Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] pc monitoring question

From: Wayne <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:58:35 -0500

On 1/26/2013 6:16 PM, Tim wrote:
> Is there a way to tell if there is computer monitoring software on a pc?
> (I am not referring to spyware, tracking cookies any other such
> nefarious things) I am wondering if I can look at say, task manager (or
> even in windows explorer), and see if there is any such software on any
> given pc, no matter the origins of the pc.

Not EVEN sure what you're asking... like ANY PC running windows? 
ctrl-shift-esc is a keyboard shortcut to pop up task manager, or a 
substituted program (SysInternals' Process Explorer recommended.) But 
that can be disabled in Group Policies on a business machine, and it 
still won't necessarily show every process running. There are "root 
kits" that can be in place, hiding themselves from the O/S and user, or 
the whole computer can be virtualized and running on top of a 
"hypervisor" like VMWare.

Or all of reality as you think you know it could be virtualized, and an 
omnipotent computer network could be feeding neural signals into your 
brain telling you what it wants you to see on your screen  :)

-Wayne
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From: PJ McGarvey <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:45:53 -0500

It's an interesting question, but the answer probably has alot to do with what
kind of access level you already have.  If you are a regular user on a work
machine, and the machine is (rightly) locked down to where you have very
little access to view logs, browse the C: drive or see all running processes,
I'm afraid you have very little chance of being completely sure.   In a
situation where you are an employee, then you've (probably) surrendered any
privacy you have by virtue of that employment (other than legally protected
attorney - client type communications, IIRC).  Most tools you could use to
detect this stuff won't run as a non-admin, or won't see everything, leaving
you with a false sense of security.
If you think you're being snooped on, and you have admin or root access, you
should have the capability to trace much of the monitoring activity with some
tools, such as was mentioned before.  SysInternals tools are great for tracing
executables, autorun programs, and network connections on a windows system,
though to the uninitiated it could be kind of confusing.  I'm not aware of any
"anti-monitoring" tools out there, but a rootkit, dug down deep in the system
would be hard to detect without some real forensics.  It's probably safe to
say most software packages created for this purpose are going to be Windows
based.
Of course there are ways to monitor web browsing activity outside of software
on the PC as well, by intercepting all your browsing as it leaves your PC.
Or with the proper access to your system remotely, someone could periodically
reach into your system and grab logs, web history, etc. and then disconnect
very quickly.  Or a USB stick inserted that autoruns and gathers this
information dumping it all back to the usb key which is then removed.  This
could be done on any OS.
Of course, a simple Task Manager search could reveal something, but again, I
would think most software packages designed for this purpose would do a good
job of hiding themselves that this might not be enough to be "sure".
-PJ
> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:58:35 -0500
> From: [email-masked]
> To: [email-masked]; [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] pc monitoring question
>
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From: Mark Andy <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:13:21 -0500

Howdy,

Most sure way to tell is to spend a day looking at kiddie porn, and
then see if you get fired.

Mark

On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Tim <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Thanks
> tim
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/[email-masked]

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