check any more, it just sits there. That page reads are a bit more deep. Can be done, but not at first glance.
You have a corp FW no, then how exactly you access the net, external provider ... if so, they may or may not provide him the info ... and if they do, they may or may not be able to link it to an IP address from inside, and if they do, you may or may not be tied to the IP address cos you may or may not run DHCP ... in which case if you dont, you can be pinned, if not, you need to be a networking and some kinda charting/spreadsheeting guru to link you to the computer to the IP to the site you visit.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Kasumi]

What im saying guys is i know its perfectly possible, i have seen first hand, my dad has been an IT industry for over 30 years starting as an electrical engineer rising through being a softare engineer, project manager, security analysist. His career is hugely varied and ive witness most projects hes worked on right up to being a director at the moment. Yes there are programs that sit and monitor what employees do, and log movements, page views, links clinked on those pages, etc.. etc..

That doesn't mean that a tiny company of only 10 employees is ever going to invest that sort of time and resources just to monitor what their employees do. Id be EXTREMELY suprised if this guy is monitoring all your internet movements logging them, and constantly evaluating what time your using. There are whole departments for that sorta shite. I highly suspect he just knows through word of mouth through possibly walking past your PC when your not their that you have viewed other websites, but then he wouldn't even need to look, its human nature to explore when given the freedom and consider yourself free, he knows his employees are going to look at other stuff on the net and if he seriously had a problem with it he would install a filter. All he is doing is rattling your cage and saying you know, i know your a member of bike forum (assuring you he knows that you aint guna always be working) but you know you do come here to work, its not beyond my realms to go to the point of monitoring you - he doesnt want to have to do that. He has better things to do, hes got less than 10 employees, he has a buisness to run he cant spend all day just monitoring what you browse on the internet during your break.

I suggest you just ease off the browsing unless your on breaks or really havn't got alot else to do, keep it low key, obviously don't go on taboo sites because that will attract serious attention if he thinks you looking at porn and shaZam! rather than just checking your favorite forum or email. Work is for work, however you are human, he knows that, he just wants you to do your job too.

Im 100% confident that he isnt fricking snooping using the latest firewall logging software, checking your use of internet and tracking it back to your iphone and all that shaZam!. Come on guys this isn't a huge corporation. This is a small buisness. If he has a real problem then he will bring it up official, if hes just mentioning on the off hand all hes doing is saying, i know, but please you know dont let it take you away from work or were guna have to change the rules.

[bettingpython]

Latest firewall sotware isn't necessary. Ran a small corporate network with 15 pc's used a sonicwall pro SOHO and it was very easy to see where people surfed, it's not rocket science and yes it can even log page refreshs and bandwith utiilization, everything got emailed in a nice neat package to us in IT if someone was violating internet usage guidelines. 2 people were fired in my first 2 months there because they kept surfing porn, one was a CFO.

[Kasumi]

Latest firewall sotware isn't necessary. Ran a small corporate network with 15 pc's used a sonicwall pro SOHO and it was very easy to see where people surfed, it's not rocket science and yes it can even log page refreshs and bandwith utiilization, everything got emailed in a nice neat package to us in IT if someone was violating internet usage guidelines. 2 people were fired in my first 2 months there because they kept surfing porn, one was a CFO.

Ok Ok still missing my point.

This guy has 10 employees, a very small buisness, he has better things to do than setup some system to monitor his employees. If he was monitoring them do you not think weasel would be fired right now? he openly admitted to browsing taboo sites. His boss is not out to catch them doing anything nor do i think hes even monitoring them anymore than simply noticing what theyve been looking at by physically going to their PC or what other people have said. If he had he would have done something official about it.

All hes doing is mentioning it to keep you motivated to do your work. I wouldn't worry about it just crack on and probably dont go anywhere near those taboo sites but abit of appropriate private use of the internet on your breaks and such so long as your not taking the piss and i don't think he will have a problem.

[natedawg120]

The boss could monitor internet traffic relatively easy, however I find it hard to believe that he would do it in any way other than checking you computer.  As far as the wireless if the service is secure and you have some type of identifying log on then yes, he would know what you were looking at on your iphone, or at least have the capability in theory to do so.  If its open then he wouldn't be able to tell your iphone from the schmuck outside watching porn on his laptop.  I agree with Kasumi though in that he is probably just saying that to remind you to keep on task.

[DoD#i]

Takes little time and almost no money. How do I know? I do IT and have little time, and almost no money.

Free firewall software that runs on old PCs (essentially free) can very easily tell you every single site any computer on the network (wi-fi or not) has been to, and many other things. It's simple to install, to the point that someone who's not an IT guru could surely manage it. The reporting is a nice web interface. Truly, one should avoid doing anything (web, chat, whatever) at work that would be viewed negatively, since it is all pretty much exposed to the view of the people who provide the network services.

[Kasumi]

Takes little time and almost no money. How do I know? I do IT and have little time, and almost no money.

Free firewall software that runs on old PCs (essentially free) can very easily tell you every single site any computer on the network (wi-fi or not) has been to, and many other things. It's simple to install, to the point that someone who's not an IT guru could surely manage it. The reporting is a nice web interface. Truly, one should avoid doing anything (web, chat, whatever) at work that would be viewed negatively, since it is all pretty much exposed to the view of the people who provide the network services.

Yes you can do it for cheap and yes its very easy to do, but the question here is, is this guy actually doing it. No i dont think so. He is merely commenting to keep his employees motivated to the work they should be doing. If he had a problem he wouldn't be just making a passing comment he would be making it official or installing a filter (also easy to do).

I also agree that you should keep from taking the piss out of your employer by not working and messing around on the net. However i think abit of it during your breaks is what is expected and within fair usage.

[LOUiE]

first... why the hell is your boss busying himself spying on his employees?  Doesn't he have work to do?  I worked for a HUGE company (15000 employees) and they didn't even have blocked sites or monitoring software.  Its called trust, etc etc.  And if they found you weren't working they'd fire you.  I hate the idea of mini-management and keeping tabs on employees.  The easiest way to keep tabs on them is to give them a work-load and see if they finish it.

second... if they're not blocked you should go through a proxy server (any of them on www.proxy.org)  this way, your boss cant see what sites you've been to except he can tell you went to a proxy site.

[scottpA_GS]

I think its funny that most are saying... Why? doesn't he have anything better to do? Why would he watch you? he has more important stuff to do...

YEA!!! Like see what his employees do during work ON HIS DIME! It 100% directly effects his bottom line and public status. If hes not watching, hes not just "trusting" hes a dumb ass  #1 he needs to protect himself and his operation from illegal file sharing, smut, child porn.. whatever... Any "smart" company should know what every employee does while on the clock and/or using company equipment. I know I spend ALOT of time getting paid at work to post on GSTwin  But if it was my ass or my company on the line, I would do everything I could to ensure that my company equipment and employee time was used for business only.