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Originally Posted by sarah
BA I too have a computer at work. However, I am afraid to use it for personal things like banking. Work computers can be monitored. I doubt that my employer is monitoring it but still I am concerned. Something I have wondered about is if I hood into the wireless net at work using a personal laptop can I still be monitored. I find workplace computer safety very confusing.
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That's a very good point!
Technologically, your privacy is secured through encryption between your computer and the server you are trying to access. The encryption in itself is, roughly speaking, the same regardless of what kind of computer you use (public or private).
In fact, some people who are especially paranoid actually prefer to do their clandestine computing on public computers. That way, even if a computer is traced to its exact physical location, it still doesn't guaratee capture.
However, this works best only for those who are knowledgeable enough (and probably have nefarious purposes in mind) to cover their tracks on public machines. Otherwise, it is indeed "safer" to do your computing at home.
As for monitoring, most servers can be set up to log what computers have visited what sites, when, and for how long. Furthermore, the IS department at my workplace can also "see" exactly what is on your desktop, and even be able to take control of it if they so desire. Or they just can walk by and shoulder surf like everybody else.
In my case though, the "worst" they'll ever find is me chatting here at savingadvice... and if they ever have a problem with certain sites, usually they'll just add to their filter and call it a day.
Since you brought it up, I would not be comfortable using wireless networks for secure computing. As it currently stands, I just don't trust any of them (but I don't have any experience with the 802.11n routers yet).
There are softwares out there designed to grab encrypted information off any internet connection, and once it grabs enough information, it will attempt to decrypt it and even spit out the password in plain text! The only hard part is being able to "eavesdrop" on someone else's connection, but wireless routers makes this a non-issue.
If you own a wireless router at home, it's a good practice to at least secure it with encryption (preferably WPA, but at least WEP) and a personalized password. If you're really on the ball, you'll also change the password, oh say, once every few months? Or better yet, if you don't see the need for it, just say "No!" to wireless routers.
But back to the original topic, I decided that I don't really have anything to hide anyways. The most people will see is how much I owe in student loans, what bills I have to pay, and any conversation we have on here. For now... I think the work computer is good enough. If not, I'll be more than happy to keep a home computer around.