Can a server at work monitor websites visited?

melbury

Last week our IT person came around saying he needed to put some updates on each computer where I work - I think he said something to do with the ISP number, but not sure.

I think perhaps they want to monitor websites visited and time spent on the internet:eek: Is it possible to do this?

duchy

Yes it is possible
It is also possible to block access to certain sites too.

Collabora

melbury wrote: »

Last week our IT person came around saying he needed to put some updates on each computer where I work - I think he said something to do with the ISP number, but not sure.

I think perhaps they want to monitor websites visited and time spent on the internet:eek: Is it possible to do this?

Yes, you will find this is a common practice in many offices

melbury

Wouldn't it be better to actually advise staff that all internet activity is being monitored rather than being sneaky about it?

So this change of ISP number thing could well have been for that.

kwikbreaks

Porobably he mentioned the IP address. I doubr the work on the PC was anything to do with monitoring. Nothing is needed at all on the PC for that to be possible assuming you already have some sort of login procedure.

Collabora

melbury wrote: »

Wouldn't it be better to actually advise staff that all internet activity is being monitored rather than being sneaky about it?

So this change of ISP number thing could well have been for that.

It will most likely be in your contract of employment. all computers will have been monitored from day 1 as i dare say your work PC will have software on it and you will need a password to access the PC.

all the software will be installed on the main network server and fed to all PCs, so monitoring will be essential

duchy

melbury wrote: »

Wouldn't it be better to actually advise staff that all internet activity is being monitored rather than being sneaky about it?

So this change of ISP number thing could well have been for that.

If your work has an internet policy and you follow it - then it doesn't matter -and if they don't have a policy perhaps they expect you to be working at work rather than surfing the net ?

As for sneaky - isn't it you been sneaky surfing when you should be working -on company time and the company BB they pay for ?

The obnly people with anything to worry about are those doing stuff they shouldn't - surely ?

Collabora

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Probably he mentioned the IP address.

The could of changed ISP, which would be done from main servers, but IT would have needed to check every PC to make sure IP has changed and rebooted each PC

Ant555

There are lots of reasons why an IT person might need to check your system - could be email related or literally anything.

You mention monitoring web sites so there must be some suspicion that this is afoot - If it was to do with monitoring then it could be that he was noting what the internal IP addresses are so that the reports accurately reflect who was browsing what. Most reports of this type will be by IP address so you need to know which machine it belongs to.

Of course there are clever reports packages that integrate into the back end system.

Even with your PC browser in incognito/stealth mode your company router/firewall will show which IP address is browsing.

Fightsback

This has been common practice for a long time, especially in large companies.

Many years ago while working for a large multinational company, a very senior employee was instantly dismissed and frogmarched by security from site due to inappropriate internet usage.

It couldn't have happen to a more deserving *!@%

melbury

duchy wrote: »

If your work has an internet policy and you follow it - then it doesn't matter -and if they don't have a policy perhaps they expect you to be working at work rather than surfing the net ?

As for sneaky - isn't it you been sneaky surfing when you should be working -on company time and the company BB they pay for ?

The obnly people with anything to worry about are those doing stuff they shouldn't - surely ?

My work is never compromised as a result of me being on the internet.

I generally only check my email and odds and ends. However, if I am right up to date and totally bored, I have been known to log onto this site, as I am sure many others do;)

I would just like to think that there is still such a thing as trust, but apparently not.