Can work see my internet history?

[Rainbowbagel]

Hi, (I’ve NC for this)

I have a work Mac book, I’m currently on furlough and have just realised I have at one point carelessly signed my personal iCloud account on my laptop so my personal iPhone and laptop have been connected.

If I’m honest I haven’t watched porn (likely story, I know...) but I have been browsing for other jobs, looked at sex toys and outfits for DHs birthday etc.. all on my personal phone!

I think your history is just really personal and I can’t explain half the stuff I’ve googled, DH is in fits of giggles because a week ago I googled when did necrophilia become illegal - I was watching a documentary on Denis Nielson and well you see what I mean?

I’ve deleted all history now but can they see my deleted history that I’ve searched on my personal phone as my iCloud was signed in on my laptop?

IT whizzes please help a very distressed woman..

Also for anyone interested the answer to the above question is 2003 😦

😂😂😂 sorry, not helpful, but with your hubby on this one 😂😂😂

I’ve deleted all history now but can they see my deleted history that I’ve searched on my personal phone as my iCloud was signed in on my laptop?

No. HTH. You can relax.

In theory yes, and possibly yes, however it's probably no, and the legality of them doing anything with the data that is not work related is also not clear. Personally I would not be worried, certainly the knowledge google have about you and will gladly sell to anyone is probably more significant, although obviously the personal side of things is different as you know your colleagues.

If you are in a particularly sensitive area, the chance of the monitoring is higher although equally your ability to connect a work laptop to a non-work iCloud would be a massive problem, so it's unlikely that you can.

A bigger problem may well be that your work info is now in your personal iCloud account, if that contains any personal information on anyone that would need recording as a data protection beach likely (a completely harmless one, just self noted and the IT folk need to sort out the procedures to stop it from happening again) you may also have company confidential stuff in there with similar internal problems. Of course by reporting that - which your IT rules probably require because of the legal side of things, that would also encourage the IT folk to have a nose, thus making them more aware of the things you don't want them to know.

If the data from the iCloud has not sync'd back to the device, then it's actually quite unlikely that anyone has access (they would need to remote control the device to access your iCloud or similar)

Overall I would not be concerned by work accessing legal but maybe slightly embarrassing things.

Theoretically it's possible - much easier if you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to connect to work as it routes your traffic via their network.

In practice almost no workplaces have the resources or inclination to deal with this sort of stuff - unless they are already seeking to get rid of you for another reason.

Oh I'm cringing at the thought of anyone going through my history, and there's nothing outrageous on it 😂

I’ve deleted all history now but can they see my deleted history that I’ve searched on my personal phone as my iCloud was signed in on my laptop?

The bad news: it doesn't matter that you've deleted your local browsing history, the data will still show up on your employer's web logs.

The good news: they almost certainly won't care. The amount of data involved in even a simple web browsing activity is vast, and most employers don't bother. They are much more concerned about tracking data that is being sent out of the organisation, about data protection compliance, and about cyber security.

As soon as you use a company provided device with our SSO login we can see everything! ☺️☺️☺️
And sometimes....we do! Hence usually IT can be very powerful with budget requests! ( and I just leave it there )

The bad news: it doesn't matter that you've deleted your local browsing history, the data will still show up on your employer's web logs.

Not in this situation, here the data was from the phone and it was only accessible because the device could access the iCloud backup of the personal phone data. If the data sync'd to the laptop, then the data may have been backed up (in which case deleting it will have achieved nothing) however generally I think it's unlikely.

Also remember monitoring via MITM requires you to be informed in almost all situations - www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/356/made - "the system controller has made all reasonable efforts to inform every person who may use the telecommunication system that communications transmitted by means of that system may be intercepted" there are of course some outs, but routine monitoring of all staff would be unlikely to be covered.

Thank you all so much!

The only thing I would be worried about is whether any work data is now held on your personal iCloud. I would assume that personal accounts have less encryption than corporate accounts but may be wrong

My employer would class what you have done as a potential data breach but they are very very over the top when it comes to technology - for example we are not allowed to email anything or anyone external to the company 🙄

Worth having a check on what your company’s data policy is to put your mind at ease

I've got a work mobile and I don't text anything private with it and nor do I go online with it