Networking for Macs and seeing all my employees' computer records

[M. Malone]

hello,

I am expanding my company. I plan on equipping the office with Macs only. I would like to be able to see everything my employees do (of course they will know that. Also we have no privacy laws in my country )

so I need to:

Check my employees' emails (no personal emails on company computers anyway).

I basically wanna keep surveillance of everything they do on those machines, now here's the catch, my employees will have laptops they take with them, home and to customer locations. Is there anyway I can keep track of what is done even if the laptops aren't in the office? Like every time the laptops are in the office can I have them sync into something like Time Capsule then I can check on what has been done?

I understand that some may see this as sleazy, but I am not interested in making sure my employees are in line. I'm more interested in having all of their customer records within easy reach so I can carry on their work. All the emails, iChat transcripts, etc.

thanks

 

[scienide09]

snip
I understand that some may see this as sleazy, but I am not interested in making sure my employees are in line. I'm more interested in having all of their customer records within easy reach so I can carry on their work. All the emails, iChat transcripts, etc.

thanks

Wouldn't it be easier to simply ask your employees to share this information with you? This would avoid the whole surveillance aspect, and would allow you to keep on top of everything. I understand the need to know what's going on, but micromanaging like this is inefficient and shows a lack of faith in your staff.

But anyway, for a business-wide solution, you'd likely be better off talking to Apple directly to see what kinds of options they suggest. Or perhaps to a third-party contractor to see if they offer the kind of service you need.

 

[kwfl]

will you have any sort of server in you comapny?

 

[redshift20]

For email you could either use IMAP so the email are stored on the server and not the laptop, or you could have copies of each email sent to a central location for your use.

For iChat you could run a jabber server (with the gateways you would need) and enable logging on the server.

Send one of those laptops my way and I'd be happy to consult

 

[CanadaRAM]

The obvious things are using IMAP for your company mail server, and having a central fileserver with automatic synchronization to the hard drive data.

But unless you plan to install key loggers and then analyze every keystroke, then you will not win.

There's always a way around. All they have to do is log onto a webmail service and send and receive there -- no records written to the machine. Or keep a USB key for their off-book files. Or use a remote access program to access an offsite machine. Or use proxies to browse the web.

If you don't trust them, then don't give them laptops. Make them work from terminals in the office where you can have network-based controls over file storage, email, and block Internet traffic to all but approved sites. Using laptops prevents you from using many of the most common security features.

One thing you MUST do is to insist that all company and client files, including emails, be kept inside a password protected data vault or encrypted folder on the drive. Use strong root and user passwords. Do not issue the uses with Admin level privileges on their accounts. Set up Firmware passwords. This won't protect you from your employees, but realize that some laptops WILL get lost and stolen, and you have a duty of care to keep your client's data safe, as well as your own proprietary company information.