Surfing TERB at work. Am I safe?

[Plan B]

Does anybody surf TERB while at work..not having a laptop what I have done is downloaded Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition onto my USB Memory Stick.

http://portableapps.com/

That way I have my own browser independent of what is on my PC at work. I believe that this allows me to surf TERB on a company computer without my IT department being able to find out about my web activity. Am I going at this the right way, or am I missing some steps that IT may catch on to me?

 

[69Shooter]

Does anybody surf TERB while at work..not having a laptop what I have done is downloaded Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition onto my USB Memory Stick.

http://portableapps.com/

That way I have my own browser independent of what is on my PC at work. I believe that this allows me to surf TERB on a company computer without my IT department being able to find out about my web activity. Am I going at this the right way, or am I missing some steps that IT may catch on to me?

In fact, someone from IT and HR are on their way to your office right now!

(Editted for blackrock13)

 

[Fred Zed]

It's never a good idea to surf TERB from work. Not worth the risk. About 4 years ago I had a company manager actually e-mail me before he fired a TERB member. It was very sad.

 

[blackrock13]

In fact, someone from IT and HR are on their way to your office right now!

I notice no smiley, so ............ Why would anyone want to? I'm self employed, so the only one I have to look out for is, oh, no one.

 

[69Shooter]

Seriously, as long as you are using the companies internet connection (wireless or otherwise) they can track every site you visit.

 

[Fireflint]

One should be working at work.

 

[ready2rock]

Seriously, as long as you are using the companies internet connection (wireless or otherwise) they can track every site you visit.

This is my understanding as well.

R2R

 

[greeneyedbandit]

I'm in IT LOL, all I can say is clear your CACHE, COOKIES, TEMPORARY INTERNET folders, you should be safe... or use a bootable O/S like BartPE, they can't detect that shit coz it doesnt save anything to your computer. The only time you should be worried is if you think they suspect something, then they will probe everything you do. Otherwise nobody is going to waste time monitoring everyone's internet activities. This is what web filters are for within companies. Then again it also depends on how big or small your company is. The bigger the company the less monitoring happens coz it's hard to keep track of everyone. If you're in a smaller company (100 PCs or less) then it is much easier to monitor and track your activities.

 

[Consilio]

Bad idea.

My company's internet connection is filtered - so people tether their iPhones when they want to access sites that are banned. But I still wouldn't visit terb.

 

[Azure Ichida]

I work at a family-run business office, so I'm on TERB anytime I'm alone in the office, which is fairly often. They rarely check my history, but I'm careful enough to cover my tracks.

 

[Cassini]

The company is legally responsible for all your internet activity at work.

As such, the IT group required to monitor your internet activity, and most of the tools they use monitor network activity. Rebooting to a different O/S will not shield you.

Have some sympathy, and please use company IT resources responsibly.

 

[bigapple]

Does it matter if you do not go thru a company server but rather thru a Bell modem?

 

[bsi]

Seriously, as long as you are using the companies internet connection (wireless or otherwise) they can track every site you visit.

Especially after the fact. Once they suspect an issue, it is easy for them to get the logs of where you went back for quite a while. Your problem becomes not only that you visited sites like terb, but that you did so every 11 minutes during the work day.

Save it for home. If you have been surfing terb from work, you better a) stop and b) dream up some reason why you were there. Once I understood this problem, I immediately asked some technical questions (which I really wanted the answer to anyway) as something I could point to in case I got busted. Since then I covered my tracks and the company went bust anyway.

 

[greeneyedbandit]

yeah well whatever you do try not to use the company's NETWORK... use your own connection.. get a ROCKETSTICK LOL... I don't have to I have my personal network connection in my closed office.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Especially after the fact. Once they suspect an issue, it is easy for them to get the logs of where you went back for quite a while. Your problem becomes not only that you visited sites like terb, but that you did so every 11 minutes during the work day.

Exactly!
Years ago our corp warned all employees, company computers are for work only.
Any non-work related surfing may lead to termination.

3 employees ignored this rule.
After a couple warnings, they were all fired.

 

[The Options Menu]

I will surf from work-- But I'm in IT and have an encrypted connection to home. Plus, I have access to everybody else's stuff so I don't think much will come of it for me. And yeah, most employers (including my current employer) check their logs. My output has always been good, and my bandwidth consumption low-- so meh.

 

[Anynym]

It's been said already, but it's worth saying again: a corporate internet connection will have monitoring of every packet that goes in or out of the corporate network. Packets indicating a connection to a website will be further checked and logged. The logs include an identification of the computer being used.

Some companies will use a "whitelist" or a "blacklist" filter to block access to certain sites; other companies will check the logs periodically for inappropriate sites and take disciplinary action they deem necessary.

It's quite easy and very common for the logs to be sorted and reviewed (e.g. scanning the list of sites which are visited by anybody): "odd" or inappropriate sites tend to stand out on the list for further investigation.

Other data collected and analyzed will likely include how much bandwidth is being used by each user (although this is probably not an issue for TERB specifically.

 

[5hummer]

Surfing TERB at work? I assume that's what most government workers do!

 

[homerjsimpson]

I was an IT Manager in a fairly large telecommunications company for a while. It wasn't my job, but I knew the manager who got the daily reports for who was hitting the blacklist sites. A lot of them could be ignored because it was accidental, or one offs. But there were lots that came up time and again. Then there was a routine when they had to take action. It's painful to go through. You end up heaping a mountain of shame on someone.

Don't do it from work. It's just too easy these days for the company to spy on you. And if you think you're getting away with something, you aren't. Some managers notice everything. When I walked into someone's office, even if I couldn't see their monitor, I could tell by the way they moved their mouse across their desk that they were quickly minimizing or closing something. Now I'm suspicious. If I see it again, or every time I walk in this person's office, we've got a problem.

 

[East York Melissa]

There are many different security measures that any company may run if they feel it is worthwhile. I know the last large company I worked for did and may still run a software program that allowed managers to see what any employee is doing on their computer at any time as well as take a screen snapshot of the employee's computer if they saw something they didn't like.