Porno history in the server

[leomendez93]

I have rented an office space inside a sales office which is inside an executive suite building. We have approximately 10 individual offices in the building. Yet, the management company, owner of the building, provide us with the internet connection which we all share. As I open my computer daily I can see a list of all servers in the building. I can access this sales business server if I so need to (which I help with some office work to make some extra money).

My question is: can they see that I visit justusboys.com/forum? By the way, the computer used to access jsutusboys.com/forum is my private one. I am self employed but since I share the building, I do not want them to know I go to porno sites and which one I go to. If so, what can they see? Just that I have visited a porno site or that I have seen x, y, z, under justusboys.com/forum?

The only time I go to justusboys.com is late in the evening when I am working on my own stuff.

Thank you

 

[andysayshi]

Anything you look at that passes through their server can be monitored by them, regardless of which computer you use to do it. They can identify any specific URL you visit, and will see specifically that JUB is labelled "JustUsBoys.com Gay Community".

That's not to say they DO monitor traffic, but they certainly can if they choose.

 

[T-Rexx]

Management knows. Whether or not they care is another matter.

More worrisome, it is conceivable that people in the other offices of your building know where you are surfing as well. It is unlikely, but they may even be recording every image passed to your computer from the internet, every video you watch, every page you read, and every post you make. There is no way for your computer to detect whether or not someone is listening - it is completely anonymous.

It would seem that the management company has set up your office building as a LAN with a bridge to the internet. All LANs operate like old-fashioned telephone party lines: every computer on the LAN can listen in on all traffic on the LAN, regardless of whether or not that traffic is intended for the listening computer. Applications like Driftnet can be run from any workstation in the building to monitor all traffic on the building network, regardless of what office has initiated the traffic. Any computer with access to the LAN is capable of seeing everything everyone else is doing.

If you don't want them to know (including management), then use a VPN. That will encrypt the traffic between your computer and the VPN server. Other people on your building LAN will still be able to see your traffic, but without the decryption key, it will appear to them as jibberish.

 

[leomendez93]

Thank you for such awesome answers. What are the people next office using to know what I am surfing and watching. Is that something easy to do? How can you do that?

Most importantly, how can a use a VPN. I have no idea what it is but better start using it.

Thank you,

Mauro

 

[T-Rexx]

Thank you for such awesome answers. What are the people next office using to know what I am surfing and watching. Is that something easy to do? How can you do that?

As I said, programs like Driftnet can be used by the people in those offices to spy on you. And yes, it's very easy.

I'm not saying anyone is actually spying on you. For a small office building LAN, I would hope that's extremely unlikely. The point is, you can never know. Appreciate that the possibility is always there.

You could just as easily spy on them, of course!

Most importantly, how can a use a VPN. I have no idea what it is but better start using it.

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network. It is a computer on the Internet to which your computer connects. The VPN computer then makes its own connection to the Internet, and it provides that connection to you so that you may effectively do your surfing from the VPN computer.

The connection between your computer and the VPN computer is encrypted, so that anyone spying on the connection between you and the VPN computer can only see encrypted jibberish. They cannot know what sites you are visiting or what content you are viewing.

The trouble with VPNs is that they cost money. You subscribe to the service provided by the VPN company. It will typically cost about $5 to $15 USD monthly. There are a few free VPNs that you can look into, but these often restrict what you can do in ways that make them unpracticable.

There is a discussion of some free VPNs (and how they work generally) here.

One of the more popular (but cheap) paid VPN services is Relakks, which costs € 45,00 annually (about $63/year).

How you connect to the VPN will depend on the operating system on your computer and the particular VPN in question. But they will give you instructions, generally, to guide you through the process. It is not difficult.

 

[T-Rexx]

BTW, if you have a computer at home with a reasonably fast internet connection, you could set it up as your own, private VPN server. Since you would (presumably) be paying the cost of the home connection anyway, this is a way to get a high speed VPN service "free." You would establish an encrypted connection between your work and your home computer. When you surfed from work through your home VPN, you would effectively be surfing from home. Anyone spying on the connection between your work and your home PC would see nothing but jibberish.

This is not so easy to set up for novices, however. If $63/year is not excessive for you, a commercial VPN service would make life much easier for you.

 

[leomendez93]

T-Rexx, you are amazing. Yes, I will try to figure it out as I use mac. After your first message I had read some. Thank you so much. It is is really educational. I will check into paying for a VPN or try to figure it out from home like you said. I use Macintoshi. I will talk to Apple tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[T-Rexx]

There is one more solution I can suggest to you, but it is considerably more expensive than a VPN service. It has other advantages that may appeal to you, however.

If you are in the USA, Virgin Mobile USA now offers UNLIMITED 3G internet data connections through their cell phone network for just $40/month. You buy their USB dongle (it's about $80, and available at Radio Shack and many other stores) and pay $40/month in advance each month for the service. There is no contract. Plug the dongle into a usb port of your Mac or Windows computer and run the setup program. (I have managed to get it working flawlessly in Ubuntu, also, but there is no automated setup program for Ubuntu).

Then, just surf through Virgin's 3G wireless phone network, completely bypassing your office LAN.

The advantage of this is that it is portable. It works fine from a desktop computer. But, if you have a laptop or netbook computer, you can even use it in a car or on a bus or train. Use it at home or at work or anywhere there is Sprint phone service (Virgin piggybacks off of Sprint's phone network).

The disadvantage is the cost ($40/month) and the speed is not quite as fast as a wired connection.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/

 

[leomendez93]

Your last posting just hit the point. I do have a pre palm with a hot spot application. I have been able to connect to the internet using this device and my computer. That is perfect way to do it. Sometimes it works perfectly. Sometimes it does not. Yet, it will do for those moments that I may want to run form reality. Thank you again. You are great.

 

[Corny]

a different solution would be to use an encrypted remote desktop or VNC connection to the machine at home, just to visit the "naughty" sites.
in a good world however, the management of the office space wouldn't care ... or yet better, offer their clients VLANs so that at least you can't snoop at the other offices. the way it is now, only calls for espionage .. and i am not talking about the naughty sites but business relevant stuff ..