Ask HN: How do I audit my employer for invading my privacy?

11 pointsniche10y ago11 comments

For real: here is a little story, I work for a Fortune 500 botnet, I brought my work laptop to a friends house, VPN'd in from their house and now their network is absolutely fried (strange behavior, weird connections, etc)...even after replacing the router. Additionally, I am almost certain my iPhone is bugged, and these strange little saucers appeared on my telephone poles a few months ago. I am almost certain I have been "surveiled", join the club right? But seriously, how can I go about proving they are invading my privacy? How do I expose their malware?

11 comments

jolan10y ago

There's a community dedicated to discussing these sorts of things:

https://www.reddit.com/r/badBIOS/

nicheOP10y ago

Thanks! I posted a new comment about the saucers under this...

gesman10y ago

>> strange little saucers appeared on my telephone poles a few months ago..

Post a picture

nicheOP10y ago

http://s13.postimg.org/7e04u78cn/IMG_0414.jpg

tptacek10y ago

Isn't that just an insulator?

Here's an easy and safe thing you can do that might make you feel a bit more in control of your thoughts: drive around your town looking at the electrical poles, and notice how many of them have the same discs on top of them. Rationally, your neighbors can't all be targets of surveillance of some random company.

wglb10y ago

Er, dude, those are glass insulators from the 50's or 40's or maybe even earlier. It looks like that pole is disintegrating starting at the top from weather, and they added a little short shaft to support the insulator, so it might not be on all poles. And it is quite likely the ground wire, as the next wire down--the one wrapped in a twisted pair--is the actual high voltage one.

justintbassett10y ago

If one were bugging a telephone line, I think they'd use something far less conspicuous

1 more reply

junto10y ago

It is more than likely that you aren't being bugged. The network issue might well be just a misconfigured home router.

You have two possible choices:

- Technological (wireshark/MITM) to look at network traffic

- Sociological (trick your employer into admitting it)

Assuming that you aren't bothered about risking your job, then you could always do something that triggers your employer to act in a way that demonstrates that you are being monitored.

I don't have any great ideas of what you could do, but please make sure it is legal and ideally doesn't break your employment contract!

partisan10y ago

My concern when I had a work issued laptop was that they would see the network traffic my wife was generating by streaming YouTube videos and playing video games and assume it was me. Fortunately, it seems that was not the case.

I am not one to turn away from a good conspiracy theory, so don't get me wrong. I just think you can see any patterns you want in the random noise of life. It is a strange set of symptoms your friend is experiencing, but why would they destroy your network, hampering you from being able to do work?

vgeek10y ago

Is your name John Nash?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

11 comments

jolan10y ago

There's a community dedicated to discussing these sorts of things:

https://www.reddit.com/r/badBIOS/

nicheOP10y ago

Thanks! I posted a new comment about the saucers under this...

gesman10y ago

>> strange little saucers appeared on my telephone poles a few months ago..

Post a picture

nicheOP10y ago

http://s13.postimg.org/7e04u78cn/IMG_0414.jpg

tptacek10y ago

Isn't that just an insulator?

wglb10y ago

justintbassett10y ago

If one were bugging a telephone line, I think they'd use something far less conspicuous

1 more reply

junto10y ago

It is more than likely that you aren't being bugged. The network issue might well be just a misconfigured home router.

You have two possible choices:

- Technological (wireshark/MITM) to look at network traffic

- Sociological (trick your employer into admitting it)

Assuming that you aren't bothered about risking your job, then you could always do something that triggers your employer to act in a way that demonstrates that you are being monitored.

I don't have any great ideas of what you could do, but please make sure it is legal and ideally doesn't break your employment contract!

partisan10y ago

vgeek10y ago

Is your name John Nash?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse