Question for IT people

[jmiller676]

OK, this is gonna be weird. Prepare yourself.

The company I work for is a small company. Our owner passed away a few years ago and the only one that really has power is the late owners brother who is executor of the estate. We are a profitable company but, have a lot of free reign. Well, here it is. The "IT" guy (self-proclaimed computer whiz) has all the passwords to the routers and computers and no one else has access to them. He is the only one that locks his screen. I and my boss have noticed files moved on our computers, things shifted around on our desk and the IT guy talks about confidential financial things that he should not know. I have a feeling he is watching our computers, not that we have anything to hide, but its the idea that he is looking for something. He is the "over watcher" and no one can over watch what he does. Our computers are tied to a modem that is ran as our "network server" I am connected wireless-ly to it while all other computers are hardwired. A "CSS Wireless" network pops up and connects automatically but then I click on that network and it asks to type in the security code. What I am wondering is there anyway to tell if someone taps my computer while I'm using it? (I have 8.00 GB RAM, Intel Core i7-3770, 64 bit running windows 8 2012, the newest fastest computer in the building.) I know its hard since I don't have the ability to PING his computer. I have been in customers files and my screen will glitch, and he will get up and walk out of his office. This has happened to my boss as well with "Log-Me-In" software. I have watched her screen flicker once and then come back and the cursor was in a different spot on the screen. I know it's hard to explain but it seems something weird is going on regardless. I have disabled the Wyse-Pocketcloud, Remote Access and services upon startup but weird stuff is still happening.

*This guy is very untrustworthy and will walk around offices in the dark. I personally have come in to work early and seen him at my computer with the lights off. Any help would be great.


*Edit: I am taking a new job in 6 weeks and the only one who knows is my boss, she helped me land the job because of the messed up people we currently call "co-workers", and they pay better with more benefits. .

 

[squidvt]

I hate to say it but he owns you. He has the keys to the kingdom if he has all the passwords.
Do you have the ability to fire him and hire an outside consulting firm to come in and clear your computers and audit your firewall?

 

[Brandon]

I loved logging into client's computers from my desk. The software we used had an icon at the bottom of the screen the user could see and it would change colors if I were on there or not. That is the only experience I have with that software, other then the background image will go blank.

Just about every IT person I know can/will work in the dark.

 

[jmiller676]

I hate to say it but he owns you. He has the keys to the kingdom if he has all the passwords.
Do you have the ability to fire him and hire an outside consulting firm to come in and clear your computers and audit your firewall?

No, it's a weird situation with the estate.

And that's what I was afraid of. I forgot to mention when we were talking about networks a few months ago he said he setup through the server to access my computer from his office....

I loved logging into client's computers from my desk. The software we used had an icon at the bottom of the screen the user could see and it would change colors if I were on there or not. That is the only experience I have with that software, other then the background image will go blank.

Just about every IT person I know can/will work in the dark.

He always has his lights on in his office and isn't full time IT. He is mainly in production but was "appointed" IT years and years ago for some unknown reason.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Who is the IT guy's boss? Perhaps it's time for a nanny cam zoomed in to his screen. Or a splitter from his monitor cable through the wall to another screen for a day or two...

 

[jmiller676]

Who is the IT guy's boss? Perhaps it's time for a nanny cam zoomed in to his screen. Or a splitter from his monitor cable through the wall to another screen for a day or two...

No one really. I call the general manager the boss because she reports to the executor. And firing him will create a mutiny and will shut this whole company down.

Like I said it's a strange, weird, ridiculous, predicament. Just wanting to see if I can give him a taste of his own "medicine" as I'm leaving and I know I won't face any repercussions to disable his ability to do that.

I have put a .txt file on my desktop that says "important conversations from g-chat" and in the text file I typed..." ****, You're a loser. I know you're reading this." Not much but I get a chuckle out of it.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I have put a .txt file on my desktop that says "important conversations from g-chat" and in the text file I typed..." ****, You're a loser. I know you're reading this." Not much but I get a chuckle out of it.

i like it. Any chance you can find a program that will create all kinds of red herrings? Like nested folders 400 deep and then that file at the end of it?

 

[jmiller676]

i like it. Any chance you can find a program that will create all kinds of red herrings? Like nested folders 400 deep and then that file at the end of it?

never thought of that, it would be hilarious.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Quick Tip: Create Folders and Subfolders in Bulk Using a Text File

Looks like this will do it if you copy/paste and keep adding things after \

you can take a dictionary of financial terms and make a folder for each word. heh.

 

[jmiller676]

Quick Tip: Create Folders and Subfolders in Bulk Using a Text File

I'm going to have fun this afternoon!

 

[JollyMon]

Just use a key logger if you have the owners permission. They have ones that plug in between the keyboard and computer and save the key stokes to a text file.

Anything done on company time on company property is fair game.

 

[jmiller676]

now, I need everyone's participation in folder names, not so blatantly obvious they're fake though.

 

[Thegeek]

MMC (type compmgmt.msc in the run box). One of the things you can see is active sessions / open files (if you have elevated rights on that PC).

 

[hoosierdoc]

fin_export_ 4-15-2014

 

[Scout]

If you can get a DOS screen on his workstation, type c:/format and that will take care of the issue. Or report him to the police.

 

[Wingcollector]

Being in IT myself, the problem is, if he has remote access to your PC, he could put ANYTHING in a hidden file on YOUR PC, and then call the cops on YOU. This guy sounds seriously creepy , who knows what he is running on the companies servers. I think you should just walk away

 

[Double T]

Depending on the files, and the financial information, he could in fact lose some IT creds depending on if he is snooping moreso than he is supposed to.

You could make a read only file, and check the last access/modified date. Then if he IS looking at stuff he is not supposed to, it would be instant grounds for termination.

IANAL, but it sounds to me that the legal team needs to be involved in his termination, setting forth very strict non-disclosure statements, and given the promise of charges should info he knows be used for his gain post termination.

 

[hoosierdoc]

One thought though, maybe the executor tasked him to do all this? Could there have been embezzlement or some other issue before?

 

[Thegeek]

I actually have done some consulting in the past for small companies. They'll bring me in as an "accountant" and my job is to see what their IT people are doing. It's a game of catch them before they catch me. I've found some pretty funny stuff, but one guy was selling "broken" company property on ebay. He'd fail a drive and tell them they needed a new PC.... they were too stupid to know he was taking the "broken" one home.

 

[jmiller676]

One thought though, maybe the executor tasked him to do all this? Could there have been embezzlement or some other issue before?

No, he has done this for years. He snooped through employees wages and told other employees what others made when late owner was alive. Our company isn't being investigated just going through a broker now. The problem is the late owner never "disciplined" the employees or had rules and it is getting really out of hand. We bring in 1.7m gross a year so it's not a big company. We have 16 employees, 5 are part time.