Could my work screen my emails if I log onto a connection next door using my wireless card?

Question

I would be using a yahoo account.

Answer 1

If you can logon, no you wouldn't be on their (your work) connection, however, if the connection next door is monitoring their network you might not be able to actually connect. Not all connections are open just because you can see it...

Answer 2

If you're not using the work-provided email account, then they cannot screen your emails; if you are using the work-provided email account, then they have to explicitly state that they have the right to screen emails on the work account.

If you are on the wireless connection next door, they cannot monitor your traffic over the network.

Finally, if you are in your work's building and connecting to the wireless next door... while it is true that they cannot monitor your activity over the network, the computer usage policy would still apply if you are on a computer that is owned by your work. That is, you are still taking a risk depending on any rules they have concerning non-work-related content or any "illegal or questionable" content. So, basically, they cannot monitor your activity over the network, but the Network Admin could walk up to your desk, see you're doing something "against the rules", and still enact disciplinary action.

Basically, it all boils down to what I tell people on my network and people asking this type of question: Why try so hard to do what you're not supposed to be doing at work when you can just wait until you get home to do it? It could potentially make the Network/System admin's life more difficult and, if it makes that person's life more difficult, you can guarantee that he/she will make your life more difficult in return.

If you think that Yahoo email does not pose a security concern in a commercial environment, then you obviously don't know enough about security.

Answer 3

Perhaps you're setting up your computer with the wrong type of encryption, e.g. WEP, when the router is actually using something else such as WPA. You need to use your mum's computer to log into the router, find the security settings, and make sure you use the right ones on your laptop. Oh - and are you sure it's your mum's signal you're seeing and not someone else's?

Answer 4

They can only physically and legally screen emails from an email system they own and only for employment and security reasons.

Answer 5

and the only way they can track what u've been looking at legally, is if ur hooked up to their network