Thursday, September 25, 2008

Watch Out @@


The reason for me to post this is because of some employees checking some X material at work. I'm not judging anyone! but please keep it at home because some one is watching you!! @@

In my case I can list some products of what I've seen:

1- WebSense: This product allows us to control the internet bandwidth thru setting various policies. I know for a fact that we bought this product in order to block the monster "YouYube" from eating our bandwidth but on the other hand this product gives you a complete statistics on what your employees are doing. What pages they are accessing, how much traffic they do generate and much more. (this how they checked employee X viewing X websites).

2- Last month, the system admin showed me a product where he can view any user's desktop! We tested it on a "geek" we have in office and he didnt feel anything!!! he was even chatting with his gf!!

I know its not ethical to check on users (privacy) and I really don't see any relation between productivity and prohibiting users from accessing what they want! kaifna!! I like to play games sometimes (helps my brain!) but it happens! they do check on us (even thu i dont care!).

Update: The whole point of this is to say that employees should be aware of such tools ...

11 comments:

MBH said...

I suggest using Untangle (Untangle.com). It's a free bundle, but commercial addons exist, for those who need more.

I deployed it for a subsidiary company and it's serving 125 employees on very low spec hardware (110KD is the total cost).

Apart from web filtering, and detailed logs, you can block applications like MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, World of Warcraft, ...etc.

As for the desktop snooping, that is unethical. If you have admin access to your box, you can disable that.

Aurous said...

Scary to know that someone can see every page you visit!

rencontrer Pauline said...

gosh they can see@@

Nemo said...

mbh: thnx for the info, i will be checking untangle (havnt seen it)
as for the desktop snooping yes its unethical :( and yes i can block it but its unfair for the rest of employees still!

aurous: yes its scary and employees should really be aware of such things! we should tell them that we have statistics of what they're doing @@ ... its unfair

pella: yes they can!!!! :(

MBH said...

Well, the admin is not the manager; they can put policies, but managers can take them out.
So send an "anonymous" tip to the manager that HIS/HER desktop can be seen anytime and capture anything.

S/He would freak out and forbid the admin(s) from installing such software.

Windows has a feature called Remote Desktop. Users will know when someone connects. Use it (help-desk issues).

If you wish to avoid your proxy server keeping track of every site you go to, I suggest using Tor.
(Zain has blocked the site!)

Company policies and whatever the admins do must be clear to all employees. In the US/Canada/EU, the company can be sued.
In Kuwait, the admin can get beaten in a dark night :p

doona said...

this is a really nice tip :)
thnks :)

Nemo said...

loooool mbh
* torproject is block by websense :D
* sending anonymous msg is a great idea lol
* policies yes it should be clear to employees :( althu here in kuwait its not always the case


thanks for the tips :D

MBH said...

I found a work around the filtering of Tor (Websense and Zain) ;)

I got Portable Tor from Source Forge

God bless the open-source community.

Nemo said...

mbh THANKS .. AND GOD BLESS THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY :P

after 3eed I will try it at work and then I'll check if I can track myself thru websense

I will give you my feedback :)

Hottie said...

hahaha, how awkward! I'd be so embarrassed if I was that employee, LOL!

MBH said...

Did it work?