How is your company monitoring your Internet use?

[Reger]

I was told when I join the company by employers that the company had been monitoring the Internet use of staff members including temps. I understand that the modern technology allows them to get a list of every Internet site we visit and even a picture of every screen view we have ever had on the computer. So in fact if my employer wanted to read my personal emails and the silly messages I put on this and other message boards they could. But do they?
I wonder just how much the typical Corporate IT Department does in the area of remote Internet monitoring. Are the IT folks laughing at me and other employees because they can and do monitor every screen save of the moments we are on the Internet, or do they look at a list of every website we visit, or do they only worry about it when we are suspected of abusing our Internet?
Any IT or HR folks who can tell us a little more about Internet monitoring at companies today? Tell us more.

[Joey]

You are correct. Companies can now easily obtain almost any data of anything you do on their computers. This can also include software that logs down anything you type and what site you typed it into, which can include usernames and passwords.

I work in the IT department. I sometimes monitor what people do on their computers but only visually (I have more important duties like fixing computers, removing viruses and teaching computer stuff to fellow employees), like looking over someone’s shoulder. There is a separate section of the IT department that monitors network traffic closely. If they see any computer that seems to be downloading 100x more data than any other computer at work it brings up a red flag. Most of these times people are using their computer to illegally download movies, music or games. They have the option of logging into any computer remotely, from the main IT building across town. The only other time that they will target an employee is if other employees complain about them. Then they will checkout what the employee is doing on his/her computer.

A friend of mine works at a very small business with about 6 employees including management and IT. Management saw over her shoulder that she was on MySpace one day. They did not say anything. She went to lunch, when she came back she tried to get on MySpace and it was blocked.

It may vary greatly from company to company. I am sure there are IT people out there that know way too much about employee computer habits. Some IT people or business owners may even unethically have the computer record your personal logins and passwords.

At college and in my professional life at work the #1 way I have found out personal information about my fellow classmates or employees was due to their ignorance. Sometimes when people are using the Internet and then leave they either forget to close the browser or somehow think that they browser will close itself. So any site they were just on is in full view when I use the computer. They can be logged into to their MySpace, email, porn site, bank account site, etc. These are probably the same people that have any of their various website accounts “hacked”. In reality someone who used the computer right after them was already logged into their account and easily changed the password. These may also be the same people that use a simple password like “password1” and complain about their account being hacked.

The other way I have found out waaay too much information about my coworkers is that if they visit an adult site or something really personal they do not want anyone to see, they do not delete the browser history. When I start to type the beginning letters of my destination website the browser automatically shows me what sites are saved in it’s history.

[Reger]

Thank you for your comment, Joey.
Tha's say there is no way to hide if company uses the logging software...but luckily my company doesn't limit the downloading!(I typed this in company computer, maybe there is someone watching me now, hah)