Technically How Do Employers Monitor Email?

Question

I have a sneaking suspicion my email is being monitored. How is this done? I don't mean legally but techniocally. I have acces to our mail server and it seems that there is no folder or forwarding system. How can I check?

Answer 1

It cannot be legally done without your knowledge otherwise you can sue for violation of privacy. They would have to have you sign a form stating that understand that your emails may be subject to monitoring from time to time. There is no way to stop it unless you send encrypted emails from say a different email source such as Hush Mail. You'll have to make sure that your keys are not being keylogged, there are anti-keyloggers out there that you can install and scan your computer. We have to stand up together against this intrusive less-freedom activity, especially when your intents are to do no wrong.

Answer 2

Anywhere there is an ethernet line, the data can be snooped.
It's just like listening in on a phone call. Passwords are stolen this way, because they are sent in text mode and not encrypted.

Look up snooping software on the net. Run it on your computer and see the data that flys by. Write a script to monitor names, then the text that comes afterwords. There is probably commercial software that does that already.

You could encrypt your email using some freeware commercial mail encrypters or find one that does a better job.

Answer 3

Let me get this straight. You don't want to be an honest employee and use your computer for business stuff only, so to avoid their monitoring you want to tamper with the mail server. Does that sum it up??

You're a real bright bulb my man.....

P.S. I know of no company that doesn't have clearly stated policies regarding use of company equipment as a condition of employment. So you probably already agreed to the policy and it's their right to monitor use of their equipment. In addition, whoever is responsible for monitoring emails and internet usage is not even in the same room as your email server....

Answer 4

An over-paid, under-worked IT department with nothing better to do?