Technology

How to protect your privacy on your work computer

Whether it's responding to your child’s teacher, or straightening out an issue with the bank, most people sometimes need to answer a personal email during office hours. While that fact that when we're at work many of us are sitting in front of a computer makes that easy, that computer on your desk is intended for work purposes, as is the provided internet access, and not for the recreational use of the employee during the work hours. Increasingly companies are monitoring employees use of email, the internet and phones, and using increasingly sophisticated tools to do so.

While answering that important email during business hours is unlikely to result in an immediate firing at most companies, it does raise quite a few issues. Are you violating your company’s policy? Are you being watched? Could your employer obtain your account credentials and use them to track your email account even when you're not at work?