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I work at a large university and have a computer supplied by my employer.

There is apparently some sort of remote management that the help desk can use if I call them and accept their request to log onto my computer. Program updates are also pushed out automatically.

The machine runs Mac OS X, I have admin privileges and can install any software I want.

(Note that this is a technical question, not a policy one. Also note that I understand any computer can be hacked. This question is more pointed towards assessing typical threats from my friendly sysadmins and their equally benevolent bosses.)

I would like to find out whether my employer is snooping or can snoop on my files or activity on my computer. Can I find that out? How would I go about?

trmdttr
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    You can try to sniff your network traffic and look for some suspicious connections – janisz Aug 26 '14 at 19:33
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    Of course they can, it's their computer on their network. Assume they ARE doing it. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Aug 26 '14 at 19:39
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    1. Of course they can. 2. Assume that they are. 3. Monitoring of your computer usage by the entity that owns and provides said computer (and supporting infrastructure) isn't classified as a `threat`, as you seem to be alluding to in your question. – joeqwerty Aug 26 '14 at 19:43
  • possible duplicate of [App to log network user's file activities](http://superuser.com/questions/412146/app-to-log-network-users-file-activities), [Is there a good tool for monitoring network activity on Mac OS X?](http://superuser.com/questions/123001/is-there-a-good-tool-for-monitoring-network-activity-on-mac-os-x) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Aug 26 '14 at 20:27

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Something a lot of people don't seem to get is this one simple thing:

Unless you personally own the computer, and you are the sole individual authorized and responsible for its configuration and maintenance, the computer is not your computer. So don't bother thinking it is, let alone treating it as such.

Yes, your employer can - and generally has every ethical and legal right to - monitor everything you're doing on the system.

No, you cannot expect to be able to detect whether your employer has installed monitoring tools even if you have full Administrator rights to the system. Many monitoring tools, including some marketed towards employers, are specifically engineered to avoid detection.

Yes, you should assume your employer is monitoring everything you do on the system.

No, you should not install any software which has not been explicitly authorized by your employer nor should you use the system for any personal purposes.

Some more information is available in a similar question on IT Security - though that one was tagged "Windows", the same conditions apply.

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Iszi
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  • These are salient points, however more of general suggestions about what to expect from an employer who wants to snoop. The ethical and legal issues are not really what I was looking for. Rather how I can determine what might be going on. – trmdttr Aug 27 '14 at 06:46
  • It's not just a matter of ethical/legal issues. See the first "No" item in my answer - there's no way whatsoever that you can be (and it's very difficult to, and would be far outside the SE format to explain how you might, come even close to) 100% sure that a computer not under your exclusive control does not have something on it that's spying on you. Heck, it's hard enough to make sure that systems you *do* exclusively control aren't spying on you! – Iszi Aug 28 '14 at 18:33
  • For more reading of interest, check out the [10 Immutable Laws of Security](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh278941.aspx). Pay particular attention to 1, 2, 3, and 6. (For the purposes of this discussion, the "bad guy" referred to in that article is your employer.) – Iszi Aug 28 '14 at 18:37