5 Tips for Staying Private Online at Work
Posted by freemexy on November 22nd, 2019
Do you ever feel paranoid that your boss is watching over your shoulder? There’s a good chance that he or she is — and they don’t have to literally stand there to do it! Considering that the average employee spends between one to three hours a day browsing the internet for personal use at work, there’s plenty reason why employers are taking measures to monitor their employees.
Whether your company has strict policies about personal internet use at work, or you simply want to squash that somebody’s-watching-me feeling, taking the correct measures to conceal your online activity at work is much easier than it sounds. Take a look at these 5 quick tips for staying private online while on the job.
Use a VPN.
Masking all of your online activity with specialized software — in this case, a VPN service — is your safest, go-to trick for staying hidden from your employer’s radar. If you’re unfamiliar, for example, make you and everything you do online virtually invisible to anyone trying to keep tabs on your activity through your network.
Use incognito mode.
For a quick fix to hide your online activity on the clock, switch your browser to incognito mode or private browsing. So, what does incognito mode protect you from? By preventing cookies from identifying and tracking you and your activity online, incognito mode or private browsing basically stops your employer from taking a peek at your browsing history. While this method isn’t completely foolproof, it’s a solid step in the direction to ease your paranoia about being monitored.
Save the NSFW searches for your days off.
While this may seem like an obvious tip, you’d be surprised at how many employees don’t use the common sense to not search for inappropriate images, videos, and more not only on their work computers, but on company time. We suggest skipping the risk and keeping the searches for risky content for your own time on your own devices. Online shopping, paying your bills, browsing social media, and other basic activities of that nature might be easy to cover up, but accessing adult content and other NSFW searches are just best left at home.
Look for monitoring software on your computer.
Curious as to what your employer may or may not be using to track you? One example of employee monitoring comes in the form of remote desktop software. This allows employers to monitor what you see on your screen. To check for this type of software on your device, you can actually search for programs like RealVNC, TightVNC, UltraVNC, LogMeIn, or GoToMyPC on your ‘Start Menu’ if you have Windows, and in your ‘Applications’ or ‘System Preferences’ if you have a Mac.
Become familiar with your company’s policies.
Having a solid grasp on what your company does and does not allow at work is a basic yet vital step in protecting your privacy. For example, some employers forbid any personal use of internet on company time, while others are much more lax and only prohibit searching certain types of content on work-related devices. Make good use of your employee handbook or contact your human resources department to get the necessary information on your company’s internet use policy. Once you know, you can start taking the necessary steps to anonymize your web activity.
Remember to always be aware of what your company’s policies are, and to take the initiative to stay as private as possible while on the clock to avoid stepping on any toes.
Do you have a hack for staying private online at work? Share your methods with our community in the comment section!
