![]() At your desk, under the unforgiving fluorescent light of your office, you're probably in a work mindset. It's easy to remember that you're at work when you're at work. It's unlikely that our corporate IT team is going to go digging around for juicy gossip or SSNs, but I would still rather that information simply not be there to be found. I would just rather that information not even be accessible to anyone other than who I intend it for. It's not necessarily because I don't trust my employer, either. Personally, I try to avoid doing any kind of personal work on corporate networks. Unencrypted messages you send could be seen by your employer, along with personal information you might transmit unencrypted-such as medical records, credit card numbers, and so on. It's always easy to pick on porn as a thing that you shouldn't be looking at in public, but I would also invite you to consider what other things you might not want to do on a corporate connection. Employers may also need to keep records of activity, something VPN companies shouldn't do. Your employer might monitor for activity that goes against company policy, like downloading BitTorrent files, mining Bitcoin, or browsing porn. The same isn't true for corporate networks. The best services go to great lengths to ensure no one, not even the VPN company, knows what you're doing when you're connected to the service. While technically similar, a personal and corporate VPN function very differently.Ī commercial VPN should take pains to keep you anonymous. You should never look to me for legal advice, but it makes logical sense to me that this would include the corporate VPN as well. I'm not a lawyer, but I've been told by smarter people than I am that you do not have an expectation of privacy when using your employer's network. You might be at home in your pajamas, but in the eyes of your boss and corporate IT, you're on the corporate network. When you're connected to your employer's VPN, it's the same as if you were sitting in your office, connected to your employer's Wi-Fi or ethernet. The key difference is that your employer's VPN is connecting you to your employer's network. People watching from the outside still won't see your true IP address, and will still have a harder time tracking you. People on the same network as you and your ISP are still blind. It still creates the encrypted tunnel, and still routes your traffic to a server. When you use the corporate VPN provided by your employer, it's a little different. Anyone watching from the outside won't be able to see your true IP address (and thus, can't see your true location) and will have a hard time correlating your movements across the web. This setup means that your ISP and anyone on the same network as you can't see what you're doing. From there, your traffic continues on to the wilds of the internet. When you switch on a commercial VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel between your device (computer, phone, router, and so on) and a server controlled by the VPN. What I am here to do is to remind everyone how a VPN works. It's also a popular thing to look at when you're stuck at home. Whatever you think about pornography, it is legal and what people do with their personal time is up to them. I am also accessing corporate systems and services with the VPN provided to me by my employer, but I won't be using it for anything else. As I write this, I am sitting in my palatial Manhattan estate, dog at my feet, partner across the room (also working from home), and several computers running (Opens in a new window) because I need to do something to help save humanity. How to Set Up Two-Factor AuthenticationĪre you working from home because of COVID-19? I sure am.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
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