What employee monitoring software (spyware) do you reccomend?

[thecomputerguy]

Client is requesting software for employee monitoring for basically everything:

Keylogging
Screenschots
History
Active time

 

[britechguy]

This was discussed relatively recently here, though I can't remember the specific topic that was the most recent. That being said, a forums search on [employee monitor] turns up many directly pertinent topics.

This is something I would run from as quickly as I could. The legal exposure from doing this (or assisting someone with doing it) are significant if the necessary agreements were not signed as part of the terms of employment for the person to be spied on. Take a look at the pertinent search results for some pretty in-depth discussions about this.

 

[frase]

Client is requesting software for employee monitoring for basically everything:

Keylogging
Screenschots
History
Active time

Hate to work there, do they have drones flying around as well tazing workers?

 

[thecomputerguy]

Honestly if they are monitoring employees in this manner then they should probably be fired anyways but I'm just asking.

 

[Diggs]

That thread was here - https://www.technibble.com/forums/threads/user-monitoring.89866/

As I mentioned there, the only experience I've had is with Spyrix....... I told the SOHO at the time I won't go there. They understood and the wife of the owner took care of it.

 

[Markverhyden]

First step is to check with a lawyer on the legal requirements for implementing this. Which will include writing up an Acceptable Use Policy, reviewing same with every employee (including management), and everyone sign an acknowledgment. It needs to include a splash screen during login explaining the same, for a long enough period for someone to be able to read it. The requirements can go on ad nauseam.

But as @frase implies this type of action may be indicative of other problems. Almost always management related.

 

[putz]

@thecomputerguy
A legitimate product that I have used in the past, for DLP and endpoint auditing was Safetica. We also had a client that used Softactivity's TSMonitor for remote workers but I think they have a workstation version. IMO that one crosses the line but it may do all the things on your list. Key logging and screenshots is a bit much.

 

[Sky-Knight]

If you really want to do this... you may as well go with the original vender that did it, one that's been at it so long they're on Gartner's lists. I first ran into it back in the early 2000s.

Insider Risk Management & Employee Monitoring - Veriato

Veriato offers AI-based user behavior analytics (UEBA) to help organizations manage insider risk and monitor employee activity.

veriato.com

Used to be called Specter. Their current model is focused on compliance and reporting, and assisting in workplace investigations which makes their sales team educated on legal matters. Because yes, you need to be careful here. And no, it's not cheap, it's very much the opposite of cheap. But it's also a tool used to control industrial espionage so... yeah.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

As mentioned in the prior thread on this topic (which was linked up above a few posts)....
Another vote for Veriato (SpectorSoft) here. We used to resell SpectorSoft back in the later 200X years
We didn't change to a different product to sell.....just haven't had a client request for something like this since....it evolved into Veriato.

 

[Blues]

There is reasonable and unreasonable monitoring and there are methods to limit data theft w/o monitoring.

It is reasonable to have monitoring on network and email activity. It is even reasonable to have some type of time & attendance system and/or monitoring. It is unreasonable and legally questionable to key log and to screen capture as monitoring tools as others have stated if there is a user which has prompted this concern then it is time to remove that person as there is no positive outcome to extreme monitoring. If this is just the over reaching type of employer with no specific prompt that sounds like a client I would not really want.

 

[britechguy]

if there is a user which has prompted this concern then it is time to remove that person as there is no positive outcome to extreme monitoring. If this is just the over reaching type of employer with no specific prompt

On this specific set of points, we'll have to disagree.

It's been well over 20 years since I was last involved (and only as a part of data reporting - and just what I observed) in a formal attempt to remove an employee. Even if you are legally permitted to dismiss without cause (as in VA, where I live) it is entirely possible for the dismissed to bring a lawsuit on multiple grounds (e.g., discrimination based on {fill in the blank}) and quite possibly win.

Any intelligent employer with an employee suspected of actual malfeasance of some sort is going to build, or try to build, a rock-solid case for dismissal before they take that step.

There are also occasions where, shocker, the suspicions are incorrect.

I've personally never seen this sort of step taken just because of an insane, overreaching employer. There's always been cause, and most often the suspicions are confirmed. But you've got to be absolutely certain that whatever steps you're taking to data gather are entirely legal.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

It's up to the business, I look at it as it's not my call to make, in most cases with businesses...the business owns the computers, the business owns the software licensing, the business pays for the internet/bandwidth, the business pays for the electricity to run the computers, and...the business is interested in protecting their business data. The businesses computers are a tool to get work done to earn your paycheck, they're an important part of employee productivity. Usually.

I'll be honest, (as...I see end user computers all the time across ~200 business for over 30 years)....I see what typical end users do from day to day. Goofing off is.....huge. Checking personal email (which...puts the company data/network/computer/servers at risk). Online shopping. social media, job hunting, and just general "googling stuff". No matter how many rules are written into the ACU Policy....we all know it gets forgotten...no...ignored.

 

[britechguy]

Goofing off is.....huge.

Indeed. But it's also sometimes vital to keeping your sanity and, in fact, your creativity for the job you're supposed to be doing.

Heaven knows that it was often during the taking of breaks in-office, or just before I was about to drift into sleep, that some of my best ideas occurred. I even kept a notebook at my bedside, as I learned that if I didn't write down something to jog my memory in the morning, those "just about asleep" ideas would not be remembered.

Unless you happen to be in literal assembly-line-type work, there's an awful lot of "goof off" time. I could no sooner focus on programming for 8 hours straight, every single day that I appeared at the office, than fly to the moon under the power of my own arms. Luckily, there seems to be a realization, at least in the professional world, that "nose to the grindstone" is not the way to maximum performance and best results.

 

[Blues]

On this specific set of points, we'll have to disagree.

It's been well over 20 years since I was last involved (and only as a part of data reporting - and just what I observed) in a formal attempt to remove an employee. Even if you are legally permitted to dismiss without cause (as in VA, where I live) it is entirely possible for the dismissed to bring a lawsuit on multiple grounds (e.g., discrimination based on {fill in the blank}) and quite possibly win.

Any intelligent employer with an employee suspected of actual malfeasance of some sort is going to build, or try to build, a rock-solid case for dismissal before they take that step.

There are also occasions where, shocker, the suspicions are incorrect.

I've personally never seen this sort of step taken just because of an insane, overreaching employer. There's always been cause, and most often the suspicions are confirmed. But you've got to be absolutely certain that whatever steps you're taking to data gather are entirely legal.

I can meet you half way on this and in TN, like VA it from the sounds of it, like you can be fired for effectively no reason so there are certainly aspects of this that will vary with the location of the business. I would say in my opinion based solely on what I have heard retaliatory lawsuits are rarely successful so I do not give that idea as much credit but it is admittedly a potential risk factor if you lack documented reason for termination that falls outside any potential lawsuit. I would also add that reason can often be found already and the findings of aggressive monitoring just brings added nails to seal the coffin.

You bring up the possible innocents and I completely agree however the type of working relationship created by accusing and monitoring an employee will result in a general negative outcome. So while you may find no wrong doing you have put the employee in a position to feel untrusted and undervalued and they will likely want to leave regardless of the findings.

I agree I have not seen it though I have heard of supervisors that are the type and met some who seem they would be the type given the authority to do so. I won't rule out the possibility of such an individual so I include it as a point of consideration.

The big take away too is that there are fairly standard levels of monitoring and simple security measures one can put in place to discover and limit malicious and/or negligent activity.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

And...monitoring software such as Veriato...takes away any vagueness...or lack of good documentation. It records it all! It is absolute, concrete. The video recording is like, just like you were standing behind the employee watching over their shoulder. Watch every movement and keystroke they make. So you have your proof that they spent "4+ hours worth of the day clicking around Faceobook, chatting, shopping marketplace, viewing posts, etc". Or...you can see that they spent "2+ hours shopping Amazon".

Most other content filtering software, that has a web filter module on the firewall, like Untangle, Unifi, Forti, Sonic, etc...they'll just log DNS requests. Dunno how many of you have seen web filtering logs of a UTM...but they log each and every DNS request. Microsoft updates, Adobe updates, browser updates, antivirus updates, your RMM/remote tool connections, hundreds of other 3rd party software updates/services/updates...and thousands of requests from various cookies 'n other browser plugins 'n stuff. It's an exhausting never ending list of DNS requests. However...you get ZERO amount of knowledge about one important thing...."How much time did said employee spend on that website?" They could have spent 1 minutes on Facebook....or 5 hours on Facebook...but once a browser tab opened to FB and logged in...there's just that one DNS request for the whole day. You really have no ammo!

One makes it easy to 100% can an employee..the other...just a rough accusation with nuttin' to back it up.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Basically the deal is this employee is forcing the company to allow her to work from home and she got a doctors note requiring that. They are allowing her to work at home until they can build a case to fire her because they can't fire her immediately after she obtained a doctors note.

Just a shitty company in general to be honest.

 

[britechguy]

They are allowing her to work at home until they can build a case to fire her

Which is gonna be interesting, particularly if she's not working on company-issued equipment.

You'd think that the pandemic would have taught employers that the idea that working from the office increases and enforces productivity is without merit. I prefer "going in to the office" because it's a psychological split between home and work life that I value. Even in my self-employed world, on-site work serves the same purpose.

I have no idea who this person is, or if she may be a shirker, but if she can actually get the job done from home, medical reason or not, well . . .

 

[stauzin23]

SoftActivity View - https://www.softactivity.com is another option. I've used spectorsoft before it was Veriato too. Soft Activity was much cheaper and the option to record to in house server or cloud option.

 

[Blues]

Today I would say no company should allow work from home on non-company equipment and this is a fringe case though it sounds like the motivation for termination is not that they don't want the employee its more that they don't want remote employees.

The logging would only catch what they do on the company PC though depending on what they log it could highlight periods of inactivity as well. I have done work from home and when I do I work right next to me home PC and have been able to play a game, watch a movie or show, or work on ripping and compressing content for my Plex server all from my PC which is not monitored.

This just further hits the point that the best they are going to find out is that the users productivity has dropped and depending on what type of monitoring the detail level may or may not provide sufficient information to given them cause for termination.

 

[britechguy]

Today I would say no company should allow work from home on non-company equipment

That really depends on the type of work. I can't imagine that for high turnover positions (e.g., customer call center) that in the gig economy it's not expected that the worker supply the hardware.