I work remotely as a freelancer, on a new imac I purchased specifically for this gig. Until recently, I had a seat on the client's Adobe Enterprise, and I frequently exchange files with the client. I became aware of suspicious activities, such as the cursor moving by itself, and clients making references to my work or computer activity, that they could not have known without access to my desktop, or mysterious system crashes. I have since tightened up my security, but: How can I detect the presence of a monitoring system, or perhaps, an undisclosed user, and prevent access to my computer, and a potential invasion of privacy?
How to detect if the computer has been remotely accessed and monitored by an employer
monitoringremote control
Related Solutions
From this post:
Most modern computers offer a feature called "Wake on LAN". This is designed to allow a network administrator to turn on a computer remotely, even when it is turned off, by sending a "magic packet". This is used, for instance, to allow backup programs to run at night.
Here is a Python script that does this (if your MAC address is01-23-45-67-89-0a:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import socket
s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
s.sendto('\xff'*6+'\x01\x23\x45\x67\x89\x0a'*16, ('192.168.1.255', 80))
Or you can use Wake550.
or use this site.
Find my Mac
Find my Mac is free and part of iCloud. Included features are:
- localize your Mac (internet connection required, Email notification)
- remotely lock your Mac to protect privacy
- remotely wipe your hard drive
- play a loud sound
- display personal messages on the Mac
You need a Mac computer with Lion to use this feature.
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Best Answer
Assuming they're monitoring or remotely logging in to your machine, the computer itself would have to be configured to accept these connections. Open System Preferences>Sharing and go to the Screen Sharing tab, check whether it is on, if so whether it is set to allow access for all users or only specified ones. Do the same for the Remote Login tab, Remote Management tab, and Remote Apple Events tab.
If all of these are disabled, or access to these functions is restricted to users you know for a fact they do not have access to, try going to the Users & Groups preference pane, and check to see whether there are any Network-Sharing enabled users besides the administrator account, and if the Guest user is enabled, whether or not it has Remote Login access.
If none of the above are the case you may try checking the machine's SSH logs, assuming SSH has been enabled, to see if there have been any recent remote logins via the Terminal. Finally, of course, if there are any Remote Desktop applications installed, check their logs as well. I am not familiar with Adobe Enterprise, perhaps check the application settings to see if anything regarding remote monitoring or connections is mentioned.
If none of the above are relevant, or do not yield any results, you can always try going to the System Preferences>Security & Privacy pane, then the Firewall tab, turning on the Firewall, opening the Firewall Options... window, checking
Automatically allow built in software to receive incoming connections, uncheckingAutomatically allow downloaded signed software to receive incoming connections, and checkingEnable stealth mode. This will effectively block all incoming connections from whatever software is used for monitoring/remote login, and may even reveal what software is being used when it prompts for Firewall access during the next remote login attempt.