Re: co-worker spy annoyance

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Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 03:48:13 GMT

On 26 Nov 2003 21:02:58 -0800, jonahbasset@yahoo.com (Jonah) wrote:

>I have strongly suspected for some time now that one of my co-workers
>is somehow able to spy on what programs I am running on my machine and
>currently interacting with. (Windows XP system) I cannot be absolutely
>sure of this, but occasionally, she drops me a cryptic little 'hint'
>implying she knows what I'm doing at the moment. I don't believe she
>has installed any type of spyware program on my machine, but rather is
>using her network admin privileges to do this somehow. She is NOT our
>company admin although she has those privileges locally. I'm sure she
>is probably able to read all my emails and see what sites I visit on
>the internet as well, which of course I do not like, but am not
>particularly concerned with.
>
>I have read that the Windows Management Instrumentation service can
>allow a remote user to see what programs you are running, and I have
>already disabled that. But her 'hints' have not stopped so I have to
>assume that disabling that service did not have the desired effect.
>Although I doubt I can prevent her from snooping through emails etc.,
>I would like to know if there is at least a way to prevent this person
>from spying directly on what I'm doing at the moment! Another service
>I could disable perhaps? Any suggestions?

Ok, for starters you might want to reenable the WMI as disabling that
breaks a whole bunch of legitimate things.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/windows_management_instrumentation.htm

Second, ensure she doesn't have admin rights on your computer. With
admin rights she can install and run just about anything. Even a
simple tool like pslist will remote list the actively running
programs. If she's installed spyware, complain to your network guys
who I guarantee will get pissed off.

Now for the suggestions that might annoy the network guys (I no it
annoys me when users try them)....

 XP has a built-in firewall. Turning it on should prevent most
spyware that uses non-standard ports. It will also prevent most
network management of your computer.

If you know her IP address you can add a bogus static route for her
computer. This effectively renders your computer unable to reply to
her. Checkout the 'route add' command. This could be done on her
computer if you have admin rights.

Install third-party firewall software. Configure it only to block
traffic from her IP.

And now the over-the-top suggestions....

If you have admin rights on her computer, get some tools like psexec
from Sysinternals. Start messing with her computer. This could
backfire if you're a novice and she knows whats shes doing.

Start a rumor that she's reading your bosses email.

Or start a catfight.

-Chris

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