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Ask Slashdot: Using Company Laptop For Personal Use
An anonymous reader writes "I'm starting a new job soon, and I will be issued a work laptop. For obvious reasons I cannot name any names, but I can state that I do expect my employer to have tracking software on the laptop, and I expect to not be the administrator on the device. That being said, I am not the kind of person who can just 'not browse the internet.' If I ever have to travel with this laptop, I may want to read an ebook or watch a movie or maybe even play a game. I can make an image of the drive, then wipe the machine, and restore it back to its former state if I ever have to return it. I can use portable apps off a usb key and browse in private mode. The machine will be encrypted, but I can also make myself my own little encrypted folder or partition perhaps. Are there any other precautions I could or should take?"
I can make an image of the drive, then wipe the machine, and restore it back to its former state if I ever have to return it.
Is your new job worth it? Not saying you'll automatically lose your job over that, but I can't imagine it'll go over well. Especially as you'd be using your (non-work prepared) laptop for doing work and might inadvertantly put them at risk (the kind of risk they hope to eliminate by issuing you the laptop in the first place).
The simple solution is get yourself a USB / livecd type distro. Don't touch the hard drive.. and if it's encrypted, you shouldn't be putting your company at risk (assuming you don't use the same key for anything else). Personally I'd ask your IT guys if they are ok with this before doing it. Sometimes they can actually be reasonable about this kind of stuff.
The real solution here is to leave your work laptop alone completely and get your own laptop for personal use.
Just get a Tablet/Netbook of your choice and use that for web surfing, personal email, video and music streaming, etc.
Its a far more honest way of going about it, and by shopping around you will find a tablet that fits your needs, and can be slipped into the same carrying case the laptop uses. You may only need a wifi model, but tablets with data plans are not that expensive. You can add encryption to the tablet, if you want.
This gives you the freedom to do as you wish, and you can still move things back and forth between the tablet and the laptop as needed via any number of means when you have a legitimate reason to do so.
If you expect there to be tracking software on the machine out of the gate, then trying to go down the deception road is just a Bad Idea. Key loggers will log what ever you do, and removing them is not likely to go unnoticed. Key loggers things, if properly installed, can even read work you do in a USB thumb-drive based Linux distribution. And depending on how savvy your company's IT department is you may find any attempt to use the laptop in way other than what was intended will trigger alarms. Wiping the drive and restoring it to some back level state amounts to an admission you were doing something you weren't supposed to do. And you may not be given the opportunity to do so, when IT walks in (or accesses it remotely) to do a routine upgrade, and finds all sorts of ebooks and games, etc.
Nope, my advice is to celebrate your first pay check with a gift to yourself of that Tablet or Netbook you've always wanted. This way, you and your employer stay on each other's good side.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
We don't know what the terms or the job are. If you travel a lot with work, having to haul two laptops around may be unreasonable.
Read your company's employee handbook and policies. it's very likely that they allow "limited personal use". Just don't do anything stupid like watching porn or pirating stuff on the thing.
If you have any doubts about running any specific software on it, talk to your boss or call HR. They should know what the company's policies are.
I have a work-issued laptop. I'm allowed to browse the internet on it so long as it's a reasonable amount, and the corporate image came with media players, including a DVD player, so I'm fairly sure I can watch movies/listen to music on it when I travel.
But I never do. I take my own personal laptop with me. It's just a lot more comfortable that way.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
If you're seriously thinking that you need to go through that much trouble to hide your "bad work habits," the problem really is you. You appear to be aware of your less-than-exceptional work habits. Reading between the lines, it almost appears as though you lost another previous job because of your self-distractions during work.
Rather than try and hide your browsing history, why not try working for a change? They are paying you to work, after all. And on periods of downtime, bring your own laptop.
Nope. But that's life.
In my case, I worked to get rid of the company-issued laptop in favor of citrixing into my desktop at work. That means I have to carry less, and since I'm not constantly on the road, works well for me.
I agree with everyone else. Trying to subvert your company's security policy, especially as a new employee, is an excellent way not to be an employee for very long. Just ask them if you're allowed to use the laptop for personal use. If they say no, then don't do it. If they say it depends, tell them what you have in mind. My employer wouldn't care if I was reading ebooks on it. Reasonable personal use also wouldn't be an issue. Messing around on FB on my own time? No problem. Browsing porn? Yeah, that's not going to be ok. Watching movies? Depends. DVD? Fine. Netflix (or anything else you have legit rights to)? Fine. Downloading them illegally to watch? Not a chance.
Basically, don't be an idiot.
The answer is so obvious to get your own laptop that I can't believe this even made it on the boards. Slow nerd day?
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
When I am stuck traveling with the company laptop, I bring along a bootable USB fob with the latest Linux Mint on it and use that when I'm "off the clock." Some companies will try to lock down the bios so you can't even do that (forces the encrypted HD to boot first). So if that's the case, I'd just bring your own laptop/tablet along and call it a day.
I don't agree with companies to do this kind of thing, but in these economic times it's not worth losing a job over.
Best,
I know people will go to great lengths to complain about their "right" to abuse company resources for their own benefit, but this takes the cake.
You want to WIPE the company hard drive and all the software that is provided for you to do your job, and you don't see a fundamental flaw in this reasoning?
You, sir, are a selfish, greedy, ignorant, and probably USELESS fuck who shouldn't be hired by ANYONE.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
If I may, I'd like to address a couple of assumptions in your post:
"I can make an image of the drive, then wipe the machine, and restore it back to its former state if I ever have to return it."
You can't guarantee this. I am on the security team at my company. When a person is being let go they called into a meeting and someone collects their laptop or desktop while they are in the meeting. In only one case have we allowed someone to access their system after it was collected, and that was under supervised conditions. We pull the laptop hard drive, label it, and shelve it. If that were your drive, we could have your personal information sitting on a shelf for years, waiting for someone to access it. While this didn't happen to me, a friend of mine was asked to peruse the hard drive of a terminated employee, and what she found led to criminal charges being filed against the ex employee. Not saying you would do anything illegal, but never put yourself in a situation where someone else has unlimited and unrestricted access to your personal data.
Also, this could be a violation of company policy and could be grounds for disciplinary action.
"I can use portable apps off a usb key and browse in private mode."
Yes, you can, but that doesn't mean you can bypass any monitoring or filtering software installed on the machine.
"Are there any other precautions I could or should take?"
It's just not worth the hassle, and potential employment repercussions, to modify your company owned system. I have two laptops that go with me everywhere. One is my work laptop, the other is my personal laptop. I keep both realms deliberately separated. Buy yourself a Macbook Air, or other maybe just a tablet since you mostly indicate you are browsing. Keep your work and personal life separate.
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The other posters have covered well the fact that you really shouldn't try to work around the employer's policies. Getting caught is likely, and almost certainly grounds for termination. Don't go there.
That said, you should find out what the employer's policies actually are, rather than just assuming they're going to be insane. I've had a company-issued laptop since the mid-90s, with several different employers, and none of them have done what you describe. Moreover, I've also spent years consulting with dozens of companies about their IT security policies, including management of laptop use, and none of them have approached it the way you describe, either.
Most employers care about (in decreasing order of importance):
1. The security of their data. There are lots of good reasons for this, obviously. This includes things like full-disk encryption to ensure that if the laptop is lost the data it might carry is not revealed, and mal-ware prevention in order to prevent mal-ware from revealing important data.
2. The security of their network. Since you'll bring the laptop into the office and connect it to the network, employers don't want the laptop to be a vector for malware or targeted attacks.
3. Preventing HR problems. Stuff like porn on screens in the office can create sexual harassment lawsuits. This is the primary reason for anti-porn rules.
4. Productivity. Misuse of company equipment on company time means (arguably) that productive work that should be done isn't. This is another reason for anti-porn and anti-surfing rules.
Different companies take different approaches to managing these risks. A common, if very authoritarian, approach to limiting malware, for example, is to allow only software which is specifically approved by IT to be installed on the machine. Keylogging doesn't really accomplish any of the above, however, and I've never seen any company who does it, with the exception of one company that installs a browser plugin which watches for users typing their corporate password into non-company web sites.
If you're using the laptop at home, on your own time, I don't think most employers will care if you surf a little, check your personal e-mail, watch Netflix, etc. They may or may not care if you surf porn. I think most would rather not know. Outside of that, if it doesn't require changing the security configuration of the laptop, doesn't require installing software and doesn't interfere with productive work, I doubt they're going to care.
Check out the policy carefully, ask questions to make sure you understand it, and then comply with it. But I would be surprised if the policy truly is as draconian as you say.
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I would take any of that as a sign that your employer is serious about controlling their equiptment and trying to subvert their control is a sure way to find your stuff in a box at reception when you get back from your trip.
In other words, a sign to buy your own laptop ;p
Maybe, maybe not. There may be key-loggers installed which still grab your keystrokes.
Further, you can set up machines to prevent booting from anything other than the hard drive, then lock the bios.
How exactly will a software keylogger installed on the operating system on the local disk be able to grab keystrokes if you booted off a livecd? If you are talking about hardware keyloggers, that may make sense for a desktop computer in where the keylogger lies between the USB or PS/2 connection. I really doubt that a company would go through the trouble to install a keylogger in the proprietary ribbon cable between the laptop keyboard and the motherboard.
I bring a Knoppix live CD, a ruggedized 500GB USB drive (Adata SH93, which is powered from a single USB port), and headphones. In total, this adds less than half a kilo to the mass I have to carry, and almost nothing to the bulk. The laptop hard disk is untouched, as it's not even mounted when Knoppix boots. I'm only using the laptop for personal purposes in hotels to either (i) surf the web, (ii) access non-work email accounts, or (iii) watch movies. I generally copy a selection of movies from the home media server to the USB drive before traveling - hotels often charge outrageous amounts for their limited selection of premium channels, and the company won't cover such charges. If I download anything, it also goes to the USB drive.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Perhaps you're injecting your own life into your posts here?
I love the internet. I love web surfing. I love communicating with friends and family that aren't close to me. But I also like to read, to go drink beer with friends, and to spend too many hours in my garden. The two are not mutually exclusive.
To say that he has an addiction because he's asking about technology tells much more about you than it does about him.
I can make an image of the drive, then wipe the machine, and restore it back to its former state if I ever have to return it.
Is your new job worth it? Not saying you'll automatically lose your job over that, but I can't imagine it'll go over well. Especially as you'd be using your (non-work prepared) laptop for doing work and might inadvertantly put them at risk (the kind of risk they hope to eliminate by issuing you the laptop in the first place).
The simple solution is get yourself a USB / livecd type distro. Don't touch the hard drive.. and if it's encrypted, you shouldn't be putting your company at risk (assuming you don't use the same key for anything else). Personally I'd ask your IT guys if they are ok with this before doing it. Sometimes they can actually be reasonable about this kind of stuff.
The real solution here is to leave your work laptop alone completely and get your own laptop for personal use.
The parent correctly points out that you can use a live distro and avoid having to touch the company's hard drive.
Maybe, maybe not. There may be key-loggers installed which still grab your keystrokes.
Further, you can set up machines to prevent booting from anything other than the hard drive, then lock the bios.
Just to be clear, OP is saying he is "not the type of person who can't look at pornography" right? In this work-related scenario, if that's the case, get your own laptop, tablet, or smart phone.
If that's not the case and he is worried any personal use will get you in trouble, that's probably something he should clarify. I know plenty of unreasonable work places are around, but it is unreasonable to expect no personal use from a company laptop in constant possession of an employee (especially outside of work hours).
If neither is the primary case and you are expecting the laptop to be so locked out that you can't run anything but an office suite and the company-modded IE-engine software, then, as was pointed out, run a separate OS off a thumb drive. If the hardware is completely locked-down, back to the tablet/smartphone concept. Look up the policy, talk to the IT guys, but, essentially, DON'T do something that can mess up IT's carefully locked down security, and DON'T do things that are illegal or NSFW.
If the issue isn't "I want to look at pornography on my work laptop", why would the company care if he reads an ebook or watches a movie, if it's done responsibly (and somewhat out in the open, so all that's monitored is a lot of "unknown activity")? It kind of sounds like it's a porn thing, though. Maybe it's the inferred metaphorical air quotes.
Buy your own laptop to fuck around with you cheap bastard. The laptop is the property of your employer and if you don't agree to the terms they set then don't work for them.
This is an entirely fair point of view.
To which I would respond, if my employer presented it as an argument, by leaving said laptop at the office 24/7/365. I might take it to (on-site) meetings so I could actually get some work done in the back of the room while the 3rd assistant VP of Buzzword Optimization drones on with a variety of incorrectly-used physics metaphors.
Companies provide people with laptops in the hope that those people will do "free" extra work for the company. In some cases, the use of a laptop for whatever-the-hell-I-want while stuck in a hotel room for four days between conference sessions makes up for that extra work they might occasionally get out of me. If I can't use it for anything but work, I view it as nothing but an albatross to lug around, feed, and check through security. And if it actively tracks me while on my own time - thankyouverymuchbutfuckrightoffnow, 'kay?
This is one of the reasons the iPad is so popular. It makes a good personal web-surfing device when traveling on business with the company laptop.
In my experience, having a company laptop issued to you is much like having a company car issued to you. Take care of it, don't do anything you're not supposed to with it, and remember it's issued to you to make your job easier, so make sure it does. I can't think of a single thing that you should be doing on a company laptop that you'd need to encrypt or hide from your employer (remember, THEY own the hardware), so a lot of your question is moot.
Stuff like reading an e-book, browsing the web, or customizing it to your specification is probably fine, assuming it doesn't interfere with your actual work. Well, unless your company has specifically told you NOT to do these things, in which case you really should bring a second, personal, laptop (or kindle, or ipad, as others have said) with you. Doing anything you'd be embarrassed to have your boss find out about is simply not a good idea, though. Think of it like it's your work desktop, only portable, and adjust your usage accordingly.
I don't see why this question needs a more complicated answer than this. If you still have questions, ask your boss. None of us on Slashdot are policymakers for your company, and asking us to decide for them is silly.
Keyloggers can be installed in the BIOS, though this is rare, it can be done.
Actually, it is not that rare. A company called Absolute is a pretty big player in the firmware level asset security control and recovery business. Every major vendor has models that embed their agent into the firmware of select machines. These agents persist through imaging/formatting. They allow tracking of IP address, geolocation on models with GPS, keylogging, remote bios lockdown, remote wiping, and more. You can see a list of models on their website at: http://www.absolute.com/partners/bios-compatibility
In short, I agree with the above posters. Play it safe and talk to your IT department. Ask them if you should buy your own laptop for non-work use or use a live cd.
Today you're going to learn about something new (to you). It's called SMM, or system management mode. Go look it up. It might also interest you that the Intel CPU isn't the only processor in your computer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmZ4yXuDSNc
Executive summary: There is a software level below the OS even without virtualization.
...but can't.
There are several countries where going through customs with TWO laptops will ding you for import fees on the 2nd laptop.
paintball