What can be seen on a wifi network?

[smokey982]

The company I work for recently installed wifi. We are in electrical distribution and it's really meant to be used for vendors when they come in for training, our sales people with laptops, or customers that may need wifi to work on quotes and various things.

The question I have is can corporate tell when someone's using the wifi? And if so, can they tell what your doing or looking at? I have access to the password and wouldn't mind using the wifi for my phone. But if they can see what I'm doing they may not want me using their network for personal things. And I really don't want them seeing if I need to check my banking accounts and such. Just how much can big brother see?

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Poke]

Yes they can tell who using the WiFi and what you are looking. I know some users like to use the company Wifi due to 1 it's free but to most people now days are on Data Caps with their cell company. So they use wifi since it does not go against their cap so if you use your company wifi they can track everything just like they can from your PC so forth. So if they don't have a policy against using it with your mobile device then use it but just choose not to do those personal things you mention. Also I have to remind my users we block allot of things or certain sites so if your using your company's wifi they might block certain sites like Facebook so forth. So if you want to go to some sites you will have to use your cell connection. If will differ from company to company on what sites they block depends on if they had any issues so forth or their not aware of so at some point they might start blocking certain sites. So again it will differ from company to company but if you want to surf like your at home you need to use your phone connection. If you use a company wifi there will be some limitations on what you can do and where you can go. I have Unlimited data plan so needing to use a wifi connection at all never a issue unless I just want to use my own. But that all being said don't be afraid to use if due to if your company allows it then there should be no issues. Heck there are probably several users that are using it if your company does not have a issue with it so just beware there most likely will be limitation's so it's up to you. Now days most folks use them due to their data caps that just another reason to go with a carrier that does not have one.

 

[smokey982]

My data cap is the primary reason I would like to use it. Also because I work in an old all metal building that seems to kill my 4G for some reason and when it drops back to 3G it's horribly slow (much slower than my old 3G only phone).

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Poke]

Just remember as long as anyone uses their work Internet connection they can always monitor it no matter how your using it if they do or not just depends on your employer. But again companies should have policies in place and everyone should know them. A concern that folks should be aware of how companies outside of the work place give out your information to advertisers so forth or even reading email so forth. Just look at Google with all the FTC investigation that got overlooked things like that is what folks should pay closer attention too.

 

[harshness]

The if part is certain. The what part is a definite maybe.

If they have a web cache or web filter, they can tell what people are looking at. If they don't, they probably can't.

 

[Ilya]

And I really don't want them seeing if I need to check my banking accounts and such. Just how much can big brother see?

They can see which website you are accessing, e.g. your bank name, but normally they cannot see the details of the information being sent over your secure HTTPS connection: they can't see your bank password or the dollar amount on your account.

 

[Poke]

My data cap is the primary reason I would like to use it. Also because I work in an old all metal building that seems to kill my 4G for some reason and when it drops back to 3G it's horribly slow (much slower than my old 3G only phone).

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

Yeah that's make sense and a common thing. It's up to you I would not worry about anything like I said I would be willing to bet your not the only one using it.

 

[smokey982]

So if I use the wifi with my phone I assume all they know is "someone" is using it? No way to pinpoint who's using it exactly is there? And can they tell if its a phone, iPad, or even a laptop?

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Ilya]

So if I use the wifi with my phone I assume all they know is "someone" is using it? No way to pinpoint who's using it exactly is there? And can they tell if its a phone, iPad, or even a laptop?

Depending on how sophisticated their IT department is, they might very well be able to figure out that it's you and you are connecting from your iPhone 5 using iOS 6.0.2
And they can easily see the list of all websites you are connecting to via their network.
The only thing that they normally (without special tools) would not be able to see is the content encrypted by SSL (HTTPS). But even that is not for sure.

 

[smokey982]

I would guess I have nothing to worry about. Our IT department is 700 miles away at our corporate offices and our company consist of around 40 stores. So I wouldn't think they have someone just sitting around monitoring the web habits of 40 locations. I mean really the only things on average I would be looking at anyway is Facebook, twitter, and of course my Satellite Guys app.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[StevenD]

So I wouldn't think they have someone just sitting around monitoring the web habits of 40 locations.

They have tools that do that for them. If the tool detects something it doesn't like, the admins will get notified. In my company, from detection to the end user being contacted can be less than 5 mins...unless they are building a case.

 

[klang]

If you are a big company it is even more likely IT is monitoring web traffic. I helped maintain a multiple location installation of a product called WebSense a few years back. The firewalls feed data in real time to the monitoring software. We could track everywhere somebody went.

 

[harshness]

They have tools that do that for them. If the tool detects something it doesn't like, the admins will get notified.

This depends entirely on the router. If it is a small shop with a simple internet connection using a consumer router, they can't discover anything. Often, satellite operations don't have the sophisticated equipment required to monitor activity.

If your company subscribes to conventional Internet service as opposed to TCP/IP WAN service, it is unlikely that they can see what's going on.

 

[Neutron]

In our facility we have a guest network for all customers and vendors. It's wide open so anyone can use it if they are in the building. It only grants access to the internet; no servers or printers though thanks to how our network is set up there is a way to get to the servers and printers on the guest network, but you really have to know the network to do it. I tried to get around this issue and close it up but unfortunately it will take real wifi devices to fix it. We have a couple of Linksys E1000 wireless routers that we use for our entire office. One is the main and the other is a repeater; both with DD-WRT firmware to enable the guest network.

I was just shipped a couple of Cisco Aeronets that I'm hoping they programmed right that will fix these issues.

Since our internet connection is so slow if I really want to I will use my company provided iPhone 5 and use its hotspot to have my personal 4S connect to.

We do have a firewall in our corporate office 450 miles away and it will try to block certain websites. The funny one is Cabelas. It blocks it thinking it's weapons. LOL

 

[smokey982]

If your company subscribes to conventional Internet service as opposed to TCP/IP WAN service, it is unlikely that they can see what's going on.

I really don't know how to determine that. I know our Internet provider is Charter. I also know that if we have a computer issue I can provide IT my IP address and they can login remotely.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Ramy]

Unless there is something you are trying to hide why not just surf the internet on your work PC?

 

[smokey982]

Unless there is something you are trying to hide why not just surf the internet on your work PC?

I do that occasionally while sitting at my desk during lunch. But most of the time I prefer using the apps on my phone over the desktop versions.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[mike123abc]

I use a VPN app (from VPNfire.com) whenever I am on open wifi. It encrypts everything sent from the iPad, so things that happen automatically like iMessage, mail checking, app checking, etc. all are encrypted.

 

[John Kotches]

Smokey:

I don't want to make you all paranoid or anything, but most of the monitoring would be done via automated means, and they'd then deal with exceptions, ie flagged entries.

Cheers

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD

 

[harshness]

I really don't know how to determine that. I know our Internet provider is Charter. I also know that if we have a computer issue I can provide IT my IP address and they can login remotely.

As I said, this depends on what kind of router you're running. I use consumer routers with my remote offices and I can use Remote Desktop or VNC to see/operate their computers but I can't see what isn't destined for me on their network. VPN can put you on a network but it doesn't feed you all the traffic on the LAN.

The answer to your conundrum is to not use the company network for anything you shouldn't be doing at work.