AA-in-CA
asked on
Employee screen monitoring software
A customer of ours has expressed interest in buying screen-monitoring software, so that they can watch what employees are doing on their PCs in real time. However, there are dozens of employees they want to watch at once, so whichever solution we select needs to be able to present many employee screens on the monitoring screen at the same time, in a realtime "thumbnailed" fashion. Apple has a remote administration tool that does this (among other things):
We'd prefer a product that works on both PCs and Macs, and doesn't advertise its presence too much once installed. Have you heard of or used any products like this?
We'd prefer a product that works on both PCs and Macs, and doesn't advertise its presence too much once installed. Have you heard of or used any products like this?
ASKER
No, they specifically want to be able to observe whatever the employee happens to be doing with their computer, not just web access.
I just googled "computer screen monitoring software" and found some hits. They might be solutions.
This is a bit crazy and if you are at this point you should not even hire people you do not trust.
This is a bit crazy and if you are at this point you should not even hire people you do not trust.
ASKER
I'm not asking you to editorialize about the wisdom of the company's HR policies. If you don't have a recommendation to make, please don't post in the thread (for that matter, why would you suggest web filtering, given the specificity of my question?!).
And thanks, I know how to use Google; what I was hoping to find, was someone who had a specific recommendation to share, because they use or have used software like this in the past.
And thanks, I know how to use Google; what I was hoping to find, was someone who had a specific recommendation to share, because they use or have used software like this in the past.
Difficult choice. Make a recommendation and keep job. Or, decline. Either way, who do you believe is you real customer - end of day.
The end-user. That is the customer. Companies exist on paper, come and go. People, move on to the next piece of paper entity.
They love or hate technology. If you can turn that hate to love, the industry wins.
What this person is asking is not illegal and yet is not legal. It is a grey area. I have DoD Top Secret Clearance. Former HIPAA Officer.
I have one way, brutal honest.
Do not provide a solution that can monitor the employees without notification. Minimum, you provide a solution that turns the screen black or notifies the user they are being monitored.
Consider why this is being asked. The "agenda".
This is not how technology works. We are not here to spy on people at work. We provide solutions that allow them to do their job. We are trusted with a lot of information.
We are the last resort. The more you know, the harder it gets. I'm going on 21 years. You are obligated to protect the end-user. Not management.
Management comes and goes, end-users stay and will always complain because that is what they do but they are not wrong. By the time you give them a PC, all the add-ons, 4 GB of RAM for Windows 10, it runs slow?
Doesn't matter if you migrate users to Office 365 or convert Active Directory to 2016. That 4+ GB of RAM cost save on the workstation, so the end user could have 8 GB minimum, perhaps 16? Solid state drives (they do exist). On the backend, a VMWare server running at 2 percent utilization.
A SQL query that takes 7 minutes more than it should. A single Ransomware attack.
End of day, your customer is the end-user. Everything they do and how they do their job is your responsibility.
Do not do it.
If your manager wants to know why, my information is right there. I have no problem explaining why.
The end-user. That is the customer. Companies exist on paper, come and go. People, move on to the next piece of paper entity.
They love or hate technology. If you can turn that hate to love, the industry wins.
What this person is asking is not illegal and yet is not legal. It is a grey area. I have DoD Top Secret Clearance. Former HIPAA Officer.
I have one way, brutal honest.
Do not provide a solution that can monitor the employees without notification. Minimum, you provide a solution that turns the screen black or notifies the user they are being monitored.
Consider why this is being asked. The "agenda".
This is not how technology works. We are not here to spy on people at work. We provide solutions that allow them to do their job. We are trusted with a lot of information.
We are the last resort. The more you know, the harder it gets. I'm going on 21 years. You are obligated to protect the end-user. Not management.
Management comes and goes, end-users stay and will always complain because that is what they do but they are not wrong. By the time you give them a PC, all the add-ons, 4 GB of RAM for Windows 10, it runs slow?
Doesn't matter if you migrate users to Office 365 or convert Active Directory to 2016. That 4+ GB of RAM cost save on the workstation, so the end user could have 8 GB minimum, perhaps 16? Solid state drives (they do exist). On the backend, a VMWare server running at 2 percent utilization.
A SQL query that takes 7 minutes more than it should. A single Ransomware attack.
End of day, your customer is the end-user. Everything they do and how they do their job is your responsibility.
Do not do it.
If your manager wants to know why, my information is right there. I have no problem explaining why.
Consider this, if they can monitor it. So can someone else. This is not a realistic reality, not even in the world of Top Secret. Request to monitor one user, maybe. Easily done. Most vendors and rightly so, like VNC, don't give you the option of not notifying the end-user because they don't want to be part of a lawsuit. Information privacy, doesn't exist. However, that data and the capture of that information is not for you or I to decide. If someone is doing something illegal, it will be found. If they are visiting websites they should not, shame on IT. If the end-user is infected with a virus by email, shame on IT. If HR hires the wrong people, shame on them not IT. If they leverage recruiters to fill every position, you barely have an HR so shame on the leadership. You can print this, and put it right in front of the person asking you to do this.
-Brian Murphy
-Brian Murphy
1. You need to have an Acceptable Usage Policy in place that informs the user that their usage may be monitored.
2, Then you make it as difficult as possible to violate the AUP
3. Shadowing a bunch of users will chew up a lot of network bandwidth. Perhaps a screen capture utility that is time stamped and includes the users name would be a better option. A quick google search of "automatic screen capture software" will give you some examples. Security professionals actually try and prevent the installation of screen monitoring/auto-capturing software
As has been mentioned, continually, is that this is an HR problem and not a technology problem. Another item of concern is security itself.. Any solution you implement has to be highly secured or someone other than management will also have the ability to snoop.
The requirement that this software be hidden from the users is also troubling. Just the presence (highly visible) even if it is not operating will probably give you the desired effect as the employee will not know whether or not they are being actively monitored.
2, Then you make it as difficult as possible to violate the AUP
3. Shadowing a bunch of users will chew up a lot of network bandwidth. Perhaps a screen capture utility that is time stamped and includes the users name would be a better option. A quick google search of "automatic screen capture software" will give you some examples. Security professionals actually try and prevent the installation of screen monitoring/auto-capturing software
As has been mentioned, continually, is that this is an HR problem and not a technology problem. Another item of concern is security itself.. Any solution you implement has to be highly secured or someone other than management will also have the ability to snoop.
The requirement that this software be hidden from the users is also troubling. Just the presence (highly visible) even if it is not operating will probably give you the desired effect as the employee will not know whether or not they are being actively monitored.
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Shaun's solution is the best alternative, in my opinion.
Your are better off getting a website filtering and monitoring appliance.
I am not going to recommend any particular one, but this would be easier to manage and the ones I use have reporting capabilities.
This is device agnostic. (PC, mac, iOS, android)