Network Admin people - Am I Invisible?

[r04DiE]

Hello all,

Just to pick the brains of those that know better than I do!

I have installed Xubuntu on a USB drive so that I can boot from that drive instead of the HDD on my PC at work. Also, I have configured things so that I use my paid-for VPN when accessing the internet.

I work in a well known University, if that makes any difference.

So. Am I effectively invisible using this set up, i.e. are my actions and web use now untraceable on this machine? Not that I am going to be doing anything naughty - I just wondered. I've set the thing up so that I can use KODI and other stuff on a Windows Laptop while I'm on holiday.

Thanks!

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

No idea, but if I was admin at your Uni, I'd be taking steps to stop you doing what you're doing e.g. password protecting the BIOS and preventing booting from anything other than the HDD.

 

[midlife]

I work for a big public organisation and our PC's are crippled so we cant mess around with them too much. If we do then it's in breach of our t&c of use which is a disciplinary matter.

Does your Uni still channel through JANET or is that long gone?

 

[classic33]

Hard drive should still have a record kept on it. MMC will show it.

 

[KneesUp]

I'd be interested to know the answer. Whenever you read about cybercrime being solved it seems that if someone else has access to the machine you used to access the internet, they can discover anything. I certainly assume that 'the authorities' can see everything I've done online should they wish, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn they record such things out of routine. I have Virtual Box on my machine as I sometimes need to test stuff in another OS, and have also wondered how 'leaky' that is - i.e. if I install a fresh OS as a virtual machine, access the internet using TOR and then 'shred' the virtual hard drive how much of my actions would be recorded. I assume it would still leave a footprint, otherwise no cybercrime would be solved unless people made mistakes or got lazy. I'm sure I read somewhere that the police in one case rebuilt a web history from fragments of data in the RAM of the users' router?

If you're not using the HDD [strikethrough]while you're watching streamed media while you're on holiday with work-supplied IT[/strikethrough] for a while, why not just take it out? There might be traces of activity recoverable from the RAM but unless you're committing serious crime I doubt anyone would take the time to recover it.

 

[r04DiE]

Firstly, I should say that this is a machine in my workspace that isn't really being used - not my actual work PC, I was just being lazy there.

No idea, but if I was admin at your Uni, I'd be taking steps to stop you doing what you're doing e.g. password protecting the BIOS and preventing booting from anything other than the HDD.

Yes, they did that but I just opened the cover up and shorted the BIOS reset jumpers.

I work for a big public organisation and our PC's are crippled so we cant mess around with them too much. If we do then it's in breach of our t&c of use which is a disciplinary matter.

Does your Uni still channel through JANET or is that long gone?

Not sure what my T&C's say, maybe I should look :O No, idea what JANET is, sorry.

Hard drive should still have a record kept on it. MMC will show it.

HDD has been disconnected, so that's not happening.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the police in one case rebuilt a web history from fragments of data in the RAM of the users' router?

That's SCARY!

If you're not using the HDD [strikethrough]while you're watching streamed media while you're on holiday with work-supplied IT[/strikethrough] for a while, why not just take it out? There might be traces of activity recoverable from the RAM but unless you're committing serious crime I doubt anyone would take the time to recover it.

Sorry, I'm just testing the USB at work, I'll be plugging it into my own machine on my hols. I just wondered how invisible I am at work at the moment.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

I work for a big public organisation and our PC's are crippled so we cant mess around with them too much. If we do then it's in breach of our t&c of use which is a disciplinary matter.

Does your Uni still channel through JANET or is that long gone?

It's still going. Not 100% sure what JaNet's T&C for Unis are, but I think it would be frowned upon my (public sector) organisation if one of our users did what the OP is suggesting.


"Yes, they did that but I just opened the cover up and shorted the BIOS reset jumpers."

That's breaking the IT Acceptable Use Policy for a start. I'm glad you don't work here, for your sake.

 

[classic33]

Who disconnected the hard drive, and how. Is it physically disconnected?

 

[midlife]

JANET = Joint Academic NETwork. Used to be the portal for intra / internet BITD

 

[Milkfloat]

Your actions will not be seen except when you network the machine - in which case competent Sys Admins would notice the traffic . Whether or not you have competent Sys Admins or ones that care about the use of VPN is another thing. I would assume in a University setting that pretty much anything goes and you will remain undetected. Even if they did detect you, they may have an problem physically working out where you are.

If you tried it at my place of work and were found out I doubt you would even have time to clear your desk.

 

[cisamcgu]

Messing around with VPN and such would probably be OK in a University setting, but shorting out BIOS and removing a HDD would get you disciplined if not sacked.

 

[Crackle]

You'll be in breach of your IT code and almost certainly compromising the system. At my last place you'd be caught and out on your ear, they had people who specialized in catching stuff like this. They used to send them out to audit teams occasionally. One in particular came very close to being quietly killed by me and buried under the computer room floor he was having me take bits of up.

 

[r04DiE]

It's still going. Not 100% sure what JaNet's T&C for Unis are, but I think it would be frowned upon my (public sector) organisation if one of our users did what the OP is suggesting.


"Yes, they did that but I just opened the cover up and shorted the BIOS reset jumpers."

That's breaking the IT Acceptable Use Policy for a start. I'm glad you don't work here, for your sake.

Me too!

Who disconnected the hard drive, and how. Is it physically disconnected?

I did. I unplugged the SATA and power cables.

Your actions will not be seen except when you network the machine - in which case competent Sys Admins would notice the traffic . Whether or not you have competent Sys Admins or ones that care about the use of VPN is another thing. I would assume in a University setting that pretty much anything goes and you will remain undetected. Even if they did detect you, they may have an problem physically working out where you are.

If you tried it at my place of work and were found out I doubt you would even have time to clear your desk.

It was networked for a while, I have been installing some other software on it, like an FTP client and other bits useful for hols.

Messing around with VPN and such would probably be OK in a University setting, but shorting out BIOS and removing a HDD would get you disciplined if not sacked.

Oops.

... and almost certainly compromising the system...

How? Just out of interest.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Was there an OP?

 

[Tin Pot]

Me too!

I did. I unplugged the SATA and power cables.

It was networked for a while, I have been installing some other software on it, like an FTP client and other bits useful for hols.

Oops.

How? Just out of interest.

Roadie...just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.