Spyware/SpyCop, etc.

danielle123 · April 2009

My company gave me a laptop for home for working at night/weekends and the occasional day I might need to work from home. My personal computer died and I have been using this work laptop at home for personal use for the past year.

I downloaded SpyCop on the laptop and have scanned several times and it has never found any boss spyware on the laptop. However, someone told me that my company can probably work around that and still gain a remote connection and/or are probably still able to obtain a log which tracks usage. The company pre-loaded Sophos antivirus before they gave me the computer.

I would like to think they are not reading my personal email (or posts like this!), especially since they gave me the laptop for after-hours work. Thoughts?

tybur6 · April 2009

They will definitely find out about those dirty things you like... nasty! Just because it's (borderline) legal doesn't mean you should do it.

bezierboy · April 2009

Subject: Nuke it from orbit

Wipe hard drive, reinstall Windows (sounds like it isn't a Mac) and all your software. Nothing else is truly safe, though there is software that can detect all outbound connections if you look hard enough for it and know what you're doing (on a Mac one is called Little Snitch.) Configuring the Windows firewall properly would give adequate security as well.

I'd say more but people pay me for this sort of info. PM me if you're interested in a consultation (I am between jobs right now and am a trained and experienced Helpdesk/system administrator).

P.S. Frankly, I really doubt your company is interested in what you're doing unless it's something like embezzlement, stuff against company interest somehow (trade secret transfer etc.), or child porn.

danielle123 · April 2009

Thanks BB. Let me think about whether I should do that. It took awhile to get the computer set-up and tweaked the way I like. How long would it take to do what you suggest (give or take)? I'm not some big videogamer or anything. I just check email, surf the web, and prepare Word and Excel docs.

bezierboy · April 2009

I'd suggest you just not be paranoid and save your money, especially if you don't work somewhere that's involved in things like legal matters, the military, or very competitive tech stuff like software development. It would take an hour or two to install things and scan for "leakage", and/or most of a day to reinstall Windows and your programs.

Free hint: check Windows firewall for outgoing network connections from programs you haven't heard of. Remove them and see which get asked to restore over time. Google the names of those you can't figure out. Everyone using Windows really should know how to do this given the virus/spyware threats Windows systems face. I'm pretty careful with my Mac's firewall as well.

Spyware/SpyCop, etc.

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories