An IT worker has issued a stark warning to those who use work computers for personal stuff, claiming employers could see websites you browse EVEN when you work from home
- Remote work has recently become a reality for many employees; and working from home offers the opportunity to use work computers for other things
- However, an IT worker has warned those who use their work computer for personal reasons
- He claimed he can see what “sites” you’re “browsing,” adding, “If you cross that, a lot of bad things could potentially happen.”
- The IT worker, known as @scarlettsunders on TikTok, explained why it’s important to separate your work computer from your personal life in a viral video
- He warned that a monitoring tool can remotely access computers provided by your company without users even knowing
- “These things can be very profound and make us aware of different things,” he warned
An IT worker has warned those who use their work computers for personal reasons, claiming employers can see which “sites” you “browse”.
With the onset of the pandemic, remote work became a reality for many workers and employers alike; and working from home gives employees the opportunity to explore the line between downtime and working time.
Now an IT pro who regularly posts videos about internet safety on his TikTok channel has issued a warning to employees who use their work computers for things outside of their job.
The IT worker, who appears to be based in the US and goes by the username @scarlettsunders on the video streaming app, explained in a viral video why it’s important to separate your work computer from your personal life.
An IT worker has warned those who use their work computers for personal reasons, claiming he can see what “websites” you’re “browsing”.
The IT worker, known as @scarlettsunders on TikTok, explained why it’s important to separate your work computer from your personal life in a viral video
“Let me tell you why you shouldn’t do more than work on your company-provided work laptop,” he said in the video, which racked up over 129,000 views.
“I work for a technology company called Managed Service Provider. That means we are an IT company hired by your company to manage all of your IT.”
The IT rep explained how he spends his days installing remote management monitoring tools that allow IT staff to keep an eye on every single computer that is issued.
He then warned that they can access these computers through this tool without any of the users even knowing.
“We also have backend access to your computer through the command prompt, so we can navigate without using a user interface [user interface],’ he continued.
He warned that he can access computers provided by your company through an installed monitoring tool without any of the users even knowing
This means they can access your work computer at any time and poke around there and see what websites you’ve visited and exactly what you’ve been doing
“These things can be very profound and alert us to different things that are going on. Not to mention that if you’re using a VPN to work, we log a lot of that traffic.
That means they can access and poke around on your work computer at any time and see what websites you’ve visited and what you’ve been doing exactly, just through their monitoring tool.
“Keep your work stuff on your work computer and your personal stuff on your PC,” he said. “If you cross that, a lot of bad things could potentially happen.”
According to Apollo Technical, a leading IT and engineering agency, over 4.7 million people work remotely at least half the time.
Many remote workers chimed in to share their thoughts on the IT staffer’s warning, and it came as no surprise to most.
Plenty of remote workers chimed in to share their thoughts on the IT worker doubling as a TikToker alert, and it came as no surprise to most
One user said: “I won’t even connect my phone to the wifi, my stuff stays mine.”
Another added, “Just never do anything but work on your work laptop!”
“It is sad that this needs to be explained at all. I always keep my stuff separate,” wrote another.
One user even compared the monitoring to other countries, saying, “Well, um, in Europe they have this thing called privacy laws and employees can get in a lot of trouble monitoring what I’m doing on the laptop.”