HELP: is my company monitoring my private web browsing via Samsung SIII

Forums › Android › HELP: is my company monitoring my private web browsing via Samsung SIII

NoviceBoi

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#152292 22-Sep-2014 20:23

Hi everyone,
I have a Samsung SIII provided by my company. Its connected to both the wifi at work and also at home and of course a phone carrier.

I have just noticed that the web searches on my HOME NOTEBOOK appear on the Company Phone as well when I open Google (that's the blue square icon with google under it) not the world icon with Internet under it.

If the subjects of my home web browsing are appearing on the cell phone, I guess this is also visible to our IT dept???

Is this standard, or has something been loaded onto my cell phone to enable this?

How do I stop this happening.

Thanks - NoviceBoi

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#1134057 22-Sep-2014 20:26

You see the searches across devices thanks to Google - not your company. This is a feature of their services: Google will try to have your preferences and data across multiple devices, providing you have logged in on your browser (on laptop/desktop) and phone (which is obviously since you need a Google account to use Android for most things).

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nathan

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#1134062 22-Sep-2014 20:35

Use incognito mode at home add it won't appear on your other google connected end points

Batman

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#1134086 22-Sep-2014 20:44

you company is most probably NOT watching you

Google is DEFINITELY watching YOU

johnr

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#1134087 22-Sep-2014 20:46

I think it's the GCSB surveillance van, Check for dodgy vehicles outside your house and any WiFi access points call ' GCSB surveillance van '

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=152272

nathan

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#1134089 22-Sep-2014 20:49

If you're browsing the web through your companies proxy server on their corpnet they probably are watching you

Coil

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#1134102 22-Sep-2014 21:20

Dude,

All that Pr0n on your work phone. I have seen it.
They are sitting in a dark room just looking at your front camera when they certain keywords are entered into google.
( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º)

scuwp

3761 posts

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#1134103 22-Sep-2014 21:22

Also, some companies have MDM software installed on their devices. If thats the case then yes they probably access anything on the phone, your location etc.

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phantomdb

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#1134120 22-Sep-2014 21:49

scuwp: Also, some companies have MDM software installed on their devices. If thats the case then yes they probably access anything on the phone, your location etc.

MDM? just out of interest whats that short for?

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mckenndk

907 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1134122 22-Sep-2014 21:57

MDM? just out of interest whats that short for?

Mobile Device Management

nzgeek

617 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1134178 22-Sep-2014 23:26

In general, you should assume that anything you do on the company's network is being monitored and can be traced back to you.

Things to consider:

Mobile Device Management policies themselves can't view your browsing history, but they have the power to remotely install software that could.
Many firewalls are capable of logging all of your web traffic for later reporting. All of it.
HTTPS will mask the pages you've viewed on a particular site, but it will not mask the fact that you've been to that site.
There are several companies that sell URL categorization lists, which basically provide a list of matched categories for any site name or IP address you throw at them. IF anyone's watching, they'll be able to tell exactly which dodgy sites you're looking at, or if you're trying to find ways around being monitored.
Some proxies are able to perform main-in-the-middle decryption of web traffic, which allows them to see what you're doing on HTTPS sites. The only gotcha is that you need to install a special root certificate on the device doing the browsing. Just like you can do with an MDM policy.
Some MDM policies can force the use of a VPN if you're not connected to the work WiFi network. This means that all of your traffic goes out through the work firewall, even if you're using mobile data or your home WiFi network.

Even though all of the above are possible, the reality is that there's probably little to no monitoring of your private browsing information. They might be keeping an eye on whether you're visiting any sites that could carry some form of corporate liability (e.g. porn, illegal downloads), but that's about as far as they'll go.

If in doubt, keep separate phones for work and personal purposes. It's a pain to carry two phones around (speaking from personal experience here!) but it does help to draw a clear line between work matters and private matters.

NoviceBoi

9 posts

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#1134211 23-Sep-2014 06:50

Hi nzgeek and all the others who have replied.
Thanks for your advice.
Cheers - NoviceBi

freitasm

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#1134220 23-Sep-2014 07:42

joker97: you company is most probably NOT watching you

Google is DEFINITELY watching YOU

Actually you have to assume your company is watching you. There will be monitoring of what websites employees are visiting, email contents to make sure secrets aren't leaked, etc.

Yes, it's most likely part of your employment contract or IT policy.

This is however not related to the topic. The topic is really Google using personal data collected when you login to their services in other devices where you also login to their services.

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frankv

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#1134224 23-Sep-2014 07:51

I agree that what you 'uncovered' was Google helping you, rather than your company spying on you.

However, if your phone has been provided by your company, then it's their property and they can put whatever conditions they like on its use. Particularly if they also pay for the data usage on it. Your company should have an IT or Internet or whatever policy that outlines your rights and responsibilities, and you should have signed that. Make sure you understand what you agreed to there.

1101

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#1134356 23-Sep-2014 10:04

Simple fixes
use 2 separate google a/c's & emails , 1 for the ph, 1 for home PC
dont use chrome
dont actually automatically login to google on the browser on the home pc

Stress

48 posts

Geek

#1134392 23-Sep-2014 10:44

I agree, use separate google accounts for home and work. I have one for my personal stuff and one for my work stuff. It works well.

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