It is hard to know who is monitoring what you are doing online these days. Obviously, when you are in the office you can expect to have all online interactions monitored. After all, you are working on a company asset. A few months back I had a conversation with a corporate security guy around company internet monitoring and his response was ‘You would be surprised the sites that people go to. You would think that common sense would keep employees away from the obvious ones, but people still go there’. He went on to mention that this isn’t their focus, it is just inconvenient (and irritating). Their focus is on things like corporate fraud, identity theft, etc.At home, it is a different story. With the ever present threat of phishing and other internet attacks, it pays to be smart and attentive. Readers Digest had a good article on how to find out who is monitoring your activity online, in case you want to know:

• Go to vancouver.cs.washington.edu and let the site automatically check whether your ISP is using monitoring devices.
• Download Tor from torproject.org which helps block prying eyes.
• Don’t sign up for email with your favourite search engine, as it makes it easier to link your interests. Google specifically.
• Or use anonymizer.com or anonymouse.org to browse anonymously.

A few helpful tips.