My line manager hacked into my email account

[M1SSUNDERSTOOD]

Came back to work today to find my password didn't work, eventually colleague says "x says she had to change your password"!!then discover new password in drawer with no explaination. Phoned the overall line manager and she says she had to authorise it as x had copied me into a confidential email accidentally as she was thinking about me at time! But don't worry it's nothing sinister. I am worried tbh as there are ongoing issues and as line manager and I don't ever see each other I know she communicates with her line manager about this by email as overall line manager then emails me. So with confidentiality issues being breached here and my suspicions are as to what email was, I do think something sinister is going on. That aside is there a way I can retrieve the email she deleted?

i think your compnay should have an IT policy where it will probably say that senior managers can do this sort of thing.

after all its the companies equipment and you shouldn't in theory be using it for personal reasons

not a dig btw

i use my puter for personal stuff all the time, i even got an e-mail about another job today lol.

so i understand why you are upset - its just that i bet there is a policy to cover management - worth asking

Thanks I will ask IT but I am annoyed as this has happened before with notes of a meeting I took longhand and they broke into my drawer to retrieve. I think it's a bit off to not extend me the courtesy of asking pemission.

What email programme are you using (with outlook you can retrieve deleted items)

Yes, not very nice. I don't think I would be too happy. She could have easily recalled the message if she sent it via Outlook (which I should imagine she did).

Mind you, I found out after I left a job that my boss had direct access to my mailbox after I left the company. I am whiter than white so had nothing to hide. It was the fact that he was monitoring me without my knowledge (and without a reason) that really annoyed me. It actually contravenes data protection.

In your case, I would raise the issue and make HR. It's not good practice and not really acceptable.

I didn't think there were confidentiality issues with work email?

Basically aren't all emails sent at work through company email accounts the property of the company?

Obviously some problems with the way in which the change was handled but I don't think you can complain about it.

Although I am sure someone who knows more will be able to clarify.

Yes, they are but if someone wants to view your Inbox they need to have good solid reasons why. I have a friend in HR who is often telling managers they cannot monitor staff email 'just because they feel like it' as it causes more problems than it solves. Similarly, I have a friend in IT who will not allow access to view email accounts without approval from Director level. It is a serious issue. Although the majority of staff have nothing to hide I am sure most people would get annoyed if their email account had been hacked and their password changed.

If you can recall an email from Outlook why should you need to access someone's email?

Thanks for all the replies. I think the issue is one of disrespect and it's demonstrated in other ways too. As far as I know from overall line manager the authorisation was given as the email had been accidentially sent to me. Good point about the message being recalled. I remember I recalled a message once after sending to all and sundry in company and tbh it didn't work as I had replies from people for months afterwards. I know you can retrieve deleted emails and honestly don't want to spend any more time on the problem as they say if you eavesdrop you never hear anything good about yourself. I will contact my union though to clarify a few other issues and hopefully move on.

You sound very wise to me!

Doesn't matter how hard you try some things just don't work and you need to know when to go. If this is one issue of many that is bothering you then it's time to move on to find a nice new job with nice colleagues who are a bit more professional!

Good luck!

If you're quick to open an email when logging into your account, recall doesn't work. Once the email is marked as "read" it can't be recalled.

True but that's if you're online and already logged into your email.

MISUNDERSTOOD was away from the office so they went to the trouble of hacking into her account and changing her password. I've contracted for a lot of companies and have never heard of it. Bit ridiculous really...

It entirely depends what your company policy is, but in most cases, company email can be looked at for pretty much any reason

My old company once used a very long thread of emails between two employees having an affair as "leverage" when they were threatened with an unfair dismissal case...

At my new company, all email is stored in central servers so all of it can be accessed by anyone with necessary permissions, etc.

Work email is just that - work...

I have had a bit of time to think about this and came to the conclusion I work with a) people who are unprofessional b) not smart enough to know how to utilize new technology and c) have raised a number of red alerts for me which I suppose I should just ignore as obv if there is anything happening I will find out in due course. The point is it's company email and I was out of office so that would have bounced back to my line manager. She must have truly panicked to ask her line manager to authorise password change and what's worse between the two of them they still couldn't fix mistake by recalling message. Blind leading the blind me thinks.

if that had happened in our company, IT would have been contacted by the sender of the email. IT would then simply delete the email. No way a password change would have been done

I think you need to think very hard about every email you send or receive on the company account from now. Tell anyone who might send you personal emails on that account to stop.
I say this as someone who had to do the same.

If you get an email which doesn't make sense then write back saying I don't understand why you emailed this to me because ("I've done that work you imply is late" or "this is my company email account, not my personal one"). You can always soften it with a phone call or chat either before or after you reply by email but think of emails as cc'ing in the judge and jury!

I have had a thought as to what she was looking for. I sent her an email intimating that something she had asked me to do was complete and my tasks in outlook confirmed this, so I said I would attach this as a subsequent email if she wanted. Didn't get a reply to that one. I wonder now if she was looking for another email sent to me which had originally asked me to complete the task but was sent by overall line manager . It would explain a lot things as I know that email wasn't cc to anyone else but me and maybe overall line manager had deleted her copy. Anyway point is the distrust is implicit in her actions as she didn't ask my permission to go into my emails and AFAIK that contravenes data protection act.

data protection act.. it depends if you own the things that you do in your work time on company equipment, or the company does...

Update on the thread. Reported matter to IT and they say it is a seperate issue if what was in email but the procedure to delete it was not orthodox. The IT helpdesk say procedures are there to cover the situation and as this was not followed I am under obligation to report any breach of IT policy. Probably nothing will happen to the two managers involved but they will think twice about doing it again.