Am I being spied on my messenger?

Question

OK. Let's make it clear: I am in a corporate network, and I have suspicions on being spyed. Don´t problem with that, not my PC, not my network. It´s fine.

So, just curious: How I can know if they are spying on my messenger conversations?

Edit: Can I find any clues on my computer of being spied on messenger?

@Kronos: You first said it was not about software/hardware. I agree, it was bad redacted. Why is it not a good question now? Not useful? subjective or argumentative? superficial? — , Nov 08 '10 at 17:45
Voting to close. This doesn't relate to professional systems administration, etc. — Rob Moir, Nov 08 '10 at 20:24
If you are on a corporate network it's not called being spied on, it's just part of your companies policy. Deal with it. Also if you are on a corporate network assume that everything you do is being recorded by a server someplace in the company. — Tim Meers, Nov 08 '10 at 21:09
@Tim Meers: You don´t read my question... I wrote: It´s fine, just curiosity. I am not asking about cheat, avoid, bypass my company policies... not asking how to react if being spyed... I just ask: Is there a way to KNOW? Thanks. — Edgar, Nov 09 '10 at 06:04
@Tim Meers: if you are on a corporate network it's still called being spied on, even if it is mentioned explicitly in the corporate policy. A sane policy would just prohibit instant messaging at work for personal use, if the employer considers this a problem. — halp, Nov 09 '10 at 06:44
@RobertM I guess it got migrated because someone assumed it would involve analyzing network traffic. I suppose it should be on SuperUser, but it seems people don't mind answering the question (and I see it was migrated away from SuperUser, strange). — Mark C, Nov 17 '10 at 21:43
@Mark C: I agree. I post it on superuser as a valid question of a user, not network administrator. Anyway, thanks for all the answers and comments. — Edgar, Nov 17 '10 at 22:35

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:23

9

Ask "them"
Ask HR
Read company policy
Seed false information and see if it is acted upon.
Act as if everything you type is read by your boss, the CIO and your mom.

answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:23

RedGrittyBrick

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@RedGrittyBrick: I have edited my question to reflect my interest. Repeat: I don´t have any problem with this, just geek curiosity. – Nov 08 '10 at 17:40
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There's no way to be sure your Messenger conversations are not monitored. They can be monitored in transit without touching your PC or leaving any traces there. This is really more of a social issue than a technical one. – RedGrittyBrick Nov 08 '10 at 20:01
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Yes, you're being watched. No, there's nothing you can do about it. – Tom O'Connor Nov 08 '10 at 22:08

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:45

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I can find any clues on my computer of being spied on messenger?

No.

answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:45

Sathyajith Bhat

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Says who? it can be his computer is being spied on by the company – TomTom Nov 08 '10 at 18:47
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.... and you know he's being spied upon HOW ? His question is NOT whether he **can** be spied upon, it's whether he can **find out** if he's being spied upon. @TomTom – Sathyajith Bhat Nov 08 '10 at 18:52
You dont. Not without admin access (which a normal user in a company does not have). Sky kits are made to not be detected by the normal user. – TomTom Nov 08 '10 at 19:29

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 08 '10 at 19:09

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Oh Cmon

If anyone has ever played with NTOP you can clearly see which IP's/People are using which protocol..

To take it a step further ( havent done this is a while ) Using a packet sniffer and a mirrored port on a core switch.. you can just listen to all the traffic..

Whereby you can actually read MSN messages etc etc.. (however it might be encrypted recently)

The art of watching is not tampering with your computer.. Its just listening... and surveying..

answered Nov 08 '10 at 19:09

Arenstar

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+1 - IIRC Smoothwall has a feature that displays MSN conversions in real time as they pass through the firewall – Mark Henderson Nov 08 '10 at 21:15

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:19

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So... if you network is secure and your PC is secure, where are you insinuating that they would manipulate your packets? The internet? If that is true, the person probably knows what they are doing and they do a simple manipulation of the pack and send it to you and act as a gateway. The only way you can prevent it is using an encrypted connection, preferably an encryption that uses a pre-shared key.

EDIT: No you can't.

answered Nov 08 '10 at 17:19

David

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@David: I don´t want to prevent it (corporate network, not my network). Just wondering if someone is actually spying me. Thanks. – Nov 08 '10 at 17:23
@David: Thats the type of answer I was looking for: no advices, just yes or not, and a possible explanation, if possible. Thanks. – Nov 08 '10 at 17:41
@Edgar I explained before I said "No." If you understand gateways and manipulation of packets, you would understand the answer more in depth. Do research on packet manipulation packet sniffing, and the importance of data encrytpopn if you would like to learn more about it. – David Nov 08 '10 at 17:44

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 08 '10 at 20:20

I use XMPP (Jabber*) as my IM, and the client I use (Gajim*) warns me if the SSL certificate on the server is not what it was expecting. If you checked first at home then at work, you could see if the certificates are the same or not. If they are not the same, then they are possibly spying on you with a man-in-the-middle attack. If they are the same, then it is not possible for them to read your encrypted conversations.

* This might be possible with other clients or protocols, I just know for sure with these ones as that's what I use.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 09 '10 at 02:50

What IM are you using? If MSN not encrypted, the messages are easily spied. Hacker is able to spy messages anywhere on your message route. Perhaps this post makes you understand why: http://blog.colasoft.com/how-to-monitor-instant-message-activity-with-capsa/

Am I being spied on my messenger?

6 Answers6