home computer vs. work computer security

Thanks in advance for your help.

Here is my situation. I do business consulting for a company that
sent me a router and laptop to get on their network and use when doing
their work. I already have a home computer I do other work on. So,
what they told me to do is hook my modem into the router they sent me
and then to my home computer and the computer they gave me. So I did
that.

My questions is, can they using their network and router, find out
what websites I have visted on my home computer. Or find out what
other work I am doing on my home computer? Does their router record
what websites I have visted on my home computer or what emails I have
sent out for other work?

Thanks

Kaputnik

"Kaputnik" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
> Here is my situation. I do business consulting for a company that
> sent me a router and laptop to get on their network and use when doing
> their work. I already have a home computer I do other work on. So,
> what they told me to do is hook my modem into the router they sent me
> and then to my home computer and the computer they gave me. So I did
> that.
>
> My questions is, can they using their network and router, find out
> what websites I have visted on my home computer. Or find out what
> other work I am doing on my home computer? Does their router record
> what websites I have visted on my home computer or what emails I have
> sent out for other work?
>
> Thanks


I don't think that this is any sinister plot. It sounds like they sent you
a basic router to split your personal internet connection between more than
one computer (i.e. your personal computer and their laptop) at the same
time. You'll then use their laptop/software to establish a VPN connection
via your personal internet connection into their end network. That's what I
do with my work laptop. Without doing extra configuring, I don't believe
that your personal computer and their laptop will see each other behind the
router (you can hook everything up and check this out for yourself).

- Chuck

>
> I don't think that this is any sinister plot. It sounds like they sent you
> a basic router to split your personal internet connection between more than
> one computer (i.e. your personal computer and their laptop) at the same
> time. You'll then use their laptop/software to establish a VPN connection
> via your personal internet connection into their end network. That's what I
> do with my work laptop. Without doing extra configuring, I don't believe
> that your personal computer and their laptop will see each other behind the
> router (you can hook everything up and check this out for yourself).
>
> - Chuck

Chuck, thanks, I don't think there is a sinister plot either. I just
want to know if they have any way of knowing what my surfing records
are on my home computer. You know, what if I visit sites on my home
computer that they don't deem acceptable? Or if I am doing research
for another client? Can they find this out? Can their router send my
surfing records to their laptop and then back to their network? By no
means am I doing anything sinister either, I just value my privacy.

Thanks

"Kaputnik" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> >
> Chuck, thanks, I don't think there is a sinister plot either. I just
> want to know if they have any way of knowing what my surfing records
> are on my home computer. You know, what if I visit sites on my home
> computer that they don't deem acceptable? Or if I am doing research
> for another client? Can they find this out? Can their router send my
> surfing records to their laptop and then back to their network? By no
> means am I doing anything sinister either, I just value my privacy.
>
> Thanks


Let me first say that I'm definitely no expert here. Is there any possible
way for the laptop/router provider to find out what you do on your personal
system -- I wouldn't say that anything is 100% impossible, but I don't think
that this is very likely. If anything is going to monitor you, I don't
believe that it would be the router. If anything, it would probably be the
laptop running some kind of software to read files from your personal
computer or log all network activity behind the router and ship it back to
the laptop/router provider. If you don't configure the two computers to see
each other on the network behind the router (or if you actively block those
communications), I don't think that there would be an issue with file
reading. I'd guess that network activity monitoring would still be
possible.

I understand your concern about privacy as I value mine also. While I can't
say with 100% certainty that my employer doesn't somehow monitor my private
computer, my gut feeling is that I don't have a problem. I only use one of
my computers at a time and I only have the laptop plugged into my router
when I'm using it (for no reason other than that's how I use my setup).
Some ideas that I can think of to possibly help prevent monitoring:

1) Buy and use your own router. You can get basic wired routers pretty
cheap ($20) after rebates. This would eliminate the possibility of their
router doing any monitoring.
2) Don't use your personal computer and laptop at the same time.
3) Disconnect the laptop from the router when you're using your personal
computer. This would prevent the laptop from transferring files to/from
your personal computer in real-time or monitoring your network traffic.
4) Disconnect your personal computer from the router when you're using the
laptop.
5) Install a firewall on your personal computer and block all
communications to/from the laptop. This should prevent any file transfers
between your personal computer and the laptop. However, network traffic
monitoring behind the router might still be possible.

Like I said, these are just my random non-expert thoughts for you to
consider (and there are probably better ideas than mine). Since that's the
extent of my knowledge (or lack there of), you're on your own. Good Luck.

- Chuck

"Chuck G." <nospam@nospam> wrote in message news:<SI72b.245238$o%2.110646@sccrnsc02>...
> "Kaputnik" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
> > >
> > Chuck, thanks, I don't think there is a sinister plot either. I just
> > want to know if they have any way of knowing what my surfing records
> > are on my home computer. You know, what if I visit sites on my home
> > computer that they don't deem acceptable? Or if I am doing research
> > for another client? Can they find this out? Can their router send my
> > surfing records to their laptop and then back to their network? By no
> > means am I doing anything sinister either, I just value my privacy.
> >
> > Thanks
>
>
> Let me first say that I'm definitely no expert here. Is there any possible
> way for the laptop/router provider to find out what you do on your personal
> system -- I wouldn't say that anything is 100% impossible, but I don't think
> that this is very likely. If anything is going to monitor you, I don't
> believe that it would be the router. If anything, it would probably be the
> laptop running some kind of software to read files from your personal
> computer or log all network activity behind the router and ship it back to
> the laptop/router provider. If you don't configure the two computers to see
> each other on the network behind the router (or if you actively block those
> communications), I don't think that there would be an issue with file
> reading. I'd guess that network activity monitoring would still be
> possible.
>
> I understand your concern about privacy as I value mine also. While I can't
> say with 100% certainty that my employer doesn't somehow monitor my private
> computer, my gut feeling is that I don't have a problem. I only use one of
> my computers at a time and I only have the laptop plugged into my router
> when I'm using it (for no reason other than that's how I use my setup).
> Some ideas that I can think of to possibly help prevent monitoring:
>
> 1) Buy and use your own router. You can get basic wired routers pretty
> cheap ($20) after rebates. This would eliminate the possibility of their
> router doing any monitoring.
> 2) Don't use your personal computer and laptop at the same time.
> 3) Disconnect the laptop from the router when you're using your personal
> computer. This would prevent the laptop from transferring files to/from
> your personal computer in real-time or monitoring your network traffic.
> 4) Disconnect your personal computer from the router when you're using the
> laptop.
> 5) Install a firewall on your personal computer and block all
> communications to/from the laptop. This should prevent any file transfers
> between your personal computer and the laptop. However, network traffic
> monitoring behind the router might still be possible.
>
> Like I said, these are just my random non-expert thoughts for you to
> consider (and there are probably better ideas than mine). Since that's the
> extent of my knowledge (or lack there of), you're on your own. Good Luck.
>
> - Chuck


Thanks Chuck. I have a firewall on my home computer. They are on at
the same time during the day, but if I am using my home computer, it
is going through their network, is it?

>
>
> No. Functionally, your personal computer is still connected to the internet
> the same as always (physical difference is that you now have a router
> sharing your personal internet connection between multiple computers). Both
> your personal computer and their laptop will be connecting to the internet
> via your personal internet connection. When using their laptop, you'll do a
> further step of setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection to a
> server on their network (via your personal internet connection). There will
> be specific software on the laptop to allow this connection to be made (they
> will have to set you up with a user login and password for their network).
> This will give the laptop access to their intranet and other services just
> like if you went to their office and plugged in directly to their network.
>
> - Chuck

Okay, so it would be extremely difficult to get the surfing records of
my home computer off their router?? I do all that VPN stuff you
talked about.

"Kaputnik" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> >
>
> Okay, so it would be extremely difficult to get the surfing records of
> my home computer off their router?? I do all that VPN stuff you
> talked about.


Yes.

- Chuck