Screenshots and Spyware on a Network

[garmiste 2]

I work in a school in China that has suddenly changed admin and become somewhat hostile. According to one of the IT people here, they've installed software on a server that would enable them to take screenshots of anyone's computer or phone that is on the network. We don't have to install software on our laptops or phones to be able to get on the network so I really don't see how taking screenshots is remotely possible. It MIGHT work if we log onto the network to move files or to print, but even that seems a bit of a stretch.

 

I trust the IT guy as far as being honest. He didn't install this new powerful software, but heard someone else in his office talking about it. I'm guessing if I'm on a VPN my Internet use should still be secure. Any comments or ideas about this?

[zhang888 1066]

VPNs cannot and are not designed to protect you from admins who have access to your machine.

If you are part of the Windows domain, and the admin has the rights to install software on your machine, they can install any monitoring software.

[garmiste 2]

Yes, logging onto a Windows domain would be a concern, however I've simply refused to do that since the change. Maybe I'm wrong, but accessing the Internet through a router on a network and logging into a Windows domain would seem to be two different things.

[gnarly333 1]

So if you are on their router they can see your traffic. BUT on VPN it should be encrypted BUT also you will probably be the one who gets that loophole plugged and VPN traffic will be blocked shortly if they really are trying to have the control they want, but im also not sure there is a way to block on OpenVPN yet. as for screen shots, I dont think they can on BYOD (unless malware) but on their internal computers I wouldnt doubt it. At a call center I worked at a couple years back all computer use was video captured and you would get them pulled at random for reviews, kinda creepy lol.