Can AIM conversations be tracked at work?

[Sacotool]

I work for a hospital with a T1 connection, I've been using AIM express to chat with friends, can whoever tracks the internet useage read my conversations?

 

[Zoltar]

Yes.

 

[Sacotool]

To clarify, AIM Express uses a Java Applet window for instant messages, no software has to be loaded on the computer.

 

[vi edit]

Does aim just use the standard port 80 for it's connection? Or, does it have another reserved port that it uses?

 

[KotchY]

in a way yes, a person can monitor your desktop remotly such as a program like netbus, but in real time, they have a program like this @ school, i can bypas it easily

 

[IJump]

Almost everything can be tracked. Attachments on hotmail can be pulled back up after the user has logged out, every keystroke on a computer can be recorded as well as screen shots at specific intervals. Internet traffic can be tracked, packets viewed.

One should not assume any level of privacy at the workplace.

<< they have a program like this @ school, i can bypas it easily >>

That is what kids at the school I work for thought, until we started showing them exaclty what was going on. Can't deny anything when the jpg is being shown to you. I am not sure about the level of security at your school, but ours is fairly tight.
On the flip side, people are always working on ways to beat the system. That is what makes my job so much fun. Kind of like a little game.

 

[Sacotool]

Hmm, I wonder if anyone would bother to go back read my AIM conversations. Nothing really bad was said, but still.....

 

[IJump]

I usually only check up on things when I am tipped by somethign or someone, or for know trouble makers. I usually don't have a lot of time to play &quot;Big Brother&quot;. Don't draw a lot of attention to yourself and most of the time you are OK.


Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if you take the above statement to mean that you won't be caught. Everything you do, you do at your own risk.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Usually nobody is specifically looking at every little thing you do. However it CAN all be monitored and recorded, and it doesn't even require that any software be loaded on the individual workstations. If your company has a firewall, any and all traffic to the Internet or other parts of the intranet have to pass through that server. All it takes is a packet sniffer on the server, and they can tell exactly what was sent (the only way around that is to encrypt the data before it is sent, which most programs do not do). In these cases, the server is usually only watching out for specific keywords such as web site addresses (usually the server is also proxying for the LAN). Only in the most strict situations would the server log every instance that a dirty word was sent over the network. It would also be rather difficult for them to log and store EVERYTHING that ever goes across the LAN, forever; the storage space required would simply be too much (even if it is backed up onto tape or something), but it isn't impossible.

 

[Sacotool]

thanks for the info guys, i'll be more careful from now on