What can a sys-op really see you doing?

Question

I hear countless stories about reports the IT systems operator give the management of web activity. I know sys-ops can see which websites I visit, but can they know about particular google queries for example?

If I would visit Yahoo e-mail, I know they can see cached e-mail messages and the subject lines of potential messages, can they go into messages I haven't even clicked on?

I know they can know outgoing e-mail addresses, but can they actually read my messages also?

I know they could install sys-op spyware while on my computer, but I was wondering if there's any way to fly under the radar.

Unlike what you presume, I rarely visit 'bad' websites because of the high level of paranioa I do have about what the sys-op has control over. I know they can't view which apps I'm using which doesn't make sense for the people who play games (solitare, minefield) all day.

Just wondering...

Sorry to sound stupid the title should have "What can a sys-op really see what you are doing?"

It was 6:15am and I know certain sys-op look at this page while they sip down their one of many cups of coffee and I was trying to catch that crowd.

Answer 1

It all depends upon the dilligence, and the level of equipment used by the system administrator. Also company policy would dictate the level of activity to monitor.

For example, they can set up a proxy server for the internet connection to their LAN. All internet traffic would have to go through this proxy server. As you have to authenticate to be able to use the proxy server to access the internet, they can monitor all your traffic. In reality they would not monitor everything, but they would look for suspect patterns in your web usage. If a complaint was made, they can use the evidence as grounds for dismissal. If you visited yahoo email, the traffic would go through the proxy, and as such would be monitored.

With email systems, most company email is stored on a server, and as such, sys admin have access to it. Be careful with how you use company email (remember the Claire Swire incident - do a google search if curious)

With workstations, the sys admin would set it up so they have full access to the hard disk and registry. This is not to spy on you, but to provide access when having to fix a problem. However, if a complaint was made, they can access your machine to find evidence, and use this as grounds for dismissal.

They are able to monitor if you are playing solitaire, etc, by remotely monitoring the active process on your PC. For example, I could write a script to do this in 5 minutes, but in actual fact, sys admin don't care about this sort of abuse. It is too trivial, and it is more likely that the boss will catch you out instead..

Most medium to large companies are set up this way. In general they will warn you that systems usage is monitored, but the will not give out details of how they gather and use the information obtained through monitoring.

Answer 2

Given the right tools, they can see and read anything from your machine. You are sending out packets and receiving packets. Unless you can encrypt them in a way that they cannot read, then the answer to all of your questions is YES!

Answer 3

Believe it or not, they can actually see you going to Hoohooville. Think about it before you board that next train...