bossware

[solon]

I've been hearing about bossware a lot lately. Software your company installs on the company laptop you use, that reports your activity to the boss. That sounds bad.

But what if I used VNC, or Anydesk, or Teamviewer? If I use one of these on my company computer to get to my home computer, and then do all my MMM forum browsing on my home computer, can my employer monitor that?

[rantk81]

Yes.  Many of the spyware apps take screenshots at regular intervals, can do screen-recording and keystroke logging.  Or the boss could watch your screens in real-time.

When I had to be in the office, I brought my own net-book in, connected it to the company wifi, and then tunneled everything through a VPN.  That's how I did my personal internet use while chained to my desk in the office..

[ChickenStash]

Even without the screen recording/spying capability, the traffic from those apps is easily identifiable on the network. They may or may not be able to see the actual data depending on how the encryption and any corporate proxies are setup, but they could easily tell something is up and it could be a violation of IT security policies.

[solon]

Yes.  Many of the spyware apps take screenshots at regular intervals, can do screen-recording and keystroke logging.  Or the boss could watch your screens in real-time.

When I had to be in the office, I brought my own net-book in, connected it to the company wifi, and then tunneled everything through a VPN.  That's how I did my personal internet use while chained to my desk in the office..

A VPN is private. But does VNC, Anydesk, Teamviewer, etc, use a VPN? Does it keep my traffic private?

And I guess it doesn't matter, if the bossware is taking screenshots.

[JLee]

The safest bet is to use your phone on your carrier's data network (not work wifi).

Or run the IT department so it doesn't matter :D

[ATtiny85]

Or run the IT department so it doesn't matter :D

This would be best!

Any boss who wields this…well it’s a problem. Though of course there are system abusers out there.

[ender]

A lot of software designed for managing fleets of machines will do this, not as the intended purpose though.

[former player]

Place I worked at once (several thousand employees) used this tech and found an employee who was streaming child porn while at work.  Gone overnight, don't know whether or not they reported to the police.