Page 272 - Using MIS

Guide

iS it SpyinG or JuSt Good manaGement?

According to a 2003 survey by Bentley College, 92 where your device has been. Logs also show what files
percent of employers monitor employees’ email, telephone, you process and much information about your activities
12
and Internet use. That survey is 11 years old, and it is over the employer-managed networks.
likely that, if anything, employer monitoring of employee • Packet sniffers. A packet sniffer is a program that cap-
activities has increased. A number of different techniques tures network traffic. Most operate on wireless networks,
are used: but they are readily installed to work on wired networks
as well. Packet sniffers obtain the text of unsecured email
• Key loggers. As you learned in Chapter 4, a key logger is (most email), text messages, and Internet sites visited.
a program that records all of your keystrokes. Employers They also can obtain voice traffic that is processed over the
can install key loggers without a problem on any corpo- Internet. Any traffic that passes through an organization’s
rate computer. If you allow your employer to configure networks, whether from your employer-provided device,
your personal mobile device as part of its BYOD policy, it your personal device, or your personal computer at home
can install a key logger on it as well. (if you’re using the corporate network), can be sniffed.
Key loggers do just what their name implies; they
record everything you key: user IDs, passwords, text Your employer could also have video surveillance cam-
messages, emails, documents, and so forth. They are eras, audio recorders, office spies, and numerous other
agnostic about what they record. If you check your ways of watching you, but let’s leave those aside.
personal banking account
on an employer-owned com-
puter, your employer (and its
IT personnel) has everything
it needs to manage your bank-
ing account. If you write a love
letter to your spouse, the key
logger will record it.
• Log files. Computer systems
are indefatigable diarists. Your
employer-provided computer
or mobile device and any em-
ployer server that you connect
to with a personal device keep
extensive logs of your activ-
ity. Those logs show, in part,
when you start work, when
you end work, how long your
computer is idle at work, and
possibly, if the device has GPS,
Source: Image Source/Getty Images

12 W. Michael Hoffman, Laura P. Hartman, and Mark Rowe, “You’ve Got Mail and the Boss Knows,” Center for Business Ethics, Bentley College,
2003, p. 1.
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