I work at a fairly small company (about 100 employees) , We have DSL internet and our computers are all networked.

I dont know If they keep track of the sites I visit or the amount of time I spend on the internet. So I just get on to check my email, and sometimes pop over here briefly. Is there a way to tell if they monitor it?

Make nice with your Network Admin and ask. We are usually friendly people. Especially in smaller companies.[:)]


ByteTheBullet  (-:

when you manager requests that the IT security department auditys your ass....if they dont like what they see...sites or time spent...then you will know....otherwise you will never know it..

The standard rule is to not do anything on your work computer that you would not like to see posted on a billboard across the street from your house. Assume that you are being watched.

If the company is smart enough there is no way know.

Remember [i]SOMEONE[/i]  is always watching what you are doing on the internet.

There is a record somewhere that can be linked to you.

Agreed......

Even if they do not at this time. They can start at any time. You may even be surprised what is on your own PC. We keep records but dont review them unless we have a problem.

Our company works the same way.  Collecting the data isn't all the expensive:  processing and managing it is.  If a problem arises, we can go back for more than a year and compile reports.  As mentioned before, you'd be surprised the kind of information that could be compiled.  I operate on the grounds of:  just because I can, doesn't mean I should.  However, I have worked with security/network admins that love to process that crap just to find out what people are doing.

Another interesting thing most should be aware of, and I'm quoting our corporate attorney:  "When you walk through the office door, you essentially leave all your civil rights outside."  A company has the right to monitor all communications (telephone, fax, email, network messaging, etc.) and may do so without notifying you.  (I've actually worked for a multi-national entertainment company that went so far as to monitor every phone call in my department for a period of time.)  Your desk/locker/office belongs to the company so you really do not have any protections against search and seizure.  Thankfully, many of us work in companies where our privacy is respected.  Unfortunately, that is not something we can count on.

If you're in good straits with your supervisor, ask him if he minds you doing the occaisional mail/ARFCOM check when you have down time.  Get to know your IT guys (very important to be friendly to them *before* you actually need their help).  Know what your company considers acceptable Internet usage and stay within those boundaries.  (Some companies prohibit all non-essential use, including email services like yahoo/hotmail.  Others, like ours, only prohibit sites/usage that would offend coworkers:  sexist, racist, etc.)

As already mentioned:  assume they watch everything and act accordingly.

Edited to change shouldn't to should.  Talk about saying the opposite of what I meant.

Same here - I work in the group that owns/manages our proxy server.  At one point, weekly reports were sent out to managers.  We recently stopped a couple of months back, and as far as I know, only two managers even mentioned it (5000+ employees, 7:1 manager employee ratio).  So, even if it is collected, processed, and distributed, chances are no one really cares.  We actually wanted to stop the logging altogether, but HR and legal wanted to keep it.  Usually, it was only used as an excuse to terminate/discipline otherwise problematic employees - it makes a nice paper trail.   It's pretty much impossible to get terminated at my company due to plain incompetence, but watch out where and how long you're surfing!

Rocko

There are freakin 7 managers for every 1 employee???  Holy freakin crap, man!  Talk about too many cheifs and not enough indians!

That's pretty fucked up.

technically, they can trace whatever you do in your company especially you are networked. They can even know what program you are using and what programs you installed in your pc.

Once you logon, they can simply implant a small program (from logon script) in your pc to log all the websites you have been. Once you are in the network, the little spy program is going to report what you have done to your employer. It is running background, you don't even know it exists. Nor can you tell from its name if you check the services.

trust me, they do know everything.

The best chance to get away this is to use your personal computer from your home. Build everything from scratch. Never bring it to the network (in your company). You may be safe in that way.

Errr... meant to be the other way around [;)].  But yeah, still too many chiefs...

Rocko