Will wifi be ok?

[memetootoo]

So I have a new job which has a lot of down time, and I was wondering if I’m using the wifi provided at work will the admins be able to see that I am visiting non work related sites such as this? It’s a new job so I would rather not get fired for something like this. :P Access to the wifi does not require log in info. It just connects, and asks you to click agree to not misuse the wifi provided.


Any information that can be provided would be very helpful.

Thank you

[Kalos]

It's definantly within thier capabilities to view and record sites viewed. Most businesses do, helps them penalise employees spending thier expensive bandwidth on none-work related sites. As to your own IT department's awareness and policies, I can't say. Some companies are relatively lax in what they restrict, others are very tight; employers don't tend to like it if it is on thier time either no matter if the administrators aren't hawk eyed.

They can trace IPs and MAC addresses, login information is not necessary for identification.

[memetootoo]

Thanks for the reply, although I always thought because it was through wifi, there was no way of identifying who I am.... As some random person can walk into the building and use the wifi as well. How is that person differentiatedfrom me, who is actually employed?

If you don't mind can you explain a bit more on how that works?

Thank you

[Kalos]

You computer has several identifiers in its signal, it is possible to pinpoint the location of a connected computer provided one has the rgiht equiptment for sniffing the signals. Don't be lulled into a false sense of anonimity; most people don't even know about thier MAC addresses, let alone how to change them. All they need is a single dodgy site, which will have that information, and a quick two minute requesition of your laptop will reveal it to be bearing the corresponding address; hence the link is formed. If there are several of you working in one area IT might conviscate the laptops of all the people who were close to that hub at the time at the end of the day and just run through them, possible to search and find out the information necessary at a rate of twenty every hour.

Your computer is packed full of identifiers, most people don't even know of thier existence.

[memetootoo]

Wow, ok thank you for the replies.

/Bye

No more forums at work :(

[Tanitha]

To add to what Kalos has said, most of the time you will see an IP address as well. Simply running nbtstat -a 192.168.0.67 (Or whatever the IP is) will return something similar to:

192.168.0.67 (Normal to PRIMGATEWAY):
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.67] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
BUTTERCUP <00> UNIQUE Registered
QBIK <00> GROUP Registered
BUTTERCUP <20> UNIQUE Registered

MAC Address = 00-0E-A6-BF-B8-ED


Alternatively, and packet sniffer in promiscuous mode (Depending on network topology) will be able to quickly identify your machine. Or just checking the arp cache (again, dependant on topology)

Either way, it is very easy to pin you down.

[memetootoo]

Thanks for the replies guys, time to hit the book store for some old fashioned entertainment =D