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Thread: Can administrator watch my activity on Web?

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Can administrator watch my activity on Web?

    Hi to all. This is a simple question and hope for yours help. I am member in a local area network, using Windows 2003 .Net. I'm connected in the lan with my notebook, under Windows XP Professional, without using standard IP adress ("Obtain IP automatically" settining in the TCP/IP protocol). Can the administrator wath my activity on the Web, i.e what sites i'm visiting and/or the volume of data transfered/received from my computer?
    Is there any legal tool to block this ?
    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Cemetric's Avatar
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    YES

    Yes , they can and they do in most firms these days.

    Read this Privacy at work

    As you can see the "Boss" can see what you are doing on his network.

    In most cases the boss watches what sites you visit . This I think you can solve by using a proxy so you don't use the local network ...there are free proxies you can use Check here for a list of free proxies .

    As for a more secure pc you can look at your settings ...are there any users defined on your pc from your work..like domain administrators etc...
    If so the members of this group can monitor your pc without restrictions so you can remove them ..use encryption on your personal and or sensitive files.

    Check this link for more details on how to protect yourself when your online.

    If I find some more I'll let you know.

    PS: As for "legal" tools ... most helpfull are the tools which clean your history etc..
    There are many tools you could use but the most effective tool is to use your sence and to check out the website mentioned above.

    Excuse my french.

    Gr33tz
    Back when I was a boy, we carved our own IC's out of wood.

  3. #3
    Yes, your administrator can watch what you do on the net. What you download, what sites you are wisiting and so on.

    As for blocking his abilitis to do so, why would you wanna do that. From your description I presume this is where you work and hence your administrator SHOULD be able to see what you're up to. After all, they are paying you to do something and if you fail to do your work maybe you should find a new employment?!

    On a side notice I would like to say that I read somewhere (can't remember where I read it and since it's in swedish you guys wouldn't have much use of it anyway) that the average office slave spend between 1.5 - 2 hours every day browsing the web for non-work related stuff. Thats 1 day a week of un-productive time they get paid for. 48 days in a year (52 weeks/year - 4 weeks of wacation). Just think about how much you make a day, multiply that by 48 and be amazed at how much money companies loose this way.
    [shadow] Nobody\'s perfect, but I\'m damn close...[/shadow]

  4. #4
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    AlkAzAA, i'm not in bussines. I'm a post doctoral, so i'm not cheating anyone. I just want to use some shareware programs do download mp3's programs or movies and i just don't want some day the guy come here and say me "Hey man a lot of traffic from your pc". That's all.
    Cemetric, if i use a proxy server i'm safe or the administrator will detect this and i ll have problems ?
    Thanks for the answers.

  5. #5
    Antionline's Security Dude instronics's Avatar
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    johnny_XP

    depending on how that network is setup and the skills of your network administrator, theres nothing you can do about any of this, if you dont have any priveleged access to certain points on that network (router, firewalls, etc...)

    In addition, its people like you who endanger networks and computers. The admin's job is to make sure everything runs smoothly. Now you want to bypass the admin and download mp3s' and movies, which will

    1 - Open the internal network to malicous codes, endangering every box behind that gateway
    2 - Not to mention the illegal activities involved (this is not a site on how to bypass your admins settings)
    3 - Everything the admin is working for, you wanna block/change/bypass/destroy.

    I suggest you 'ASK' your administrator 'NICELY' about what you plan on doing, and see if he can offer you a solution. If not, you HAVE to ACCEPT his choice, and ABIDE by it.

    I strongly recomend you re-think your desires before anything unwanted happens, to you, your admin, and the network that he is responsible for.

    Cheers.
    Ubuntu-: Means in African : "Im too dumb to use Slackware"

  6. #6
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    AlkAzAA, i'm not in bussines. I'm a post doctoral, so i'm not cheating anyone. I just want to use some shareware programs do download mp3's programs or movies and i just don't want some day the guy come here and say me "Hey man a lot of traffic from your pc". That's all.
    Actually you are. Universities and colleges are still businesses. Their network is their resources that they pay for. Your time is still something that they value as a resource. That said, you might want to look for a few things like an Acceptable Use/Usage Policy and/or Security Policy. These policies should indicate what you, as a user of the network, are allowed to do and what they, as the company, are allowed to. While an administrator may be allowed to monitor usually there has to be somewhere written that it may happen.

    And you'd be better off following instronics advice about asking the admin. I've done that before for some stuff I was doing (they had certain sites blocked and it was interfering with my ability to download "toys". The admin changed the policy to allow me to visit those sites as well as gave me admin access on my own machine). If the admin trusts you, it's possible they'll give you a break (but don't abuse that possibility). Also, if you are downloading MP3 and you're not in Canada, I'd suggest not doing this. In the US, the universities and colleges were/are being cracked down upon by the legal authorities. It'd be very likely the admin won't like it if that's what you intend to do with the resource.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
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  7. #7
    Senior Member Cemetric's Avatar
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    Johnny_xp

    If your gonna use these shareware programs then I would not have adviced these things because your gonna add high risk to your works network.

    As we all know through these "shareware" programs come the most virusses and other dangerous things.

    I just thought u were someone concerned about his privacy when checking his mail online or having personal files on his pc ...

    Don't do the things you're talking about ... you'll get yourself in trouble that way.

    And speaking as someone who is active as an administrator ...I would not like that on my network.

    Then again in our company we respect the privacy of the employee.
    Back when I was a boy, we carved our own IC's out of wood.

  8. #8
    Just Another Geek
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    Do not mixup shareware and Peer-2-Peer (P2P) they're 2 entirely different things.
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  9. #9
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    Given this comment by the original poster, it's very possible that the shareware reference is in fact also a P2P tool. A P2P tool could be shareware but not all shareware is P2P.

    ... use some shareware programs do download mp3's programs or movies and i just don't want some day the guy come here and say me "Hey man a lot of traffic from your pc".
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
    Extra! Extra! Get your FREE copy of Insight Newsletter||MsMittens' HomePage

  10. #10
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    You are right. I was mean P2P like Shareaza or Kazzaa Lite....

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